1997年Smoke City的首张唱片《飞走》(FlyingAway),可谓是向triphop电子乐界打出的一个擦边球,因为一直以来我们都用MassiveAttack或者Portishead的标准来规范triphop的定义:诡秘的人声,阴郁的气息,在电子中混合嬉哈,爵士,骚灵等元素。虽然在SmokeCity的唱片里仍然可以听到同样的音乐元素,但他们却令triphop的鬼魅气息稍有减弱,因为他们往triphop里灌注了浓郁的巴西风情:热情的桑巴舞曲和欢快的bossa nova不禁令人有在酒吧间闻乐起舞的欲望。
由于爵士女伶Bebel Gilberto和Amon Tobin的巨大成功,全世界关注爵士的目光越来越多,特别是最纯粹而且最容易被接受的bossa nova令全球刮起了一股巴西的音乐旋风。
by John Bush
The track "Underwater Love," used for a Levi's commercial earlier in 1997, is just one of the pleasing trip-hop and mild breakbeat tracks on Smoke City's debut album; other songs, like "Numbers" and "Dark Walk" are just as strong, and the alternately rough-hewn and sultry vocals of Nina Miranda (in French and Portuguese as well as English) definitely add to the proceedings. All in all, the album is a bit of a surprise considering that the group was completely unknown before gaining success on British TV.