Portishead

Together with Massive Attack, Portishead broke new ground for the vocal style of Trip-Hop that grew out Bristol in the early 1990s. Their melancholy, rainy-day approach to electronica came as a refreshing alternative the overzealous club music that was being made around that time. Beth Gibbons' passionate vocals offer a surreal complement to producer Geoff Barrow's head-bobbing beats. It could be argued that Portishead make modern blues, given the way both lyrics and mood relate to troubling times.