Various Fahrenheit Project Part Three Ultimae (France)

Some nice quality chillout for these increasingly cold autumn days… in Europe at least. (If you’re living in warmer climes, then just use your imagination.) Fahrenheit Project 3 manages to fit into an as-yet untouched groove, with a definite seasonal feel… the cover artwork features deep autumnal sunshine filtered through cold-starched treetops and the whole album has that vibe of hibernation time. If you accept that our own internal rhythms are in some way connected to those of the earth, and that ancient ancestors would probably be spending time right about now gathering animal skins, nuts and hallucinogenic mushrooms to hoard back into their caves for the winter downtime, then you’ll appreciate this vibe. Compiled and mixed by Koala, previously part of much applauded Jaia, this is a tight collection of beatless trance and tribal world breakbeats that only suffers intermittently from taking itself too seriously. Koala’s track with Xentrix opens the CD nicely with one of the finest bits of chill of the year, a real unfolding and rising atmosphere makes the music take on a mind of its own. Likewise Cell’s Spiritual Moves is awesome and reminds you just how deep this music can go, and Carbon Based Lifeforms’ MOS 6581 is supreme: glossy, meditative stuff that brings feelings overflowing and then makes them subside gorgeously. With input from Toires, Solar Fields and Mystical Sun jostling alongside fresher names like Aes Dana & HUVA Network, familiar patterns shift alongside newer ones making this a sublime tribal chillout backdrop to cold, clear Sunday mornings.