VA - Uxmal Chill 01

[Bill]

 

VA - Uxmal Chill 01

 

1. Dhamika - Aathma
2. Psyrius - Venus
3. Cubering - Ye Olde Mopus
4. Jaya - Ice Cream Weather
5. When Elements Align - Fortuitous Encounter
6. Sundial Aeon - Love Shelter (Kyoto remix)
7. Sonic Geometry - Let's Restart the World
8. Perpetual Loop - Chunky Crunch
9. Terra Nine - Love Potion
10. Kala hari - Dubquest
11. Unusual Cosmic Process - No Gravity
12. Deep In Mind - Guerilla
13. Mazea - The Mission
14. Perpetual Loop - SunSpots
15. Lemonchill - I Missed A Heart Beat (Deep in mind remix)
16. Tentura - Theme Patcher (Dense remix)
17. Crop - Floating in a Dream
18. Unusual Cosmic Process - Cosmic Blue (Phase II)
19. Lemonchill - I Missed A Heart Beat (Kassender remix)
20. Kyoto - Bodhisattva

 

Exactly like the album cover, much in this big 20-track collection feels like a day at the beach - there is much that is airy, much that is light, much that is very, very chilled out. Possibly too chilled out. Too often many of these tracks sound much like the track that came before it and because there is little variety it becomes very easy to rest well while this music is playing.

 

Opinions may vary on whether that means the chill out is doing its job or whether the tracks just have not gone far enough with creativity.

 

Chill out can be deeply interesting if done correctly and no finer example comes forth than Dhamika's "Aathma," a track so nuanced, so subtle, so chill, that it becomes lovelier and richer with each repeat listen. In short, it may some of the best work of its type to be found outside of Ultimae.

 

Another track of great interest is offered up by Kala Hari on "Dubquest," an edgy, moody dub track that partly stands out because of the attitude it displays, as compared to the very polite vibes of most everything else on the album, but mostly it stands out because it is genuinely good.

 

And if "Uxmal Chill 01" is not as great as it could be the one reason you would be silly to miss it is Deep In Mind's "Guerilla." A true diamond-in-the-rough, an epic 16-minute beauty of lush moods, groovy rhythms, lovely layers. In short, this one is a masterwork, not at all to be missed, something worth sitting through a lot of mediocre tracks in order to get to. So far in this young year, "Guerilla" is the finest down tempo these ears have heard.

 

Deep In Mind makes an encore appearance later in the disc, albeit, not as memorable, on a remix of Lemonchill's "I Missed A Heart Beat."

 

Much, too much, on "Uxmal Chill 01" sounds very clean, very pristine, sometimes getting too close to lounge and house, and most could use a little more edge to their sound, they could afford to take more chances.

 

The one thing that each of the highlights have in common are their psychedelic roots, mostly minus elsewhere on the album, and the chances those tracks take pay off large rewards.

 

Those rewards are worth reaping even if it means sitting through a lot of uninteresting prettiness to get to them.