Trip hop is a sub-genre of electronic music that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. Deriving from later idioms of acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat emerging from the Bristol Sound scene, which contained influences of soul, funk and jazz. It has been described as "Europe's alternative choice in the second half of the '90s", and "a fusion of hip hop and electronica until neither genre is recognisable". Trip hop music fuses several styles and has much in common with other genres; it has several qualities similar to ambient music, and its drum-based breakdowns share characteristics with hip hop. It also contains elements of R&B, dub and house, as well as other electronic music. Trip hop can be highly experimental.