Around Midnight

Coming up with grand ideas for blog entries can be difficult at times. I've encountered a bit of writer's block recently and have had a hard time deciding what to write about.

I recently got a direct message on Twitter from @alexhudish requesting a write up on his new project "Around Midnight." This message made my decision a lot easier, especially after listening to a few of the MP3 previews at the Around Midnight website.

The first track on the preview playlist is "Even So", a relaxing, ambient track with a catchy guitar melody, soothing keys, and a potpourri of electronic-ambient sounds.

"Between Sounds" features delicately beautiful piano playing and an orient-like synth melody (kept thinking of Nintendo video game music for the synth part at times).

"Premonition" is a VERY well done track. A quiet bass intro is proceeded by more terrific piano playing and a great drum track. The synth adds nicely to the music and it builds to a big sound, which reminded me a bit of Ulrich Schnauss' style of electronica. This was my favorite of the four tracks I previewed.

"ElectroPositive" is a fun, uptempo track with lots of great electronic and guitar sounds mixed together with a great dance beat. The outtro gently fades out with waves of ambient synth chords and ends abruptly making you want more.

Alex's piano playing is superb and is the highlight of this great electronic chillout music. I highly recommend picking up his album available for download at Amazon, iTunes, etc.

Keep chillin'

Chris

Give us some more JUICE!

JP Juice, that is. He also goes by Naoki Kenji and I've been listening to quite a few of his tracks lately. To say the least, they are GORGEOUS!

"Le Soleil" from his "Fukai" album seems to fit perfectly with waking up in the morning and watching the sunrise or even meditating. The laid back beat and whispering vocals make it a perfect chill track. Here’s a video for Le Soleil.

The breathtaking video of varying natural landscapes is a great backdrop for this song. There are a myriad of other JP Juice/Kenji videos on YouTube and you can check out some of Naoki's work on his MySpace and LastFM sites as well.

Naoki Kenji has an extensive discography between his self titled and JP Juice records. His latest release titled "Less Ordinary" features the track "Lost" which is first on his myspace playlist. Lost is similar to Le Soleil in its laid back beat, however Le Soleil is a bit more hypnotic where Lost is a bit more of a dance track. It's not really fair to compare the two tracks, but those are the first two that caught my attention, so I thought I would. He definitely has the chillout bug and I am going to be picking up most of his albums soon. JP Juice is quintessential chill music.

Keep chillin'

-Chris

Arms and Sleepers

Wow!

Words can hardly describe what I heard last night on my first listen to Arms and Sleepers' "Butterflycatcher" while on Blip.fm. The track off of their Black Paris 86 album has a somber feel to it until an odd middle section which emphasizes horns picks it up for a bit. After that section, some light vocals go delicately with the constant horn crescendos/decrescendos. The sections are separated by a snare SNAP which I can only interpret to be the butterfly being caught with a net.

The title track from the same album is similar in shape and scope. All of their tracks would seemingly produce a great film noir soundtrack.

Here's a YouTube video of a live performance of Black Paris 86.

Their recently released 5 song EP "The Motorist" is available at their Blogspot account/store for only $7. If you'd like to help contribute to our site, purchase Black Paris 86 at our Amazon store. I would highly recommend you check out Arms and Sleepers and take some time to sit down and take every sound in while listening. Enjoy!

Keep chillin'

-Chris

Blue Stone = Beautiful!

Through the magic of MySpace I have come in contact with a great chillout artist from Ft. Lauderdale, FL called Blue Stone.

Blue Stone are: Robert Smith (no not the Robert Smith from The Cure), Bill Walters, Sheyenne Rivers, Samantha Sandlin, Maura Hurley, Sara Bloomfield, Sarah Day and Veronika Gunter.

Just listening to some clips from their new album "Messages" will make you want to buy it and enjoy their chill soundscapes. The tracks I listened to

feature beautiful female vocals (not sure which female they were, but will find out after I purchase the album) and spacey synth melodies and groovy drum tracks.

Checked out Blue Stone on Last.FM and found Break of Dawn from their "Breathe" album. The instrumental track is nice and airy with a great drum track to accompany some lovely ambient synth (their specialty, in my opinion). I may have to pick up all of their previous albums, but I would highly recommend you buy "Messages" as soon as you can this July 28th!!

Keep chillin'!

-Chris