Bagul - Vintage Baguls

After a 6-year hiatus, Bagul comes back with a series of clean-cut beats reminiscing of sunset-lit cityscapes, road-trips to the beach in an old car... seems to me they are just waiting for lyrics to gracefully perch themselves upon their soundwaves, but I am personally a fan of instrumental pieces.

Haircuts for men - テンペスト地域 (COLLECTED EDITION)

After making us salivate for weeks with bits and pieces of dreamy music, Haircuts for men (finally) puts those bits in one whole release, 15 tracks between intricate Chill and vaporous Vaporwave that will take you on a journey from the clothing section of a giant, maze-like supermarket to the heart of an urban district. In between, we'll go to the moon.

It's always a good idea to go and inspect your favourite artists' catalog, remember.

Have an absolutely marvelous day.

Gyoza District - Voyage Agency

Picture your stop. It's your stop, you should get off the train... maybe. But you don't, you stay inside, and in a mysteriously luminous misty haze the train visits futuristic underwater cities in the uncharted depths. Then you sleep, you sleep, perchance you dream. Of far away lands, of still unclassified colours, of mystical animals...

Well actually it's not really a dream, it's almost as real as the air you breathe, you just pressed play on Gyoza District's newest album, and this master of weird chill music is determined to make you trip to another world.

So just, like.

Enjoy.

Future Astronauts - Vessels VII

Future Astronauts is a collective specialised in the making of astounding compilation of hand-picked chilly tracks, master-crafted mixes and podcasts. The 'Vessels' series of compilation serves a good cause (as does all music, is it not?) that of helping raise mental health and suicide prevention awareness and donating all profits to charity.

So here you go, you can do a good deed while listening to state of the art trip-hop, downtempo, UK garage, ambient... you name it!

I'll leave you to it then, see you later.

Flamingosis - Flight Fantastic

Flamingosis's newborn (okay, almost new) takes everything that makes chill music great, adds some funky grooves, and blends the whole thing with palm trees and sunsets viewed from a cabriolet.

Nothing more to say, just press play !

Auditive Escape - Sonic Numerals

Auditive Escape is the epitome of dreamy music. There's a lightness in the melodies and a airiness in the rhythms that can't really be described. All in all, there's nothing to throw away.

Sonic Numerals is his latest album, hailing from the distant plains of August 2017... Man, one year already ?

It's a pure concentrate of sublime. The tracks are sometimes atmospheric, not to say stratospheric, and sometimes a little bit more down to Earth. But not too much, because they are all so aerial and ethereal...

Once you've enjoyed this musical jewel, go take a listen to his other works. Particularly... all of them.

Have a wonderful night. Let's hope nothing lame happens in the world until next week at least.

The Villain - Parallels

Yeah I know, a couple of weeks ago I already shared some beautiful music piece from The Villain, but, you see, I crave this kind of sound so much. The calm, the tranquility, the soothing.

An amazing full-length album this time, featuring 12 tracks of master-crafted Downtempo beats in his own personal style, the result of about a year of sonic experimentations.

This album is bound to be granted a full scholarship to go and live in you favourites of all time. Just press play.

King Shi - Red

Here's a flawless Downtempo gem. I will go as far as considering it one of the best releases ever from Dusted Wax Kingdom.

King Shi takes us on familiar roads, weaving his pieces along the way with great skill, shaping the whole in a manner that is rather hard not to enjoy, not to mention that it will probably take its rightful place amongst your favourites.

A smooth blend of influences (such as Bonobo or Emancipator) set with original and personal compositions, a work of art in itself that is best enjoyed during rainy or snowy days, with wide open ears and good monitors, but not too much volume.

In a nutshell, this music puts your neurons back into place.

To get it, visit DWK's website.

Dropping Gems - Gem Drops Four

Fourth in the line of succession of the Gem Drops dynasty, this fourth installment comes across as a worthy heir. It taps into the endlessly inclassifiable music of its predecessor to give us one thoroughly enjoyable musical journey from beginning to end.

A flawless ethereal gem drop, to listen to without delay.

Like now, unless you've got something better to do, but I doubt it.

The Villain - Permian Thoughts

This week I want to share this with you: a short, four-track long album, but whose calming power will enable you to replace the walls of your room with a starry night sky.

So, there you go, have a good one.

And if you like what you hear, don't hesitate, buy and give a little something, it's always appreciated and helps the artists go on. You might also want to take a listen at The Villain's other works.

The Villain - Magical Man & The Gritty Mysteries

I don't really remember how I stumbled upon this jewel, but I cherish the day the series of events that led to this one started.

It is without a doubt, one of the best Downtempo albums I've had the opportunity to listen to in a mighty long time. Chilly atmospheres and unidentified flying samples coming from old documentaries about electronic music will enchant you throughout this journey of an album.

As would The Villain say : "The final result is an obscure mess of chapters, narrative and tracklisting, during which you won’t hear even a single second of silence. Enjoy."

I don't have anything to add.

PS : I hope you've steered clear of Valentine's Day and only listened to cool music all day long, together or alone.

Sai Wai - Lone Samurai Masamune

Here's part one of Sai Wai's two-part debut project, this one Masamune being an album of instrumental chill jazzy relaxing, downtown sunset kind of music ; and the second one, Suzanami being embroidered with lyrics, comfortably seated on a soft bed of music.

w a l l a C - s u r d o

w a l l a C is a producer from Rio de Janeiro, now resident in Melbourne, drawing from multiple influences, from funk, reggae, dub, brasilian music and from the weirdest nooks and crannies of the realm of suprachill.

On the whole he gives an interesting chilly blend that is pretty hard to define. I'll let you be the judges of that.

This album is out on Dub Temple Records, which features not only, but lots of free-priced releases you ought to check out.

See you soon.

Romo - Meow

Raw emotion and sentimentality, childlike joy and heavy bass. I guess you do not need much more to define this release by Romo, who had previously ravished our ears with 'Chase The Universe' in collaboration with Sincjack, another talented beatmaker and producer.

Samples taken from video games of which I am still quite fond, sweet and bumpy melodies, but also a surprising guitar interlude, Meow is a short but welcomed dose of good sound I'm having trouble categorising.

See you next time.

Blossom - Where Are You Hiding ?

Blossom is a Polish artist whose music I discovered via the 'Secret Garden' compilations from DLoaw & Co., a collective that still fails to disappoint me with the quality of the releases they produce. I'm also taking a moment here to strongly suggest you take a look at their catalog, you just might find the love of your life, or in any case, get your ears massaged.

'Where Are You Hiding ?' is a simple yet intricate album, dreamy yet well-constructed. Its atmosphere almost immediately made me think of my first discoveries in the field of Trip-Hop such as Blockhead for the nostalgic tone and Bonobo for the feel of open spaces. Soft melodies are laid carefully on rhythms varying between slow and not too fast but faster than slow, the whole takes place in an atmosphere of a child's dreams and a surnatural world coming to life.

If you love this music just as I do, you might consider give a little something to the artist, as a token of your appreciation, you know, every bit helps.

See you soon.

Vanilla - Origin

Happy new year ! Here's one of the best bestest chill albums ever made. Peace of mind and soul soothing will ensue, I can assure you.

Let's hope to the emperor 2017 will be a little less as crappy as 2016, which everyone seems to think was the worst year ever. I could name some that were a bit worse but let's focus on chill music for now.

Have a good one !

Phonophanatic - Boxbeats Vol. 5

If you want to spend a good moment I suggest you take a listen to any of the albums you may find in Phonophanatic Collective's catalog. But for today, let's take a closer look at this one.

A long time has passed since I've discovered this label with Boxbeats Vol. 2. At the time I already sensed that those guys really understood how to make great chillin grillin music.

Based in Leiden, Netherlands, Phonophanatic offers a very large catalog of releases, all of which are free-priced and packed with groovy and chilly beats. All the artists present in this compilation have careers of their own, exclusive albums that you may find on their pages by looking around a bit.

I wish you well on your quest for the truth.

Beatween - The Ocean Between Us

When DLoaw & Co. specially recommends an album, you never get disappointed, and here's another proof with the debut album from Beatween, a duo from "between Québec and Switzerland" made of Raycord's electronic textures and Maël's acoustic instrumentals.

Clarinet, piano, guitar and drums dance and blend in each other on downtempo beats made of flowing liquid sound.

Not a single faux pas on this album that you may well call a love at first time (I've only listened to it once and it's not even finished when I started writing the article. But there's a good chance I'll listen to it again and again in the future).

Kratos Himself - Imagination

Hi !
I'm taking a break during the month of august.

See you in september with lots of music !

101 - Music

101 is in my opinion the artist that represents best the free underground presence of the Braindance style.

Changing between frenetic rhythms and old-school synths reminiscing of the short-lived glory of the Dance music of the 80's and 90's, this album lifts us up in the air, then plunges us down into the earth, near the lava core of the planet, then makes us soar up again to the flying cities of the future that we all have seen somewhere in a waking dream.

Like all the albums out at Cold Tear Records, you may buy it on their Bandcamp to get the high-quality lossless format, or download it in .mp3 via the "Archives.org" link on the page featuring the album. Your choice. I bought it to show support to one of my favourite artists in the electronic music world.