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:

Lane 8 – Survive feat. Channy Leaneagh

Lane 8

Artist: Lane 8

Song: Survive

Genres: #electronicmusic

Location: San Francisco, United States

Release date: January, 2022.

Comment: Daniel Goldstein, aka Lane 8, is pretty well known as far as electronic artists go as a member of the popular Anjunadeep label. He’s obviously really talented and a proof of that is that he’s released four studio albums already, with the latest one, Reviver, dropping this year. Survive, featuring Channy Leaneagh of Poliça, is one of its lead singles and an instant #musicalcruh. Good luck getting that chorus out of your head today.

Paradise86 – The Darkness

Artist: Paradise86

Song: The Darkness

Genres: #electronicmusic #synthwave

Location: Virginia, United States

Release date: January, 2022.

Comment: If I told you that The Darkness was an entirely self-produced, electronic track by an independent artist who got inspired by nightlife and the 1980s, you would probably assume it was a terrible song and, most of the time, you would be right. Well… not today. The Darkness sounds incredibly well, evoking all kinds of emotions from nostalgia to goosebumps. I could listen to it all day on repeat.

Originally from Honduras, Carlos Caballero, aka Paradise86, makes all his music mostly at night from his home in Manassas, Virginia. He’s seriously talented and deserves to be listened to.

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:

Jonquev – Technicolor Dreams

Artist: Jonquev

Song: Technicolor Dreams

Genres: #electronicmusic

Location: New Delhi, India

Release date: May, 2021.

Comment: Some outstanding electronic music is being produced in India today and Jonquev is the latest example of that. Technicolor Dreams is a mesmerizing track full of immersive soundscapes and hypnotic beats. It’s hard to believe this is just his debut single. I cannot even imagine what his first EP, Electric Heart, Magnetic Soul, is going to sound like. Let’s just say he’s just set our expectations pretty high. I’m looking forward to it.

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:

TZEJAX & Suhasini – Love To Go

Artist: TZEJAX featuring Suhasini

Song: Love To Go

Genres: #electronicmusic

Location: New Delhi, India

Release date: April, 2021.

Comment: Love To Go is an extremely catchy and uplifting song with a positive message about accepting all kinds of love (as shown by the video below). TZEJAX is a music producer and professional DJ from New Delhi, India, and for this track he got help from fellow Indian artist Suhasini Khattar. Check this tune out. It will light up your weekend.

Valtos – Lapwyng: Pretty Girl Remix

Artist: Valtos

Song: Lapwyng – Pretty Girl Remix

Genres: Electronic, Scottish music

Location: Scotland

Release date: April, 2021.

Influences: Odesza, Jon Hopkins

Comment: Valtos (Martyn MacDonald and Daniel Docherty) are two electronic music producers whose current project consists of remixing songs from local bands from Scotland, such as Lapwyng. The result is pretty unique and interesting.

WOLFNUNN feat. CLOUDE – Make Me Feel Bad

WOLFNUNN is the electronic/dance project of London-based multi-instrumentalist, writer and producer Joshua Nunn. He draws inspiration for writing songs from watching movies, imagining wherein the movie his tracks would fit in. Case in point, he wrote Make Me Feel Bad, his first original release, right after watching The Matrix and his intention was to create an atmospheric track for the end credits. The ethereal vocals in the song are from Spain-based artist CLOUDE, who attends the same university in London Joshua goes to (he studies Music Technology), and they couldn’t fit the tune any better.

Listening to the track, it’s hard to believe that it was recorded remotely (thanks to the first lockdown) and mixed and produced with home equipment. You really cannot notice anything odd with the recording. All in all, it is pretty clear that Joshua is really talented as a music writer and producer and he could get really far with WOLFNUNN. Hopefully, he will make more collaborations with CLOUDE as well. The future is bright for them.

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: