Sebastien Tellier Mouton

For better or worse, Germany's Compost Records has been the benchmark and barometer for measuring the state of downtempo/chillout. While trends in downtempo music have altered and evolved since the inaugural installment of the Future Sounds of Jazz series, one thing has remained consistent: the series has provided quality compilations featuring some of electronic music's most respected downtempo producers alongside up-and-coming talent. This tenth installment, mixed carefully by label owner Michael Reinboth and labelmates Beanfield, features the same high-quality acid jazz, downtempo, and drum'n'bass that devotees of the label have come to expect from the series. Contributions from minimal techno maestro Ricardo Villalobos and jazz legend Cal Tjader (remixed ably by Reinboth)…

Jean Mouton was a Renaissance French composer and choirmaster, much acknowledged but more rarely recorded, who wrote a body of music that’s both technically inventive and immediately appealing. Here Stephen Rice and The Brabant Ensemble—renowned exponents of sixteenth-century Franco-Flemish repertoire—perform all Mouton’s eight-part music, two four-part motets, and his only five-part Mass setting, the Missa Tu es Petrus. The latter is characterized by light, clear textures and a soaring cantus firmus, while the double-choir Nesciens mater is rightly famous for its ingenious canon. Sheer compositional skill aside, all these works demonstrate Mouton’s vivid and original imagination—one that has the ability to speak directly to our time.

Charles Mouton’s music is rarely heard on CD, this being the only recording devoted exclusively to him. Stylistically Mouton was heir to the well-established Parisian tradition of Francois Dufaut, Denis Gaultier, and his cousin Ennemond (all of whom Smith has featured in full-length CD programs for Astrée–all unfortunately deleted), where lute composition and performance first attempted to mirror or at least programmatically allude to extra-musical subject matter. Hence, selections here such as “La belle homicide”, “Le Dialogue des graces sur Iris”, “La Bizare”, and the brief self-portrait selection “Le Mouton; Canarie” imply that the composer not only wished to enchant the ear, but also invited listeners to muse over the sources of his inspiration. Whether or not these intended allusions are made, Mouton’s pieces here are always well-crafted, quintessentially elegant, and ceaselessly nostalgic–the anachronistic epitome of late-17th century French style.

Eco Zen (2005). Eco-Zen is all about re-connecting with the world around us. Promoting the challenging message that for too long we’ve been over-stimulated, blinded and numbed by a frenetic swirl of images and messages that assault us everywhere we go in our daily lives. We’ve switched off that magical part of us that connects us to the greater consciousness, that little part within us all that unites us with every other person around us – humanity. Inspired by the desire to awaken our senses through thoughtful and beautiful music from all over the globe Eco-Zen sets out to shake us from our reverie, to ignite that spark within each of us…

There can only be one Chill Out and Lounge Compilation Series being the Market Leader and it certainly is the Café del Mar Series! There have since been many imitators, but only one true Café del Mar. No other album will reaffirm further this very simple statement than Volume 20 including exclusive tracks from Nightmares On Wax, Goldfrapp, Thievery Corporation, Rae & Christian , Penguin Café, Moby, M83, Morcheeba, Boards of Canada.