Category: 51 for 50

Roots Manuva was the first time that I heard an authentically British hip hop voice. Something that made sense... Lyrics like "Taskmaster burst the bionic zit-splitterBreakneck speeds we down ten pints of bitter" are not the sort of things that come out of New York rapper. It's a bit like how all American films seem … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2001

And so we enter my fourth millennium and one of the few guitar-based albums to enter my noggin in my mid twenties and thirties. Badly Drawn Boy’s The Hour of Bewilderbeast is touching, sweet, whimsical. Almost folk music. And it captures a feel of my time back then. It’s only now though that I’ve realised … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2000

It's hard to remember that 21 years ago the run up to the end of the millennium was a Really Big Thing (even if there was mathematical dispute about whether December 31st 1999 actually was the end of the millennium or not). Prince had told us that it was time to party like it was … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1999

Making Bones is an album I'd completely forgotten about until making this list, and more is the pity. A mix of hip hop, drum and bass and a heavy side helping of jazz. Pretty much perfectly sums up my listening in the late 90s. https://open.spotify.com/album/43T9blwnSifY6kro3uZUFe?si=9VtBsZpHSse4FVRqY3YEHw You can see the #51for50 project to date here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/51-for-50/

In 1997 there was a Gilles Peterson show that I had recorded (in the days when he broadcast at lord only knows what o’clock) from which I ended up going out and buying three albums. One I can’t remember, one was by the delightful Japanese group United Future Organisation and the third was Roni Size’s … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1997

In my hip-hop obsessed teens, alongside the Run DMCs and Mantronixs, I had a special thing for the cut-up merchants like Double Dee and Steinski and I guess to an extent people like The Art of Noise. Beats and pieces sampled and scratched together to produce audio collages. Roll forward into my music-obsessed twenties, and … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1996

I'm still of the view that Drum & Bass is the "newest" form of music that has emerged in my music-aware years of life. It stems from earlier club music, and took a path less annoying than genres like Happy Hardcore. It had roots in hip hop and funk. But it was new. And it … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1995

Ah, the battle of Britpop. Blur vs Oasis. Let me nail my colours to my mast. I’m Blur. Parklife is a cracking album, The androgyny of Girls and Boys, the laddishness of the title track. And it’s not the Gallagher Brothers. https://open.spotify.com/album/0DBkFC6739trhCoVreZyds You can see the #51for50 project to date here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/51-for-50/

I’ve dabbled with electronic music since my teens. Orbital felt like the sort of music that I would have created if I had had more time and a bit more talent. It’s very British music. It’s very electronic music. And their second album (the Brown one) is a wonderful work. https://open.spotify.com/album/1JYyYFJSYrXMHLe7Dz1B3W You can see the … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1993

Ah, the Beastie Boys. I never much cared for the hooligan early years, but by Check your Head I was a fully paid up member of the fan club if such a thing had existed and I had bothered to join. I saw them at Glastonbury around this time, I think performing just after Bjork … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1992