Beyond the Playlist
One genre. Three albums. One month to listen.
On the last Sunday of every month, we meet at The Black Horse in Fitzrovia, just by Tottenham Court Road, over a drink to talk about what we loved, what we didn’t, what surprised us—and anything else the music got us thinking about.
And, of course, we vote for our favourite album of the month.
You don’t need to know anything about music. Come to discover something new, rediscover music you already know, meet other curious people and hopefully make some new friends along the way.
This month at Beyond the Playlist:
Gloomy & Groovy Trip-Hop
We are listening to trip-hop this October.
Born from Bristol’s underground scene in the early ’90s, trip-hop blends slow hip-hop beats, samples and scratching with smoky jazz, dub and electronic sounds. Think deep bass, dreamy or haunting vocals, dusty vinyl and a slightly cinematic, after-midnight atmosphere.
Never heard of trip-hop? Perfect. That’s what Beyond the Playlist is for.
We’ll dive into three defining albums — listen to them in your own time, then come along to talk, debate and compare notes over a drink.
BLUE LINES by Massive Attack (1991)
“Dance music for the head rather than the feet” — that’s how Massive Attack described what they were after. Trip-hop didn’t even have a name when Blue Lines came out, yet here was already its first true masterpiece.
DUMMY by Portishead (1994)
Often considered the definitive trip-hop album. “Vintage, modern and timeless, and like nothing anyone had ever heard before.” (Slant Magazine)
ENTRODUCING… by DJ Shadow (1996)
Where hip-hop meets trip-hop. A dreamlike collage made almost entirely from samples dug out of vinyl—bits of Metallica, Björk, psychedelic rock, Twin Peaks, Prince of Darkness and a whole lot more. Guinness calls it the first album ever made entirely from samples, and critics have ranked it among the best albums of the ’90s.
Sunday 25th October | 6-8pm | The Black Horse, 6 Rathbone Place, London, W1T 1HL
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Why Beyond the Playlist?
We live in an age of playlists, recommendations and endless choice. That’s wonderful—we’ve never had so much music at our fingertips.
But somewhere along the way, many of us stopped listening to albums.
An album isn’t just a collection of songs. It’s a snapshot of an artist’s life, a creative statement, and often a journey that unfolds from the first track to the last.
So each month we step away from the playlist and spend some time with three full albums—before getting together to talk about them.