Natural Born Chillers

Various

Natural Born Chillers

Aleph Zero (Israel)

On heavy rotation chez psyreviews since it arrived just before Christmas, Natural Born Chillers is as nigh on perfect a chillout album as you could hope for. The tracks are all interesting, all varied, and are weaved together in such a way as to create real, genuine flow. Ishq’s Alaya is among his best to date, an unfolding ten-plus minutes of delightful chillage with the pads and noises seemingly taking on a crystalline life of their own. Shakti from Anahata dazzles with its deep and varied electronic pings and zips, while creating a beautiful sonic vacuum that seems to suck you right in. Zen Mechanics A New Philosophy is a dubby monster which flicks form melody-rich warmth to reverbed mad professor style workout, before coming back with melodies that bring a teat to your eye. Jirah makes an unlikely but more than welcome appearance with Disconnect, an acidy and genuinely psychedelic piece of chillout that escalates wildly before setting you right back down where you started with a caring, parental hand. Agalactica’s Monochrome Rainbow Pixie may have a daft name but it jumps up and out at you in a very mischievious way. Its groove has to be heard to be believed, and while it’s clearly influenced by Shpongle, its got enough class and charm of its own to stand on its two feet with pride, before skipping round you in a circle and nicking a bit of your beer. Cosmic Fools’ Be Yourself is another gem, a lazy summertime tune driven by acoustic guitars, warm bass and jaw-dropping synthlines. Fucking awesome, though the vocals that come in about halfway thorough might get you beaten up by your mates in the playground. J Viewz’ Estha is nothing short of a classic, and one I’ve had on loop for ages. Acoustic guitar (but actually played well, and actually placed well in the mix, as in not at the top… look, it works okay) peppered with sitar, all underpinning one of the most glorious and life-affirming five minutes of music you are ever likely to hear. The Midival Punditz remix of Son Kite’s On Air flows and evolves nicely, and Omar Faruk Tekbilek & Steve Shehan’s Ya Bouy (Shulman Remix) has great production and some really nice sounds on the percussion, but is spoiled for me by the Indian instruments which are just too dominant in the mix and make it all a bit cacophonous. Finally Eastern Spirit’s Under Water closes the album in a more familiar chillout style, less of a “wow” factor than some of the other tunes here, but still great in its own right and has the quality of making you want to play the whole album again. This, then, is an utter classic. You just need this – along with Psymeditation, it’s a well-thought-out, deeply moving, deeply enjoyable CD and one which you will be playing for months on end. Respect.