#kosheen

[arcadebroke]

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[dekaohtoura]

[fetish3d]

Wish

[gvnther-hopeful]

kosheen - empty skies |

[mitjalovse]

Trip hop doesn't feel like a pop genre despite the style's success. Sure, some of the outfits in that idiom positioned their leanings towards a more dance oriented direction with Kosheen being a case of that. The latter in particular still contained trip hop's affinity for darkness, yet they went towards a different path, they didn't let the darkness overwhelm the entire mood. Then again, the group achieved their biggest sales after the 90's electronica boom, which had given great benefits to many trip hop maestros. A lot of them struggled later on, but some musicians took their soundscapes and put them on another plane that was closer to the dancefloor than the back alleys. Kosheen were, as we can hear, one of those.

[minemice]

Kosheen - Pride

[gvnther-hopeful]

| kosheen - recovery ||

[gatewayradio]

Hide You Kosheen - 2001

Reverb on drums that make a melody followed by rapid hi-hat rolls awakening memories of jungle music. Singer comes in singing rapid fire shots of lyrics, breaking up the vocals into urgent breaths of rhythm. If you were. In my heart. I’ll surely. Not break you. If you were. Beside me. And my love. Would take you. I’ll keep you. In safety. Forever. Protect you. I’ll hide you. Away from. The world you. Rejected. I’ll hide you. I’ll hide you. 

Lost in the rhythms of late jungle and early drum and bass, listening to a woman who promises me the world if I accept her love. Imagining a future where I could make these promises to myself. Just acceptance of my own love to myself would lead to a life protected and fulfilled. And finding this message in the early days of drum and bass and realising that love was always the message when deep bass was moving my body in the night clubs, surrounded by strangers. Love is still the answer 25 years later but a lesson forgotten as life keeps on beating you down, moving you further away from the only goal that ever mattered. 

But that dancefloor is long gone but the beat remains. The message is still loud and clear but the context has changed. It’s no longer a collective love in a large room filled with strangers. It’s love on an individual level filled with answers that have been elusive for too long. A state of being whole from loving every part of yourself and realising that you yourself are now the protector. I’ll hide you away from danger, if only you were in my heart, I’d surely not break you.