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Artist
Eric Hilton
12+ albums
trip-hopchilloutdowntempoelectronictrip hop
about
On his stunning new album “The Lost Dialect”, Eric Hilton speaks in his mother tongue, the 12-bit vernacular of Trip-Hop, a genre he helped bring to life as a co-founder of the legendary downtempo electronic music act Thievery Corporation. Across ten expansive tracks, the artist/producer uses old-school skills to craft new school chill in a genre that is currently enjoying a resurgence -but for Hilton at least, trip-hop never really went away. “This a classic, experimental trip hop record. I went back to a comfort zone for a minute, an old-school simple approach,” says Hilton. “The techniques of making trip hop music are like lost dialects I can pull out and revisit. I find a groove that I can’t stop listening to and go from there, dress up that experience, add atmosphere and effects to expand the audio landscape. I keep it simple and don’t overdo it with plug-ins. It’s all about the conversation between the elements, and how things progress. “Indeed, “The Lost Dialect” has a looser, more vintage 70’s sonic palette than Hilton’s recent solo work. 1970’s jazz and Afrofuturism are part of the language of this album, most notably on the standout track “Ra”, where soulful horn flourishes echo in a shimmering sonic landscape. “The early 70’s jazz/synth records of Pharaoh Sanders, Roy Ayers, and Sun Ra was music from streets that looked to both the stars AND ancient cultures,” says Hilton. The muscular urban grooves of these records created the foundation for many classic t
