Category: Chill Out

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Departure – Calle 63

Photo credit: @santiago_denegurica

Artist: Departure

Song: Calle 63

Genres: #chillout #lofi

Influences: Khruangbin

Location: London, United Kingdom

Release date: April, 2022.

Comment: Camilo Tostón, who produces music as both Departure and for boutique music labels, grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, in a 3-story building inhabited entirely by family members. When he listened to Khruangbin‘s track: Cómo Te Quiero and watched its music video, which depicts the last minutes of a dying grandfather, Camilo got inspired to reminisce about the happy childhood that he had and came up with Calle 63, a magical track that transport you back to those years when we were happy without knowing it.

Calle 63 is Camilo‘s second single as Departure. Something I really like about it is that despite being an electronic track, the main element in this mesmerizing tune is actually a guitar. Outstanding job.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out

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MIRRORS – Heading Home

MIRRORS - Heading Home

Artist: MIRRORS

Song: Heading Home

Genres: #chillout #ambient

Location: Indianapolis, United States

Release date: April, 2022.

Comment: Here’s another chill-out gem. At one point or another in our lives, we have all had to leave the place we considered home in order to start a new life somewhere else, whether it’s going away to college or moving to a new city or country because life happens. In the process, we feel homesick for the place we’re leaving behind and, at the same time, excited in anticipation of the environment that will become our new home. How will it be? Will we get used to it? That’s the feeling that young and extremely talented music producer Joe Morgan, aka MIRRORS, wanted to convey with the fascinating “Heading Home“. This spellbinding track is simply gorgeous.

The scary part – in a good way – is that MIRRORS, a name chosen based on the project’s main catchphrase, “We reflect what we surround ourselves with,” is just getting started.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out
  • Relax

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Toteles – Halcyon

Artist: Toteles

Song: Halcyon

Genres: #chillout #ambient

Location: Munich, Germany

Release date: March, 2022.

Comment: Some tracks grab your attention and hold it long after they have finished playing. When this happens with a chill-out/ambient song, it just shows how special that track is. As you probably guessed, that is the case with Halcyon, one of the first singles released by German artist Christoph Sebastian Pabst under the Toteles moniker, which comes from Aristoteles. Christoph has been making music most of his life, initially in projects with some friends and later on under his own name, but Toteles represents a new beginning for him, focusing on electronic music, deep house, ambient, and chill-out music. You need both talent and luck to be successful in the music business. I don’t know how much luck he has, but he certainly got plenty of talent.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out
  • Relax

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Keeka The Brave – The Messenger

Artist: Keeka The Brave

Song: The Messenger

Genres: #postrock #instrumental

Influences: Tycho, Lymbyc Systym, Boards of Canada

Location: Florida, United States

Release date: February, 2022

Comment: Having received classical training in percussion and after years performing as a drummer in live gigs or as a DJ/electronic music artist, it makes absolute sense that the work of Keeka The Brave –the musical project of American musician, producer, and songwriter: Elon Hiers–, sounds so cool and fresh. The Messenger, for instance, blends post-rock guitar lines with ambient synths and sophisticated beats. Inspired by the beaches near Jacksonville, this mesmerizing track will be part of Keeka The Brave‘s debut EP. Check it out!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Chill Out

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Rosehip – Twilight

Photo credit: @olicutter

Artist: Rosehip

Song: Twilight

Genres: #chillout #lofi

Location: London, United Kingdom

Release date: February, 2022.

Comment: Inspired by the eponymous 1850 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (sampled at 1:16), Twilight is a relaxing and melancholic lo-fi single from London-based producer Rosehip. The poem describes the ocean though the eyes of a child who’s looking at it, in the middle of a storm, from the comfort of home, and that’s the feeling Rosehip wanted to evoke in the listener too: feeling comfortable during turbulent times.

Twilight is part of Stargaze, the new EP by this talented artist. Despite starting pushing the boundaries of lo-fi recently (2020), Rosehip has already achieved over 8 million streams on Spotify. Once you listen to Twilight, you will see why.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out

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The Auxiliary – Overture

Photo credit: Paul Storey

Artist: The Auxiliary

Song: Overture

Genres: #chillout #dreampop

Location: North Carolina, United States

Release date: January, 2022.

Comment: Russell Howard, the talented musician behind The Auxiliary, has been making music professionally most of his life, mainly as an acoustic singer-songwriter supporting acts such as The Lumineers and Sister Hazel, but it wasn’t until he decided to leave behind the boundaries of that genre and embrace what really inspired him, that he found what he didn’t know he’d been looking for. Overture is his debut single as The Auxiliary, and this one turned out to be a gorgeous electronic soundscape with ethereal vocals and reverberated synths. It feels like the soundtrack of a dream. Don’t miss it.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out
  • Pop

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Angara feat. Diana Goldberg – Escape

Artist: Angara

Song: Escape

Genres: #chillout #electronic

Location: Paris, France

Release date: May, 2021.

Comment: Mesmerizing house track from French duo Angara featuring German singer Diana Goldberg. Escape tells the story of young woman realizing that she’s not coping well with certain elements of her life. The electronic artist have released a few tracks this year and they are all worth your time. I highly recommend adding them to your music radar.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out

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Aonian – Hideout

Artist: Aonian

Song: Hideout

Genres: #chillout #electronic

Location: London, United Kingdom

Release date: April, 2021.

Comment: As suggested by his moniker, Aonian (real name: Alkis Livathinos) is originally from Greece and you can certainly perceive a Greek influence in his music. This London-based electronic music musician has composed pieces for brands such as Louis Vuitton and will soon release his debut full album. A problem I have with electronic and chill-out music is that many of the tracks tend to sound similar to each other but that’s not the case with Hideout, Aonian‘s second single. This piece is testimony of the artist’s talent and creativity. Listening to it will transport you to a beach bar in Mykonos.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out

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heartaake – unevershowmeløv

Two friends from Sweden, one a house music producer, John Dahlbäck, and the other one a 3D animator, Erik Ande, decided to work together on a music/motion art project as a way to abstract themselves from their hectic lives that involve, according to them, too many children and dogs around. This project is heartaake, and as you can probably guess already, its music style is basically #lofichillout. John and Eric say that their biggest influence is the silence that surrounds them when they make music.

However, unevershowmeløv –I got no clue what it means but the song is about taking it easy– is not your typical chill out tune. It has personality. Sounds and a melody that make it easily identifiable, which is not something I can say of many chill-out tracks. Also, at just 01:46 minutes, it does not overstay its welcome. As implied by the animation below, unevershowmeløv is a great track to listen to while driving. The artists behind heartaake say that this music is their chill zone and I think they manage to transport the listener to that place as well. What else could we ask for? Welcome to the chill zone!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out

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The Broken Cradle – Road to Gilead

Gilead may mean, among other things, “hill of testimony” and that is the meaning The Broken Cradle had in mind when he decided to use it as the name of his latest EP. It is supposed to tell the journey of our respective roads to Gilead in our search for happiness and purpose. The EP is a neoclassical and ambient album that starts with the aptly titled Road to Gilead, a piano-centered track with atmospheric pads that create a mesmerizing soundscape. Listening to the multiple textures in the song feels like scratching an itch and not wanting to stop.

The Broken Cradle is the solo work of Eric McLean, a musician from North Carolina with over 20 years of experience. With influences such as Brian Eno and Olafur Arnalds, it is not surprising that his music could fit so well in an album from any of those renowned artists. He is that good.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out
  • Relax