END OF THE LINE: If, say, someone was to ask you to wager a guess at what style a collective from Bristol create, centrally comprising a male producer and guest female vocalists, it wouldn’ t out be out of place to lay a bet on trip-hop being somewhere in the mix now would it? Enter End of the Line, a Trip-hop/Hiphop/Dub Collective from the home of innovators Massive Attack, Portishead and Smith & Mighty. For many, this dub-influenced style which emerged in the early ‘90s has always had the ability to retain its underground brilliance whilst also acting effectively as commercial background music. End Of The Line have a good crack at emulating the seductive sound pioneered almost 20 years ago now in their home city, though perhaps on the whole somewhat lacking these groups murky, bass-heavy originality that drew them immediate attention and Mercury Award acclaim. Headed by James Farrell, producer of 16 years and vocalist, End of the Line create an unmistakeable trip-hop sound clearly coming from the heart. The music is described as exploring themes of passion, happiness, anger, love, hate, death and life. Farrell explains ‘when i’m making my music all of these things come out...Just depends what i’m feeling at the time’. Emotion is certainly there and the dark, dreamy atmosphere in ‘Yes I Miss Ya’ has shades of songs from Tricky’s brooding genre masterpiece Maxinquaye (1995). Soulful female vocals and a spoken word style deliver alternating verses over an eerie melody which certainly sets the mood in the darker of the themes Farrell describes. Within the three songs presented on the groups MySpace there’s sufficient musical variation to keep the listener interested. All manner of organic sounding samples are used, including an effective array of strings, pianos, vinyl scratches and other instruments throughout the tracks. It’s not immediately obvious what it is about the hilly city of Bristol that inspires this distinctive sound. The truth is however that a small but incredibly talented roster of artists showcasing this original style have emerged over the last 20 years, and their success continues to inspire current up and coming artists to expand on their innovation. When it comes to End Of The Line, they impress. While there’s a lot of similar unsigned material around today; the talent is there and it’s a dark and engaging formula. Bristol Music Producer j Farrell