Cyantific - Empty Streets (2009)

Matt Whitehead and Jon Stanley, known as Cyantific have recently released this dreamy, minimalistic tune, which can be found on 'Hospital Mix 7' and 'Sick Music'. I instantly noticed resemblance to the work of dubstep producer Burial, yet I must say that I respect Cyantific deeply, for actually creating a piece of music which differs from the average liquid funk sound you would be expecting to hear on Hospital. This tune offers you a techy beat just rollin away with dreamy lyrical samples flawlessly blended together. So simple, yet so powerful - easily among the best hospital releases this year.

Toshinori Kondo and DJ Krush - Ki-Oku(1996)

Fu-Yu
How does one communicate without words? What happens when you meet a stranger who speaks a different language from yours, but you've got something important to say to them? The Japanese duo of DJ Krush and Toshinori Kondo seem to have the definitve answer with this album. From its beginning to the end, the message weaved into the music is crystal clear: look into the future without forgetting where you came from, and, most importantly, chill out.


Shoh-Ka
DJ Krush's mellow grooves intertwine beautifully with the avant-garde jazz trumpet skills of Toshinori Kondo, creating a mosaic that's both light and deep: below the surface of the tracks, there is an amazing current of ambience, whether it's the trumpet echoing through, or electronic sounds that one would hear on a Boards Of Canada track. The album name, Ki-Oku, means "Memory", and all the track names are Japanese, with the exception of Sun Is Shining, an instrumental cover of a Bob Marley song. The whole album feels almost as though it's a broadcast from another world, simply telling us all to take it easy for a change.


Mu-Chu

Seamill - Matka (2009)

Seamill is a music project by two friends of mine. Their first production, Matka, is originally a 30 minute track, but was later crafted into this much shorter and listenable 7 minute journey.

Matka has great depth and compositional quality. Give yourself 7 minutes of deep and honest attention, in order to properly perceive the atmospherical layers and structure in this trip.

I'm very glad about participating in the final stages of the production, as well as doing the cover artwork, and I hope to hear more from Seamill in the future.

Tycho - The Daydream

Being in the same league as Ulrich Schnauss, Scott Hansen widely known as Tycho brings us the warm, optimistic sound.

Bonobo - Days To Come (2006)

Ketto, track number five on Days To Come

As electronic music grows more popular, there are more and more mediocre artists to sift through and try to find amazing things like this. Days To Come is the latest release from Simon Green, a British DJ who is much more widely known as Bonobo... And what an incredible find it is.

Released on October 31, 2006 on Ninja Tune, this album is pure quality. The tracks are laced with various string instruments, and samples of traditional percussion so acoustic that one could call it something other than electronic music. The breakbeats and bass drops don't seem to agree with that and bring back the hip-hop feel to the tracks, but that's a big part of what makes this album so good. Some of the tracks have vocals by Bajka on them, her earthly style adds a further touch of the past to this perfect balance of past and future, tradition and experimentation.

Walk In The Sky, with vocals from Bajka

Nightmares on Wax - You Wish

Possibly the strongest track on the album "In A Space Outta Sound" by George Evelyn.

De-Phazz - Steps Ahead

I was looking through some De-Phazz tracks and really it's all sublime, but this one has more of a dark triphop feel to it. Different, in a good way. Enjoy.

Quantic - Time Is The Enemy

Today I bring you ...



How can this tune be so good?

And yeah, the lounge is getting damn lazy, stay tuned though, something wicked this way comes!!!

The Cinematic Orchestra

Another very interesting group signed on Ninja Tune.
The group basically consists of five people playing a variety of instruments, and a turntablist. It's a dreamy and soulful elegance going through their tracks. Inprovisational music weaved together with eletronic samples, modified and rearranged into an inspiring emotional nu-jazz trip. Man, check it out...


All That You Give (ft. Fontella Bass)


To Build a Home


Horizon

Free The Robots - Lonely Traveller(2007)

Free the Robots, a hip-hop/jazz/electronica duo from Santa Ana, California, bring the sound of decades of jazz together with an intelligent and introspective hip-hop sound. This is one of the tracks off the self-titled EP that the project released in 2007. Cool scratches, obscure voice samples and soft jazz-influenced melodies topped with a hefty beat, it doesn't get much better than this.

"Goin' to a realm you've never been in" is an incredibly accurate description of their style. Highly recommended. This song takes you places.

The Herbaliser - Something Wicked This Way Comes (2002)

"The Hard Stuff"


"Battle of Bongo Hill"


"Time 2 Built"

The Herbaliser is a very consistent duo - try any of their albums, and you'll find quality. And that's probably what makes them one of the greatest names on the Ninja Tune label today. With loads of successful albums and EP's right in the bag, this group has got consistency and experience. I love when the style in music seems so confident in itself, when artists stay true to themselves, instead of trying to alter their intentional, original sound with the purpose of reaching a wider audience.

What is the album all about? I think it's about simplicity. It doesn't really need more than jazzy samples, basslines and well-crafted hip-hop beats to make successful chillout tracks. Half of the tracks or so has lyrics in them, I chose two tracks without, but that's just me. Go check the album out - check out their other albums, it's all good...

Nomak - Recalm (2008)

Intro and Outro on "Recalm"


Onepeace - Nomak ft. Aaron Phiri

His first album "Calm" earned him a position among very similar artists such as the japanese nu-jazz artist Nujabes, as well as hip-hop producers Fat Jon and Kero One. While not being even nearly as known as Nujabes, his sound is actually very unique, and different from Nujabes, if one listens closely. Traditional hip-hop beats layered with soulful jazz atmosphere and vocals. Jazz or hip-hop - these soulful pieces incorporates elements from both worlds.