Hex sounds like the early 1990s dreaming of the 21st century. It is a dense, liquid world of sampled voices, bit-crushed breakbeats, and shimmering synthesizer pads that feel both high-tech and strangely organic. The music carries a distinct 'urban night' energy, moving between the chill of ambient techno and the rhythmic grit of early trip-hop.
What makes them distinctive is their origin as a multimedia collective. You can hear the visual influence in the music; it feels like a collage of found footage and digital artifacts. Unlike their peers who focused purely on the dancefloor, Hex prioritized texture and interactivity, creating a sound that is as much about the space between the notes as the beats themselves.
Start with 'Digital Love' to experience their peak fusion of melody and machine. It is the perfect entry point for anyone who loves the early Ninja Tune roster but wants something a bit more experimental and atmospheric.
Hex, or Hex Media, were a London-based multimedia group founded in the early 1990s by artist Robert Pepperell, coder Miles Visman and the DJ duo Coldcut. The group set out to exploit the creative potential of, what was then, the new media technologies of CD-ROM, multimedia, interactive computing, video sampling and portable video projection. Working across a wide range of media - from computer games to art exhibitions - the group pioneered many new media hybrids, including live audiovisual jamming, computer-generated audio performances, and interactive collaborative instruments. Their work was published on a series of interactive CD-ROMs, and exhibited widely - including at the JAM exhibition in London's Barbican Gallery in 1996 – and through the 'in-house' music label, Ninja Tune. The group dispersed in the late 1990s, with later members Stuart Warren Hill and Robin Brunson going on to form the VJ outfit Hexstatic.
Shares downtempo, ambient techno, trip-hop (subgenres); mysterious, contemplative, dreamy (moods)
Shares trip-hop, ambient techno, downtempo (subgenres); mysterious, contemplative, restless (moods)
Shares downtempo, ambient techno, glitch (subgenres); mysterious, contemplative, restless (moods)
Shares mysterious, restless, contemplative (moods); urban night, underwater, focused work (atmosphere)
Shares mysterious, restless, contemplative (moods); downtempo, ambient techno (subgenres)
Shares downtempo, ambient techno, glitch (subgenres); spoken word, processed, absent (vocal style)
Shares mysterious, restless, contemplative (moods); digital clarity, layered dense, sample based (production style)
Shares sample based, digital clarity, layered dense (production style); mysterious, restless, contemplative (moods)
Shares sample based, layered dense, digital clarity (production style); trip-hop, glitch, downtempo (subgenres)
Shares downtempo, ambient techno, trip-hop (subgenres); mysterious, restless, contemplative (moods)
Shares ambient techno, field recordings, glitch, underwater (signature)
Shares sample based, field recordings, trip-hop, ambient techno (signature)
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