The Chillout Lounge Mix - Grace

This mix moves with grace, life can be a game, a race, a fight, or you can dance through it with kindness into the night.

Tom Day is a solo artist residing in Millgrove, Australia and has been creating ambient and electronic music since 2005. Characterised as “effortless and raw”, Tom’s tracks couple elegant beats and piano melodies to an array of personally-collected field recordings, his style alternating between promising swells and restful plateaus. Reflections label is releasing a whole host of amazing and relaxing chillout music, in this mix you’ll find British composer Cephas Azariah & singer-songwriter Robyn Sherwell with their follow-up single Put You Back Together. Written in the summer of 2023 during an annual Reflections songwriting camp in London, the pair found their natural rhythm in the studio quickly against the backdrop of Cephas’ signature meditative compositional style. The first collaboration of two that they would go on to write, Robyn’s songwriting and vocal serves as a gentle mantra over the soft sound bed, as she sings of soothing and helping someone through a difficult time. “The verse repeats like a meditation or mantra, it’s a quiet voice trying to whisper that things will be ok, even though there’s darkness there.” - Robyn Sherwell. Cinematic composer Jon Cooper aka Turtle, returns to Reflections with a stunning revisit of Anjunadeep’s Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen) from their collaborative album ‘Leave The Bones’. Back in 2021, GRAMMY-winning electronic music producer and artist Joseph Ray teamed up with the multi-generational Haitian band Lakou Mizik to produce an 11-track album, sought to paint a fresh glimpse of an often misrepresented country by encapsulating it’s rich culture, through Vodou chants, chest-pounding Rara dance tunes and contemporary protest songs, conveying the listener to Haiti’s spiritual heart. Having stumbled across Lakou at a tiny beach side club in Jakmel when he first arrived in Haiti in 2015, the bands organic power entranced Ray, who saw the possibility of merging his cinematic electronic production style with Lakou’s own traditional dance rhythms. NPR World Cafe debuted the first single from the album ‘Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen)’, characterised by vibrant strings, traditional Haitian rhythms and a jubilant chorus. The record is an impassioned plea to the Vodou spirit of Iron and War for protection from the brutality of life’s daily battles - “Ogou, you brought me here, take care of me.” Bringing his signature tones back to the label, Turtle delivers a dark, atmospheric revisit of ‘Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen)’, weaving the Haitian vocal chants through euphoric synths and a haunting bassline. Stegonaute, the French producer explores music with an analog edge on his uplifting production Autumn Leaves for Reflections 08. Following Mattr's remixes for Max Cooper, Grammy award winner Steven Weston and his first live show with Christian Loeffler in Bristol comes Mattr's second album. Continuing in the electronica and IDM vein we've become accustomed to Mattr also explores more intricate drum programming and rhythm on tracks like Fever and Wave in his new album Pheno. Lush soundscapes and a heavy use of granular synthesis are at the albums core whilst shimmering pads and modulating hooks keep pace and movement. Mattr's broad musical palette often draws him closer to the more emotive side of electronic music, finding resonance with artists like Max Cooper, 1-800 Girls, Baltra, Overmono, Fourtet, Otik and Radioactive Man, whom you'll hear plenty of in his consistent & beautifully diverse mix series. South London Producer / DJ Theon Bower returns on his own burgeoning imprint, Swung Out Records, in the form of a cross-genre four-track EP heavy on nostalgic rave sounds and stripped back beats. After a ten day solo excursion to a remote village in North Wales, Theon returned to London with a dozen tracks in late autumn of last year. The resulting EP has largely been inspired by a reconnection to the past, both in terms of the music that Theon cut his teeth on in his early years, as well as returning to a piece of the British coastline where Theon first experienced the allure of electronic music in many clubs that are now sadly long gone. “Out of the dozen tracks I came home with from that trip, these four made the most sense together, and just happened to be four of the more stripped back tunes I made that week. Despite being inspired by the clubs and dance floors of my teenage years on these (probably evident by the somewhat pop-leaning vocals on some of them), I’ve really put this together with the afterparty and more chill listening settings in mind rather than the clubs. Shouts to Greg Fleming (Chemical Brothers, Chase & Status) for his help with the mixing and mastering of these too”. Salon Imaginalis opens up a new chapter, launching a sub-label. Tanz Salon is the imprint’s new venture dedicated to dance music and club-oriented output. The first release on the sub-label is by no other than the Salon Imaginalis boss, Koloah. The Berlin-based Ukrainian producer continues his broken beat explorations with a 5-track EP titled Mind Control. With recent works touching upon breakbeat, bass, and dubstep, this time around Koloah is putting his twist on classic electro. Staying true to the acid genre tropes, ‘Mind Control’ is cold, sharp, and futuristic, yet it is not deprived of the cinematic quality that is by now a signature to Koloah’s sound. The record is enchanting, with the tracks laced with mystical motives and bewildering rhythms. It's meant for an adventurous club experience where glitchy, out-of-context vocals lend themselves into the most mischievous dancefloor moments. Haulm, the indie / electronic duo comprised of producer BAILE and producer / vocalist JT Norton, returns with a Deluxe release of their last EP ‘Preludes’, featuring reworks by BAILE and Tom Jarmey. The release also includes acapellas of each song, perfect for a moody breakbeat or left-field house edit, or to inject some emotive, catchy vocals into a set. Tom Jarmey and BAILE capitalize on Haulm’s texture-rich instrumentals and intimate vocals, reworking the originals into deeper, more dance-floor ready tracks. Melancholy synthesizers and washed-out pads ebb and flow atop knocking percussion and gritty breaks. Basslines dance and saw their way through the mix injecting new energy into the gloomy electronica that Haulm has made its signature sound. Dilby and Cristina Lazic team for a special collaboration with remix support from label bosses, Pornbugs. New Zealander Dilby made Berlin his home some twelve years ago, its turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life. With the underground music hotspot as his base, he has amassed an enviable back catalogue on some of the scene's biggest labels including Poker Flat, 8Bit and Glasgow Underground, equally, Cristina, who grew up composing music, has made great strides recently. Releases on Bondage, Moxy Music and Crosstown Rebels only scratch the surface of her influence. A passionate member of SheSaid. So, she leads the parenthood’s committee in safeguarding artists with children as well as championing women in music. Opening with Concentrate the deep, minimal house pairing starts with a solid beat, warm bass and snappy percussion. Undulating grooves hypnotise with consummate ease as the track shifts gears towards the main break. Perfect warm up vibes from the best in the business. Chicago born but now firmly ensconced in his adopted Greek homeland, Savvas Karabinos, has been involved in the dance music industry since the early 1990s. With over a double century of production credits to his name since 2010, Savvas has continued to find his work valued by the finest modern underground imprints, Anjunadeep, Proton, Satya, Seven Villas, Hoomidaas, 3rd avenue and more. His track Gone on Lasting Moments showcases his continued sophisticated, deep and thoughtful sound. Platonic soulmates, producer/DJ/vocalist duo Eli & Fur drop My Reflection, a third taster from their upcoming sophomore album Dreamscapes on [PIAS] Électronique. The new single shone in their two recent sets at Cercle Festival Paris (inc. an iconic secret set in a control tower at the National Air & Space Museum). Previous LP singles Insomnia and Golden Eyes and Tears have already won acclaim from top tier media inc. Billboard, Mixmag, BBC 6 Music, SiriusXM, DJ Mag. My Reflection: threaded on a portentous thrumming beat around which melodic tumbling piano phrases shimmer, entwined with a sweet breathy layered vocal, creating an air of melancholy, nostalgia and mixed emotions – ‘you’re still the coin in the air’. A heartstring tugger, full of feeling and beauty, this track is a true representation of them as artists. Let us take you back, back to a time when you fell in love with a genre we labelled ‘melodic techno’. A time when the music was at its purest form... Undiluted, euphoric and hauntingly melancholic, words that wouldn’t necessarily describe the music today, until now. We proudly present to you Celesta a three-track masterpiece from Swiss duo ENØS. The EP showcases their signature sound; an evocative blend of deep basslines, intricate synth work, and immersive soundscapes. The EP is a journey through the emotional and the ethereal, perfect for both the dancefloor and introspective listening. Uplifting, meditative, and evocative, Renaissance of Resonance is the stunning new EP from Christopher Galovan. With reflective instrumental melodies, subtle ambient pads, and gentle organic shimmers, the music creates an atmosphere of peace and deep encouragement. Eternell - A Birds Shadow from the divine album Sonoro. “. . . And I will go away. And the birds will stay, singing. And my garden will stay, with its green tree, and white water well. And every afternoon the sky will be blue and peaceful. And the bells in the tower will chime, as they are chiming this very afternoon. The people who have loved me will all pass away, and every year the town will be revived again. And my spirit will wander nostalgic, in the same mystical corner of my flowery garden. And I will go away. And the birds will stay, singing.” ~ from ‘El viaje definitivo’ by Juan Ramón Jiménez.

Tracklist:

Flemington - Tom Day

Put You Back Together - Cephas Azariah & Robyn Sherwell

Hope (Parra For Cuva Remix) - Max Cooper

Corps - Mattr

Hold Me Close (Instrumental Mix) - Theon Bower

Dream - Koloah

Fathers (Tom Jarmey Remix) - Haulm

Concentrate - Dilby & Cristina Lazic

Gone - Savvas

My Reflection (Original Mix) - Eli & Fur

Celesta - ENØS

Autumn Leaves - Stegonaute

Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen) [Turtle Revisit] - Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray

Echoism - Christopher Galovan

A Birds Shadow - Eternell