Originally, Café Del Mar was a bar located in Sant Antoni de Portmany, a town on the western coast of Ibiza. The collections of the music played at the bar were first sold on cassette at the end of the 1980s. In 1994, the first official "Café del Mar" CD was released on React.
The best Cafe Del Mar albums date mostly from DJ Jose Padilla's time as curator of the series (1994-1999) and they remain essential snapshots of warm, tech-savvy, post-dance chillout music… an oasis of old-school ambient, warm Arabian strings, liquid dub, Latin melodies, nu jazz and lounge. Each is spread over a wide, blissed-out canvas that's as bright as a sunny day.
The Café del Mar is perhaps most known around the world for its chill-out music compilations. The songs are described as balearic ambient, easy listening music. The collections of the music played at the café were first sold on cassette at the end of the 1980s. In 1994, the first official “Café del Mar” CD was released, which included works by world-renowned artists. Following the great success of the first release, a total of 18 volumes of the main compilation series have been published.
Erased Tapes has the huge privilege of reissuing the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra's last ever studio album Union Cafe including a first time vinyl edition — out December 1st 2017 to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of founder Simon Jeffes' passing in 1997.