The Chill Out Tent

There are a slew of interesting and musically wide ranging compilation albums hitting the shelves at the moment, both digital and physical releases, so much music that it feels difficult to keep up sometimes. In recent weeks I've been delving into various Various Artist albums- Luke Una presents E Soul Cultura, the Spun Out Agency's More Of That Frightful Oompty Bumpty Music, Paul Hillery's We Are The Children Of The Sun and The Chill Out Tent Volume 1 to name but four. Eventually I'll get round to posting something about each of these, but I'll start today with the last one- The Chill Out Tent Volume 1. 

The 1990s/ early 2000s really marred the chill out compilation CD. More often than not just an excuse for some identikit blandness to play in a bar while wearing bad sunglasses- it became a very debased concept, piles of double CDs destined for bargain bins in motorway service stations. The Chill Out Tent compilation, put together by the Chill Out Tent crew, is a very strong attempt to renew the concept with a twelve track album of Balearic/ dance/ dub/ reggae tracks, based around what they call 'acid house hippy'. There's so much to enjoy inside it the compilation- all exclusive to the album- from opening pair of songs onwards, starting out with the sitars and dub burblings of Calm's Summer Night Dream and the Uptown Top Ranking sampling of Turbotito's To Feel In Love. Balearic DJ and producer Chris Coco contributes remixes and versions on six of the twelve songs with his remix of Sauco's Sun Goddess and a collaboration with Hear And Now both already sounding like high summer and his remix of Projections Original Cell is drifting, ambient/ Balearic bliss (I've posted some of Projections music before here). The album finishes with a song from Mallorca by Joan Bibiloni, five minutes of sounds to watch the sun go down to- whistles, hand drums, Spanish guitar, synths. Nottingham's Balearic duo Coyote are on there too. Home Grown is a beauty, slowly edging forward with keys and padded drums, in no hurry to get to it's destination. 

The Chill Out Tent Volume 1 can be bought here, out in full at the start of July. 

Earlier this year Coyote released a new EP on French label Citizens Of Vice, two new tracks- As The Crow Flies and Steely Dad (song title of the year alert). It came with some remixes including this one of As The Crow Flies by Chris Coco, which has some of the most heart tugging, happy/ sad piano chords you'll have the pleasure of hearing today. Buy it here if you're so inclined.