"There’s been an anti-establishment arts scene here too, for years, with a massive tongue in its cheek. It was there in the Pop Group, Smith and Mighty, the Wild Bunch, and Banksy. It’s always found itself."
Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Beak>)
One of the strongest provincial early punk scenes, the progenitor of trip-hop, home to indie label powerhouses, Bristol has long been a city of musical evolution. A hotbed of talent very much defined and driven by multiculturalism, with strong ties to sound system culture and dub music via its Windrush generation. A growing community in and around Bristol in the seventies, as many Caribbean immigrants sought a place to reside in the city’s centres' poor housing in St. Pauls and Easton.
Portishead's Geoff Barrow describes Bristol's music scene as 'anti-establishment', acknowledging a spirit of counter-culture beholden to the West Country's darker history, Bristol's legacy as one of Britain's leading ports in the transatlantic slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.
"Its past has always been unpleasantly divided, says Barrow, citing a book called A Darker History of Bristol, which recounts its history with slavery. “And still, lots of Bristol people only give a fuck about themselves,” he adds. “But there’s been an anti-establishment arts scene here too, for years, with a massive tongue in its cheek. It was there in the Pop Group, Smith and Mighty, the Wild Bunch, and Banksy [Barrow was the music supervisor for Banksy’s 2010 exhibition, Exit Through the Gift Shop]. It’s always found itself.” A note of hope, then? He shrugs, still unsure"
Geoff Barrow for the Guardian in 2019.
Bristol's anti-establishment arts scene, as Geoff Barrow refers to it, was more than just its musicians, as battles with the police and ongoing activism also fed into the city's growing graffiti movement. The vibrant and often political street art style drew from hip-hop culture informing various tight-knit and interconnected creative collectives and eventually the elusive Banksy, believed to be Massive Attack trip-hop pioneer Robert Del Naja.
It has long been these subculture influences which have had a remarkable and lasting effect on Bristol's most creative collectives, bringing new-sounding rock, metal, indie, club culture and bass music to the underground, mainstream, international audiences and so on. As Bristol remains a true UK music hub, we are very lucky to occupy our own small space in the city at Rough Trade Bristol, and very importantly our warehouse, discovering and celebrating both old and new sounds alongside Bristol's music-loving community since 2017.
Meet our musical staff
In addition to Bristol's most renowned pioneering artists, we also celebrate some of our firm musical favourites close to home. Check out tracks from some of the killer projects masterminded by our Bristol shop and warehouse staff, now featuring alongside longtime classics in our new Bristol songs playlist.
Check out shoegaze adjacent noise rock bands Mildred Maude and Spectres, ferocious punks Ditz, no-wave group Ex-Agent, leftfield guitar experimentalists Sunglasz Vendor, chain punk band Perp Walk, acoustic soul jazz songwriter Bronwyn Leonard, genre-defying electronic producer, M.L Deathman, experimental four-piece bludud, blistering industrial techno band Scaler, neo-folk/indie rockers Factor50, freeform musical group Double Pelican and ambient musician / Elastic Furniture Tapes label founder Noah Radley.
Massive Attack, The Pop Group, Idles or Roni Size. Explore 20 hand-picked tracks that showcase Bristol's enduring musical legacy, including a few select favourites from the Rough Trade office and our very own Bristol shop.
The Pop Group
She is Beyond Good and Evil (1979)
This song is quintessentially 70s and quintessentially Bristol. Mixing dub, post-punk and funk, with lyrics of love and politics into one delicious concoction, She is Beyond Good and Evil is as good an encapsulation as any of the Bristol music scene, past and present - and future. Feels as new and exciting now as I'm sure it did in 1979.
Noah, Rough Trade Bristol
The Korgis
Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime (1980)
If you’re going to be remembered for one song - make it a belter! Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime is The Korgis one real hit, though unlike the usual one-hit wonder codswallop it’s somehow dragged itself into Godlike status. Covered by many - with some good (check out The Field’s minimal techno melt version), some bad (Baby D will forever grate, no matter what AM it is in the morning), some just plain offensive (Glasvegas, get back in your corner) and then there’s the exceptional. Deployed majestically in Michel Gondry’s mind-romp Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - it’s the fruity chameleon Beck who delivers the quintessential take.
Jamie, Rough Trade Office
Smith & Mighty
Anyone (1988)
Unsung heroes of British bass music, Smith & Mighty (Rob Smith and Ray Mighty) are credited as pioneers of 'the Bristol sound', the name given to many bands and producers from Bristol in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Born and bred in Bristol, Rob Smith's exposure to music from Afro-Caribbean communities shaped his career, starting off as a guitarist in a reggae band aged just eleven, and later meeting Ray Mighty in the midst of the punk/rock against racism era. The pair connected over an interest in linking sequencers and beat machines via midi, lending their production skills to the launch of Massive Attack's career, their first-ever single Any Love in 1998. Anyone is set apart by its vocals, a punchy, dubby track, drafting in the airy voice of friend Jackie Johnson, giving the track that deep groove and 'heartbroken' British soul twist. One of many addictive, club-ready tracks from a group with a monumental musical imprint, trickling down to various electronic subgenres popular in Bristol today, (jungle, dubstep, techno and beyond) influencing the likes of Bristol DJ/producers Pinch and Perverilist and London-based label Hyperdub.
"We tried to make our own combination of House and Steppers Reggae, and made some tunes that incorporate aspects of many styles – including House, Steppers, breaks etc. While we were working in London we`d often attend the outdoor “orbital” raves that were going on around the M25."
Rob Smith, Interview for Ban Ban Ton, 2018.
The Blue Aeroplanes
Jacket Hangs (1990)
Active since 1981, The Blue Aeroplanes are one of Bristol's longest-running bands. A few of the Aeroplane's members began their musical career as part of Bristol ska/Two Tone band called The Rimshots, including the late, acclaimed guitarist Angelo Bruschini, who also played with Stutter and Massive Attack. A unique amalgam of rock, folk, poetry, punk, and dance, Blue Aeroplanes represent the diversity which influenced the Bristol scene, inspired by both the early eighties reggae explosion and following that, mod and punk culture. Swaggering guitar and punchy speak/sing songwriting, Jacket Hangs is the band's best-known tune for all the right reasons, the perfect amount of jangle and melodicism precursing the breakout of Britpop.
The Sundays
Here's Where The Story Ends (1990)
Deliciously catchy, floaty dream pop, a nostalgic end-of-summer days anthem. The Sunday's initial members David Gavurin and Helen Wheeler met at Bristol University in 1988, beginning a partnership musically and romantically. They were later joined by fellow Bristol students: bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan. After migrating to London a couple years later the British pop band signed with our good friends at Rough Trade Records. A sound which felt influenced by The Smiths or Cocteau Twins yet with their own bookish charm and individuality of the blossoming Bristol music scene.
Massive Attack
Unfinished Sympathy, 1991
Massive Attack have long been acknowledged as one of the key instigators of the trip-hop scene born in Bristol, alongside the likes of Portishead and Smith & Mighty. Also recorded in the famous Bristol Coach House studios, Unfinished Sympathy, penned by Robert "3D" Del Naja, (rumoured to be Banksy) Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, is without doubt one of their masterstrokes, the vinyl scratching, the locked-in percussion, the haunting, commanding vocals of Shara Nelson. A song you don’t ever forget hearing for the first time because of its strangeness, but an arrangement so truly bewitching it will keep you returning for more.
The Sea Urchins
Sullen Eyes (1992)
The shimmery melancholy swinging folk of West Midlands-born Sea Urchins holds an important place in Bristol music history, their single Pristine Christine an integral part of The Sarah Records story, launching the Bristol-based indie label, which became a household name for indie pop between November 1987 and August 1995. Sullen Eyes offers up the band's stylish indie jangle with twee vocals, tambourine and organ, a happy-sad lament perfect for existential teen listening habits and reflective moods.
BUY: These Things Happen: The Sarah Records Story
Portishead
Glory Box (1994)
Named after a small coastal town outside of Bristol, Portishead formed in the early 1990s when Beth Gibbons and Geoff Barrow met Adrian Utley at Coach House Studios in Bristol. Recorded in the then very bleak Bristol district Easton, Portishead absorbed the dark and strange sides of city life as inspiration for their seminal 1994 album Dummy. Glory Box is a key song within Portishead's entire discography and not just Dummy alone, showcasing the unique production methods which established the band as true pioneers of the trip-hop genre. A movement deriving from the bass-heavy sounds blossoming out of Bristol’s West Indian community, and the free-thinking Bristolian youth who fostered a more experimental approach to rap and hip-hop.
Roni Size & Reprazent
Brown Paper Bag (1997)
Roni Size & Reprazent are a British drum and bass group fronted by Roni Size, a Bristol native who cut his teeth listening to reggae played by his Jamaican parents and the Bristol youth club parties in the Bristol suburb of St Andrews. Size was attending house parties run by The Wild Bunch sound system (a loose collective of musicians and DJs based in the St Paul's, Montpelier and Bishopston districts of Bristol, including an early formation of Massive Attack: Grant Marshall, Miles Johnson and Robert Del Naja). Now heavily inspired by these sound systems, reggae culture and hip-hop emerging in Bristol, and the influence of American styles, Size joined forces with the likes of Krust, Die and Suv to form Roni Size and Reprazent. Brown Paper Bag is easily one of the most distinct examples of the experimental nature and new boundaries broken with this late 90s music. Melding jazz with sparkling strings and a pacy breakbeat, the song's idiosyncratic style made its mark on rave culture, a precursor to liquid drum and bass, a pioneering take on dance music which has been celebrated ever since.
The Third Eye Foundation
In Bristol With a Pistol (1998)
Boundary pushing ambient/dub/techno (low and sometimes slow) is the name of the game with TEF. In Bristol with a Pistol is the city in both name and sound; DIY in the most Bristol way - it's lo-fi, scuzzy and scary but danceable at the same time. This song is the highlight on such a fantastic record that it was hard to choose just one song.
Noah, Rough Trade Bristol
Fuck Buttons
Solar Surf (2009)
Not into 10 and a half minutes of psychedelic third eye surgery today? Don't worry bro, Fuck Buttons (ably aided and abetted by Andrew Weatherall) drill down to the very core of your being in the under 3 and a half minutes here, pounding and glitching you through a fog of music kosmiche and bit reduced skree. How this never got to number 1, I'll never know!
David, Rough Trade Office
Turbowolf
A Rose For The Crows (2011)
When iconic Bristol venue The Croft closed, they threw a week of insane shows to help level the place to rubble, the final blow was provided by Turbowolf...and it was perfect. A maelstrom of heavy stoner-psych rock that shakes your guts and frenetic spasmodic chaos akin to The Blood Brothers / Ex Models, Turbowolf were a tour de force to watch live, and impossible not to lose your mind to. There are plenty of heavy Bristol bands that deserve a mention, but Turbowolf climbed to the top of the mound and firmly planted their flag, releasing on the iconic Hassle records in the process.
Beak >
Wulfstan II (2012)
The Krautrock-indebted project of Portishead's Geoff Barrow, Beak> explore more motorik textures, equally as brooding as the trip-hop producers' vision for Portishead whilst recalling a more no-frills production style, a raw and glitchier sound overall. With eerie sci-fi synths, layers of organ and guitar, Wulfstan II is powered by a pulsing drumbeat and disembodied vocals. All the ingredients and sonic eccentricities to fully showcase the immersive capability of Beak's fluid brand of Krautrock.
Oliver Wilde
Perrett's Brook (2013)
For a few years between 2011 and 2017 the city's pulse was beating to the sound of some top noisy DIY labels and the bands they were putting on, and out. Shows were popping up in crypts, scout huts, diving schools, storage containers, on ferry boats and in old cinemas. Oli Wilde was the cream of the crop, his debut album on Howling Owl Records was a beautiful mix of fuzzy bedroom indie pop and wonky electronica. Perrett's Brook was a celebration of the scene, the video, directed by Bristol film-maker James Hankins, featured a who's who of Bristol bands of the time. For a moment in time, Bristol's underground music community came together with no egos, hierarchy or arrogance, it was a beautiful time. Labels like Art is Hard, Breakfast, Zam Zam, Howling Owl, Young Echo, Fuck Punk all worked together to make the city vibrate with creativity. I heard a rumour Oli's debut album is getting a reissue on a new Bristol DIY imprint, if you see it, snag it. Oli now fronts Pet Shimmers, make sure you give them a listen too.
Adrian, Rough Trade Bristol
Trust Fund
Cut Me Out (2014)
A twee (in the best way!) indie-pop anthem, you couldn't go far in Bristol without hearing the iconic refrain from this absolute monster of a song. All giddy and excitable, it's a bouncy bit of dreampop fun. If Sarah Records was still around when Trust Fund were playing their early shows, they would have undoubtedly released a record for them! Good news, Trust Fund just put out a new song, although they don't live here anymore, we still hold on to them as one of our own.
Adrian, Rough Trade Bristol
Idles
Mother (2017)
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 10 years, chances are you would know about, and heard, Idles. After a brief dalliance with angular danceable indie pop, Idles dropped off the radar for a moment before returning with a ferocious, dissonant and enthralling new sound. Mother is the best of the bunch from Brutalism for me, a masterclass in driving, jagged post-punk, this was the song that really announced their arrival as a band to pay attention to. What followed was a stratospheric rise to fame as the world outside of Bristol started to listen. They still champion Bristol bands, and the scene itself, bumping into various members at shows around Bristol is a regular occurrence. They went from being an integral part of a city's musical community to creating their own global community and using it to help platform new bands. The most asked-for 'Bristol' band in the shop, for sure! Bad news though, they used to steal our beer and leads in the practice room we shared. Naughty boys.
Adrian, Rough Trade Bristol
READ NOW: Backstage with IDLES
Katy J Pearson
Tonight (2019)
Growing up in Gloucestershire, Katy J Pearson chose Bristol as the city to develop and showcase her craft, joining a very exciting crop of rising indie artists and bands all experimenting with entirely different things (Her contemporaries include techno noise rock band Scaler, nu-folk riser Fenne Lily and surfy post-punk rockers Grandma's House). What sets Katy aside is the innately magical quality to her voice, blending Americana elements and synth pop with a magical allure reminiscent of Joni Mitchell or Jessica Pratt. Tonight is a lifting pop-leaning number which evokes both heartache and a call to the dancefloor, a definite highlight of the Bristol artist's impressive works so far.
This is the Kit
No Such Thing (2020)
Formed in Bristol, This Is The Kit is the vehicle Kate Stables captains to chronicle her various musings. No Such Thing is as good an example of any of her highly consistent compositions to pick. Descending guitar lick, shuffle drums, melancholic horns and a killer melody. Wander into her world and wallow amongst the best in woozy English whimsy.
Jamie, Rough Trade Office
Svalbard
Faking It (2023)
Bristol's contribution to the burgeoning British metal scene, Svalbard belong between blurred lines of black metal and post-hardcore. Faking It was released on their 2023 LP The Weight Of The Mask, an album most importantly created to advocate for mental health, exploring pain and depression, and the corners of their darkest times. Deliberately direct lyricism breaks through the band's ferocity, powering the song's roaring hooks: “I don’t feel love, I just fake it”, a formidable track paving the way for post-hardcore metal.
Tara Clerkin Trio
The Turning Ground (2023)
An underappreciated gem of the Bristol music scene and so influential to many musicians in the city (including myself). Pat Benjamin, Sunny Joe Paradisos and Tara Clerkin are individually staples of the Bristol music scene but together form Tara Clerkin Trio. Tape loops, keyboards, dreamy vocals, the occasional clarinet and the most amazing drums - there is genuinely nothing I dislike about this band. Inspired by jazz, trip hop and electronica, this band are out here doing something so different, and doing it well. The Turning Ground is a head-turner of a track from their latest EP release, On The Turning Ground. This song in particular is riddled in Bristol.
"You can feel the legacy left lingering in the city by icons such as; Massive Attack and Portishead - it’s all there, in the drums and the samples, but Tara Clerkin Trio are paving the way for a new generation of greats here in Bristol with their unmatched creativity and incredible sound."
Josie, Rough Trade Bristol
Further Listening...
Before 'the Bristol sound' and beyond. Bristol City has produced a wealth of art and artists who have made immeasurable contributions to underground and popular culture, and other household names who are inextricably connected to the city, without being born and bred there.
Post-punk legends The Pop Group shared their drummer Bruce Smith with The Slits, who also formed and played in Rip Rig + Panic with his former wife Neneh Cherry. Neneh later married Cameron McVey, producer for Portishead and Massive Attack. Neneh helped assist the arrangements for Massive Attack's seminal 1991 album Blue Lines and shared with them the record collection of her stepfather and late jazz legend Don Cherry, for sampling purposes.
READ: A Thousand Threads, Neneh Cherry's debut memoir arrives in 2024.
Although formed in London, Bananarama's founding members Sara Dallin and Karen Woodward actually met aged four at school in Bristol, both living in the Downend area. Two teenage punks who went on to pen hits such as the propulsive pop song Venus.
British pop band Straw was formed by Bristol University mates Mattie Bennett (vocals/guitar) and Roger Power (bass); expanding to a trio with the addition of keyboardist Duck. Catchy, shiny disco pop worth diving into.
Rising alongside Bristol’s Wild Bunch sound system, to then crucially feature and collaborate on Massive Attack's debut album Blue Lines, Tricky is a true trip-hop legend with his own solo career to behold. An artist who was born and bred in Bristol to Caribbean parents (in the economically deprived area of Knowle West) Tricky and his collaborative work act demonstrate the revolutionary style birthed via the transmission of immigrant culture. His debut solo album Maxinquaye, featuring the captivating voice of Martina Topley Bird, is without doubt one of the most striking, atmospheric albums of the 90's.
Milo Johnson, aka DJ Milo, was a founding member of Bristol’s bass-heavy, multiracial The Wild Bunch sound system in the 1980s, along with Massive Attack's later key members.
A former member of Roni Size and Reprazent, DJ Krust has long been considered a vanguard of drum and bass. Similar to Tricky, the Bristolian DJ grew up in Bristol's Knowle West council estate where he embraced the city's burgeoning b-boy culture, learning to breakdance and make music as part of the Fresh Four (the breakbeat classic Wishing On A Star, produced by Smith & Mighty's Rob Smith).
Brighton-formed, largely Bristol-based Squid have a well-earned reputation as one of the most exciting and forward-thinking bands shaping the ever-burgeoning British post-punk scene, live and on record. Their multi-genre style includes definite krautrock influences and the band themselves speak of their love for Beak>, and how their monosyllabic animal-sounding name may have subconsciously influenced their band name.
Combining genres from jazz to minimalism into an impressive display of live musicianship, Ishmael Ensemble are another key example of a modern Bristol band drawing from the city's history, utilizing double bass of Roni Size style soundscapes and nods to The Pop Group's industrial rhythms. We've had the pleasure of hosting this band in our performance spaces numerous times, a chance you should not pass on.
Ishmael Ensemble: LIVE at Rough Trade
Bristol dub-pop Jabu are ones to watch amongst a school of newcomers taking inspiration from Bristol's impressive musical heritage. So far their sound has melded pop, trip-hop and dub, hardcore, sound systems and lovers rock, citing Massive Attack as an influence. A true Bristol concoction. Watch this space for what's coming next from these guys.
Gimic are another must-see band on the circuit, ensuring Bristol's punk and hardcore scenes are thriving in a way that it hasn’t been in many years, alongside bands such as Rank, Zero Again, Perp Walk, Overpower and more. Early influences of punk and hardcore are at the heart of Gimic's sound and ineffable, runaway live energy.
