The Chillout Lounge Mix - Compelling
The music in this extended mix is aimed at those big occasions, momentous moments with those close to you. It’s a crossover of the many different genres I love as ever, a sunset mix that gets calmer as the sun is setting lower in the sky, then builds up again after the sun has eased over the horizon of a beautiful seascape. There are more energetic quick transitions to start with easing into longer blends the more relaxing the set gets. I really enjoy doing mixes for more intimate venues but this one is for the bigger stage.
British / Dutch trio Cubicolor (Anjunadeep) share brand new single Easy Mark, taken from their forthcoming album Sometime Not Now. The three-piece electronic band, AKA Tim Digby-Bell, Peter Kriek and Ariaan Olieroock are armed with their most accomplished record to date. Created in response to an album they previously scrapped, it took the pandemic of 2020 to reignite their desire to bring those tracks back to life and inject magic into them. The band add: "It wasn't the right time in 2019 for these songs. But it is now. There are some great remixes of Pelace’s (Infinite Depth) tracks Echoes From The Past and Forever Together but the original versions are my favourite, check out more here. Instantly recognisable to anyone who has seen Bicep’s (Ninja Tune) lauded live show in recent times, Water is another keenly anticipated fan-favorite that finally sees an official release. Featuring vocals from Clara La San. Water represents their first brand new music since that album. The release also contains the b-side Waterfall (which worked nicely in this mix) an earlier, instrumental version of Water which gives fans a chance to gain an insight into how the ideas for the finished track have developed over time. This is an ethos that has carried through all of Bicep’s recent work, their last album Isles was always intended to be fluid, with the tracks in their recorded form evolving and mutating for the live shows and beyond. Joris Feiertag is a Dutch producer and live-act from the historic and culturally rich city of Utrecht. Having signed to Sonar Kollektiv in 2018, he has released two albums on the label so far. Before embarking on album three, and discovering whichever side of Feiertag’s multi-faceted personality and talents that will explore, Joris has taken a moment to deliver a couple of one-off pieces just to cleanse our musical palettes. Earlier in the autumn he unleashed Kojin - a long time, visceral secret weapon in his sets that just oozes unabated energy. Now he brings us When She Leaves, still very much a dance floor record, but one with a greater sense of balance between the mind and the feet. Swirling synths and tender keys make way for nostalgic breakbeats and vocal snippets, but it soon becomes clear that there‘s some serious songwriting involved in the making of this track. Vocal hooks come to the fore and the audience is left with the feeling that they’re listening to something that might be described as ‘emotionally intelligent dance music’. It’s certainly a piece that Joris himself is looking forward to playing in his live shows. slEdger is a Dj / Producer that doesn’t really fit any tight genre. slEdger's first single Softcastle mixes up elements of Balearic, progressive house, breakbeat and live bass / guitar, he has released music in various guises over the last 15 years gaining support from people as diverse as John Digweed, Mary Anne Hobbs and Annie Nightingale, and has also DJ’d at various seminal clubs like Back To Basics, Elements and Turnmills often playing in the more musically experimental back rooms. Driven by the power of slow, shivering downtempo rhythms and melodic techno influenced grooves, Andreas Balicki has become a one of kind voyager of sound. With his productions he is always striving towards unheard and unprecedented sounds, developing his own universal language, Boundaries is his first complete album. The prolific and always-on-point Dear Deer Music is back with Himszlow's new single Custo including Robert Babicz and Olivier Giacomotto Remixes. Custo is a beautifully downbeat tune. The heavy, slow drums are dubbed out and moody, with delicate melodies and synths up top adding to the melancholy, while a breathy vocal drifts in the spaces left behind. It's epic in emotion. Custo (Robert Babicz Remix) is then a more club-ready cut with smooth rolling bass and heady chords that get you in a trance, gazing at the progressive melodies. Last of all is Custo (Olivier Giacomotto Remix) which has another driving baseline and fleshy bass with scintillating percussion. In memory of Giovanni Salvai, a Sardinian man who has inspired many lives. May this song make his voice resonate forever. Custo, a Sardinian word meaning this one. Ivory (Innervisions) relocates to an AI-inhabited landscape for Don’t Lose Control, which he describes as “one of the more emotional moments of the LP”. On first listen, it’s easy to get swept away. Creaking, jarring synths make way for dreamy pads and smooth house synth stabs that eventually give the mic to a disembodied post-human voice – one that sounds poetic, haunting, and eerily prescient. Please welcome Taleman on the sublime label by Madraas, Where The Shadow Ends, with his beautiful Inspiration EP! Three original tracks and two stunning remixes from Greenage, Plecta and Ilias Katelanos who’s version fitted best in this mix. Next up is a dreamy, minimal track by Jeddah-based DJ and producer Zone+ and Dubai-based DJ and producer Hoolz, out on WTR by MDLBEAST Records. I included two tracks from Big In Borneo who’s been on the podcast before, absolutely love his music and he’s one to keep an eye on for sure. Berlin-based electronic artist ASA 808’s new album Boy, crush is a very personal inner journey as well as a call to fight and free ourselves from toxic masculinity. In eight tracks that subtly merge electronica, ambient, breakbeat and house. It’s a real honour and a pleasure to have The Future Sound of London on the podcast, I’ve been a huge fan for many years. Their latest album A Space of Partial Illumination is a nice variety of intelligent, modern sounding beats and energies. They inspired me to delve deep with some of my own personal favourites by Nikosf, Addex and Fingers In The Noise with their deep, dub techno, chillout crossover vibes. Ludwig AF’s Air - A Retrospective, was made over the course of the last eight years, marking his first full-length album project . It is, says the artist, a hugely personal collection of music that isn't officially a debut album but instead a look back on what has been achieved so far. This is dreamscape music, techno with airiness, ambient synth design that soothes the mind, body and soul. One of my favourite artists Max Cooper provides Ascent, the perfect sunset track (as well as sunrise) with an engaging ambient piece that is pure emotion and has the usual technical brilliance included. Teho joins forces with the highly talented artist Aalson with a track called Beyond, which the super talented Aparde remixes with epic results, huge tune for just after the sun has set, instantly changing the mood. Big In Borneo brings the love once again with Your Kiss which has such a blissful vibe and rises with the sublime vocals and cool beats. Finishing off with more gratuitous self promotion, Rise and Fall is one of my favourite tracks on the new Innermost album by Tim Angrave (the whole album mix is available in the last podcast), deep, moody, and a track to start the evening sundown mix with more straight up 4/4 beats and dancefloor treats.
Tracklist:
Easy Mark - Cubicolor
Forever Together (Original Mix) - Pelace
Waterfall (Original Mix) - Bicep
When She Leaves - Feiertag
Softcastle - slEdger
Boundaries - Andreas Balicki
Custo (Robert Babicz Remix) - Himszlow
Don't Lose Control (Club Mix) - Ivory
Inspiration (Ilias Katelanos & Plecta Remix) - Taleman
Ruikatsu - Hoolz & Zone+
How it Feels - Big In Borneo
Another First Next Time feat. Severine - Asa 808
A Space of Partial Illumination - The Future Sound of London
Seasons & Circles (Original Mix) - Nikosf
Liberation - Addex
Ludwig AF - Onsen Dream
Rain Day - Fingers In The Noise
Ascent - Max Cooper
Beyond (Aparde Remix) - Teho, Aalson
Your Kiss - Big In Borneo
Rise and Fall - Tim Angrave