Kuba - Bringing It All Back Home

Chillout artist Kuba is back with another album. I admit I haven't heard the middle two yet, just Inside Out which was a cool experience. Before I even got to listen to Inside Out enough for it to grow on me and pick out the best tracks on it I found out he's out with his fourth album. As I haven't heard the other two I won't compare this to his other work.
The album opens with a very chilling Monk Dust. It's a really nice piece, with "tribal" vocals repeating throughout the track. Not very psychedelic or dubby, just good old chillout. The next track is a bit more dubby. Sounds very similar to what I would expect from Kaya Project. Just great. After the first two we get something different. Heavy dub sounds, a psychedelic vibe and reggae vocals. I am not a big fan of this kind of vocals in chillout music, but here they definitely sound good. And as if there wasn't enough happening the listener gets some magnificent flute playing as well. Really cool track, not the best vocals, but they fit well. Track number four is titled They All Went To A Party and it's totally different from the previous three. It's pretty upbeat, almost trancy and a bit monotone, but still one of the best on the album. Perfect soundtrack for a rainy day train ride. The next track is a pretty simple one. Uplifiting guitar playing, flute and a lively beat make it one of the most chilled tracks on the album, but it's a bit on the cheesy side. Still nice to hear. The next track features guitar as well, but I like this one much more. Not as uplifiting and a bit more ambient, very beautiful. Soft female vocals are a very nice addition. The following piece is titled Mushroom Daddy In Dub and it has a lot of reggae influence. Really nice sounds, Kuba really shows how varied his styles can be. Make Me Water is the second trancy track on the album, not really impressive, kind of simple, but still worth a listen. Next on the list is Keep Walking, which has hardly any beat at all and keeps on building up and right when you expect it to climax it dies down and ends. It's very good though, great sounds Kuba offers us. Track number ten is a dubby chillout tune with an ethnic sound. Good one. Next is Maria From Huddersville which has a very heavy feel to it. Not sure what is it about it, but it's one of the best on this release. The outro track is an ambient piece with some vocals, a good ending to the album
This album is an amazing experience. Psychill, trance, dub, reggae, ambient. You hear everything on this one, but none of those styles stands out at any point. Maybe it's a bit inconsistent, but all tracks are at least good. Very positive and uplifiting vibes, perfect for anyone feeling down. While I usually prefer the darker side of electronic music, Kuba knows how to deliver without being cheesy. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Standout Tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 11
Genre: Chilout, Dub, Psychill, Reggae, Ambient

Release info:

Label: Chillcode Music
Country: Germany
Released: November 2009

Tracklist:

1. Monk Dust
2. Where's Fragga
3. A Shoe String (Spaff Mix feat. Shaky)
4. They All Went To A Party
5. The Sky You Are (Feat. Tiago Coimbra)
6. It Keeps Us Down To Size (Feat. Michele Adamson)
7. Mushroom Daddy In Dub (Feat. Charlie Shuttler)
8. Make Me Water
9. Keep Walking (Feat. Michele Adamson)
10. Bringing It All Back Home
11. Maria From Huddersfield
12. A Tangerine World

Union Jack - Pylon Pigs

Union Jack is back with a new album, fourteen years after the release of There Will Be No Armageddon and twelve since their last single. Clasudio Giussani left the group and was replaced by Paul Brogen (also known as Pob). This is probably in my top three most awaited albums of the year because Union Jack, alongside Art of Trance, has influenced my taste like no other project.

I was afraid even these guys would succumb to the new trends in music, but fortunately they haven't. They haven't forgotten their roots, most of the tracks sound like goood old school trance and just like on their first album we get a few chillout gems. Blink stands out a little stylistically sounding more like modern trance, but it's still a very good track. The acid sound is a little less noticeable on this one, but it's still an acid trance album, something extremely rare these days. The trance tracks have a very hard beat for the most part, lots of acid and a dark sound. Unlike most albums the chillout tracks are put in between the trance pieces which is a pretty good idea. Instead of cooling off after hearing the whole album we get a calmer track more often. The cover is pretty interesting, but very different from the old style Platipus cover art. I liked the old ones more, but this is nice too. It's really hard to find a minus on this album. Even though it sounds old school it's much fresher than all the stuff that gets called "trance" these days. Union Jack does not sell out and gives us another trance masterpiece. It's been a very good year for Platipus records. Six new releases, an Art Of Trance collection and a few compilation albums show that the label is back in the game.

Rating: 5/5

Standout tracks: 1, 2,10

Genre: Acid Trance, Chillout

Release info:

Label: Platipus
Country: United Kingdom
Released: 14 September 2009
Credits: Artwork By - Kiosk, Gemma Winter 
Mastered By - Paul Brodgen 
Producer, Written-By - Paul Brogden, Simon Berry

Tracklist:

1. Papillon
2. Submerge
3. Triclops
4. Longhorn
5. Mainlining
6. Blink
7. Lifeblood
8. Vowel
9. The Dark Major
10. Funnelweb

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace

Argaman - My Little Forest

My Little Forest is the second album by the Israeli producer Itai Argaman, but first under this alias. He's known for making psytrance, but like many produces he also decided to make some psychedelic chillout...

The cover is pretty interesting and it caught my attention. It looks more like a cover for a Disney DVD than a psychill album artwork, but I actually like it's cheesiness. They say "don't judge a book by it's cover", but in this case I couldn't resist. Especially if it was released by FairyTales Records... After listening to the album it's obvious all this cheesiness is intentional as the music itself has many "fairytale" moments. Most of the tracks have some light dub and classical mixed together with "magical" music which gives it an interesting and very unique sound. There is a lot happening in every track so they never get boring and they are not repetitive. It's pretty weird stuff though and one or two times I was about to skip to the next track. I cannot say this is my favorite style, but I have to give him credit for having some cool ideas and most of all for creating his own style. Most of the time when I hear something new there is always some other artist or album I can compare it to, but this is something new. I've been hearing good things about this album before my first listen and even though it's not really for me I know many people love it. Seeing what Argaman comes up with in the future will be interesting.

Rating: 3.5/5

Standout tracks: 1, 4,9

Genre: Chillout, Dub

Release info:

Label: FairyTales Records
Country: Israel
Released: 4 September 2009
Credits: Artwork By - The-Pash

Mastered By - Itai Argaman
Producer, Written-By - Itai Argaman

Tracklist:

1. LSDing Camping
2. You Will See
3. InHarmonic Symphony
4. WierDUB
5. Don't Leave Me Alone
6. The Old Times
7. It's Not For Money
8. The New Vibe
9. Concertina
10. The Silence

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace