Free-Soil Sounds for Moonage

More delectable, classy chill-out from European label Music For Dreams. Calm has been around for a while, so it's great to see this compilation.

Calm – as the name suggests – is known for sun-drenched world-y grooves (lots of Brazil influences). Imagine the sound of a jazzy downtempo electronica group like Skalpel or dZihan & Kamien, but chilled out for a sublime, tropical beach setting a la Café Del Mar. Recommended for fans of world music, downtempo, tropical grooves, and chill-out.

Track 4 has been a personal favorite of mine for years now – gorgeous!
Also Recommended: 2, 3, 7, 10

- Captain Dee, 12-2004


1. Exotic chant riffs, jazzy downtempo drums, layers of ambience. (8:57)
*2. Lush comforting synths, strumming guitar, Brazilian-ish shaker beat, meandering piano, deep bass, and background vocals. Picture a slow, carefree day on the beach. (5:54)
**3. Dancey! Elaborate acoustic rhythms, humming, and ambient piano give way to segments of spicy Latin groove full of handclaps and catchy guitar. Hot. (6:27)
***4. A chill-out classic and long-time personal favorite. The title ("Running On Sand") is so perfect. Lovely synth ambience, quiet vocal chants, drums, insanely beautiful chime melody, joyful guitar strums. Wonderful trip-hop beat kicks in midway. (8:54)
5. Dramatic piano, later joined by acoustic bass, sax, and strong drum beat. Loud bird samples at the end. (12:03)
6. Seductive. Rolling drums, jazzy piano, "oohs," flute and acoustic bass. (7:34)
*7. Shakers everywhere, floating keyboard, tropical ambience. "Sitting on the Beach" indeed. This was on the Samba Sunset comp recently on A-File. (5:07)
*8. Chilled-out spacey tribal funk. Slow methodical pace. (6:50)
9. Female vocal cooing over tight uptempo, jazzy groove. (7:06)
**10. Thick beautiful layers of ambience, deep relaxing bass, drums, and infectious tabla/sitar(?) playing. The title "White Breath" sums it up well. I keep thinking of a futuristic beach vacation on another planet. Gorgeous! (8:31)