Alpha: A Profile

BRISTOL, LIKE Manchester, was once synonymous with nervy, wired, dark white funk – The Pop Group, Rip Rig & Panic. Then the drugs changed (skunk, not speed), the pace slooooowed, and Bristol gave us the downtempo holy trinity (Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky) with their inchoate, muggy, fuzzy trip hop. A new sort of dread. A different kind of tension.