Various Earth Octave Lounge vol 1 Interchill (Canada)

I must confess, I’ve got a very soft spot for Interchill. Not only is their dubby concoction of spliffed out and laid-flat tunes as addictive as it is effective, but they seem to have this vibe of an organisation dedicated to chilling out the planet, sort of the sonic equivalent of passing round the peace pipe and resolving differences with herbal puffage. Before I start to disappear up my own backside, best to start talking about the music and what’s here is good. Japan’s Dub Squad kicks off this truly global album with The Lost Mountain, a staggeringly beautiful hip hoppy skit with effortless production and a delectable acidised section backed up by groovy chanting. Merv from Eat Static appears as Hi-Fi Companions with The Livin End, taking Eat Static’s later B-movie sound and dubbing it out into a cute late-night jazzy number over which he reigns havoc. Mere Mortals’ Kissing the Opaque was produced in Canada and remixed by Dreamdoktor in Romania (I told you this was global) and it’s a smooth, cinematic bit of dubby chill with plenty of surprises alongside the smooth-as-fuck instrumentation. Sort of a more twisted version of your classical beachside chillout. Over to France for Jumbo Layer’s Misty, this is as incredible slide guitar driven bit of stuff, and though it hangs together in a very camp and quirky way (it’s very French!) it’s perfect in its stoned quirkiness. You’ve never heard anything like it. Cubajaz by Cubajaz from the UK is sort of Red Snapper meets Shpongle, with cosmic flutes and synths over laid back double bas and vibes. The USA’s Boogs offer up Opposable Strums, a guitar-led bit of quirky latin-ish house, and Prague’s Floex lays down a very smooth and introspective (and jazzy) bit of late-night abstraction with Phi-Log. Back to Japan with Remain from Rei Harakammi, and to say this is staggering is an understatement. It’s got that electronic-Rhodes sound that you’d get on a Nintendo, but it’s more abstract than anything else I’ve heard having either none or many discernable melodies (whichever way you look at it) and a fragmental DJ-Shadow sort of drum pattern. Hab from Sweden’s Holystic is desolate trip hop, and the wonderful American Shakatura’s Midheaven is a wonderful blend of tribal sounds and smooth dubby groove. International Observer from the UK steps in with Minicell, an abstract-ambient flavoured slomo hiphop thing, and finally Canadian Hydraulic closes the album with Chewy Centre, an epic bit of loungecore with plenty of funk under its deep sounds. This is a classy, effortless album packed full of surprises and proving that there’s more life in global chillout than most of us ever gave credit for. I’m off to open up a café now specifically so I can play this CD all day long. It’s released on September 17th, but available now via