| Smoke City | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | London, England[1] |
| Genre: | Electronic, trip hop |
| Years Active: | 1996–2002 |
| Label: | Jive Records |
| Current Members: | Nina Miranda Mark Brown Chris Franck |
Smoke City was an English band that blended acid jazz and trip hop, borrowing from Brazilian styles such as samba and bossa nova and some lyrics have excerpts in Portuguese.[2] They are best known for their single "Underwater Love", which was a major hit in 1997, after being used in a Levi's television advertisement, "Mermaids" (directed by Michel Gondry).[2] In 1997, the band released their first album, Flying Away, which included several hits such as "Underwater Love", "Mr. Gorgeous (and Miss Curvaceous)" and "Águas de março (Joga Bossa Mix)".[2] Smoke City's next album, Heroes of Nature, was released in 2001. An extended version of Heroes of Nature had three more tracks than the original, one of them being a cover version of John Lennon's "Imagine".
"Underwater Love" is also a track on the soundtrack for Thicker Than Water, a surf video.
In 1998, the band contributed "O Cara Lindo (Mr. Gorgeous)" to the AIDS benefit compilation album , which was produced by the Red Hot Organization.
The group disbanded in 2002.
Slant Magazine listed their album Flying Away #20 on their list of greatest trip-hop albums of all time.[3]
| Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [4] | |||
| Flying Away |
| 123 | |
| Heroes of Nature |
| – |
| Year | Chart positions | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [5] | AUS | AUT | BE-FL | BE-WA | GER | ITA | NOR | SWE | SWI [6] | ||
| "Underwater Love" | 1997 | 4 | 41 | 23 | 42 | 33 | 55 | — | 18 | 58 | 32 |
| "Mr. Gorgeous (and Miss Curvaceous)" | — | 168 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | |