DJ Rocca and Chris Coco continue their quest to define their version of music to play at an imaginary Discoteca. Here they team up with Danielle Moore, the singer for Crazy P, for a hazy, summery mid tempo groove that takes you off to an unspecified, loved-up sunshine state. There’s an album of dub house electro afro disco tracks that’s coming later in the year. The duo also plan to set up a few real life CocoRocca Discoteca events in summer 2022. An essential double pack of deep, dreamy rhythm and melody, equally at home at the beach or the club. Buy via Bandcamp (see link below to listen / buy) and all good online services.
This is the first release on Chris Coco’s label DSPPR from Ataurean. The EP features four tracks of downtempo chilled vibes with rolling synth arpeggios, guitars, mandolin, piano and lush pads.
Atuarean says:
‘I’ve tried to combine different genres/styles into something that you can hopefully shut your eyes and get lost in!
Here are some clips of recent interviews to give you a little view into Ataurean’s world:
Can you tell us where are you from / how you got into music? I’m from the Black Isle in the north of Scotland but now live in Edinburgh. I started playing the violin in primary 4 and then the guitar and mandolin and have always been writing tunes whether in bands or lately on my own in the studio.
Who have been your main inspirations? And how have they affected your sound? My sound has been inspired by the likes of Boards of Canada and Orbital. plus the chill out scene in Ibiza– Pikes, Café del Mar, Hostal la Torre etc.
What was the first thing that attracted you to the world of electronic music? The band I was playing in split up and I really enjoyed the studio aspect of recording so I decided to start my own set up so I could continue to write and record music using digital replacements for the other band members!
Do you remember an album that has changed everything? Boards of Canada’s ‘Music Has the Right to Children’ & Chemical Brothers, Dig You Own Hole started me off on my electronic music journey.
What’s the one bit of kit or software you’ll never get rid of? The obvious piece of software to keep would have to be Ableton. Other than that, it would be my 72 telecaster custom where all my tunes start off.
Dr Rob’s got the words: ‘The White Isle`s Residentes Balearicos come bouncing back with a debut EP, Viajes Orgaizado, for Brighton`s Higher Love Recordings. The super prolific Italian duo of Luca Averna and Ale Doretto, who’ve now made Ibiza their home, have previously released music, across a range of tempos – from serene sunset shuffles to nocturnal, psychedelic, shamanic shakedowns. Gracing labels such as Shades Of Sound, Music For Dreams, Balearic Ensemble, and Takeo Toyama`s Archipelago. Noteworthy names such as Joe Morris and Robin Lee`s Rudy’s Midnight Machine have remixed the results, while they frequently collaborate with current king of “chillout”, Melodica`s Chris Coco. This fresh four-track outing finds the friends fashioning two new tunes, each given an additional guest “twist”.
D110 starts with a solid rock drum battery, quickly joined by characteristically bionic “balearicos” bass. Ripe with ravey synth signals, and filled with flickering frequencies, the track taps directly into their Italo disco roots. Its sleazy, suggestive, stomping novo new beat, countered by breakdowns of cute cascading bells and chimes – raining prettily above the punchy, pumping, pounding. Mancunian musician James Bright, himself a Higher Love veteran – as well as working with imprints such as Sveva, Quattro, and Eclectics – smooths out the still banging, gargantuan groove. Manufacturing melody from masked marimba and energetic, particulate, ping-ponging patterns, while making excellent use of echo to build, and release, tension.
Juno’s Dream is technologically tribal. Its robotic rhythm rising and falling hypnotically, while grounded by more “organic” finger clicks. The warm, womb-like, constantly mutating, bottom-end, an homage to both acid house and bleep. Bali-based Liverpudlian Joey Fiztgerald, aka Gold Suite adds trippy gated sequences, and bonus human hand percussion, in the shape of bongos and congas. Then tops this off with huge rushing waves, swirls, of stirring, emotive, synthetic strings.’
It’s always a pleasure to share something from Afterlife and his consistently excellent catalogue. Housed on his own Subatomic imprint ‘Rising Up’ is yet another elegant and sparkling collection, of clever musical statements populated with positive intentions. In this series of EP’s spanning the last few years, I would go so far to say that this one has to be his strongest to date.
Opener ‘Rising Up’ paves the way by defining a celebration of the human spirit, serving the thoughtful dancefloor well with its chiming melodies and deep house jazzy chords, underpinned by a quietly haunting vocal almost hidden from view. ‘Way Out West’ increases the temperature and will get the ALFOS crowd stepping, as the smouldering rhythm section, alongside a fiery array of exhilarating synths, injects new life into an unfolding future somewhere out there in our wildest imagination.
‘Medicine Man’ fills you with a sense of wonder created by the deeply blissful treatment of uplifting swathes of synthesised sonics. ‘Casual Bungalow’ is cool and quirky, punctuating the airwaves with its sublime, pulsating bass, and a playful ensemble of keys, flourished by a refined and crystalline piano solo. Afterlife yet again, guides the listener to a place of contemplation, a place where all of these pieces of music can be lovingly cherished.
Here’s the second part of my ‘best of 2021’ mix, featuring some favourite music from last year.
A very chilled downtempo mix of beautiful music from all over the world.
Thanks for listening 🙂
Part 3 to follow soon…
Tracklist…
Orön – Prins Emanuel Malanai Ascending (Seahawks Mix) – Private Agenda Topaz (The Days Of Our Lives) – The Zenmenn Swanky Modes (Dennis Bovell DubMix) – JARV_IS Pinball (Ruf Dug Remix) – Lou Hayter Three Corners One View – Santino Surfers On The Beach (Chris Coco Remix) – Nick & Samantha California White Sage – Chris Coco Dorothea’s Rainbow – Elninodiablo Custards Last Stand (Dennis Bovell Vox Version) – A Mountain Of One Do Yourself Some Good – UNKLE Hope Is The Last Thing To Die (Extended Mix) – David Holmes
New year, new music. Chris Coco is quick of the mark with his first release of 2022 and the dubwise chug of ‘Mother Earth’ sets the bar pretty high for the year ahead. The three track package covers all the Balearic bases with a percussion and melodica lead main track, a hypnotic bonus beats to get lost in and a stretched out ‘Sadeedo Meets George Solar Dub‘ drenched in echo and outernational atmospherics.
‘Open mind for a different view: zooming out from that strictly balearic island phenomenon focus for the sake of the bigger picture, Chris Coco & George Solar are all about hailing “Mother Earth” upon their return – widening horizons in order to assist finding a new approach towards the world we’re living in (& on). About time. Mother should I trust the government?
Channelling both their inner Larry Levan AND Lee Scratch Perry for that matter, the “left field dub disco with an Arab twist” sort of outcome made the boys smile more than once during the creative process – and that’s despite the fact that the higher cause in this particular case for sure is a rather serious one. “In my language, we call her Mother Earth” the voice keeps saying. There’s joy in repetition. And a bit of politics as well, of course.
So while we are at it with smiles, dance floor, politics, a more global approach from an Ibiza point of view and that slight desert vibe, the duo decided on beaming up the talented selector Sadeedo to the commando bridge for this universal mission: not only is it his very own father on vocals for the original – Sadeedo also shares remix duties with his Dubtropical buddy George Solar for the mandatory (and rather special) version excursion. A match made… on Mother Earth. Ibiza soil, to be precise. With a masterful mixdown crafted in London by Mr Coco himself on a really good day. That is precisely why “Mother Earth” is a proper Balearic team effort for a better Pachamama. Global medication for the nation!’
Everybody’s favourite month of every Ibiza season has long deserved an adequate ode, and here it is in full dub version! Most of the tourists are gone, the beaches are empty, the water as clear as the skies and the sun sets in an even more magnificent way. Maybe that’s why there’s a certain amount of sweet, almost tropical melancholy in the air while she does. And chances are it sounds a little something like this… down on that beach. Do you remember? Never a cloudy day!
This is Afterlife’s late Summer Balearic update for 2021, and it’s quite a package. Atmospheric title track, Moksha open the set with its breath of mysterious voices, wigged out jazz and twisted techno vibes, an after dark soundtrack for sure. Ad Astra follows up with a delicate blissed out pulse of poolside melody. Abraxas is next up with it’s dreamy dubwise slo-mo beats. Completing the four tracker is another dub & delay heavy collaboration with Ken Fan, the Cafe del Mar resident under the name of Dreadbox. Essential listening for anyone hoping to make the Summer last that little bit longer…
Balearic duo Nick & Samantha are back with a slowed-down bossa’d-up, re-imagined version of Barry White’s classic love song. Make your own love story on the beach with this as the soundtrack. The EP also features two original songs, Pathways is a groovy, abstract, stream of consciousness thing; Summer Is Here is a bright, breezy guitar instrumental that will make you feel like Summer at any time of year.
Here’s a new super chilled 30 min sunset mix, posted as part of Cafe Mambo and Absolut‘s Sunset DJ competition. If they’re going to fly out some lucky sunseeker to play in Ibiza next month it might as well be me right? If you’ve enjoyed the mix give it a repost & favourite and maybe I’ll buy you a shot of Hierbas down at Cafe Mambo one day soon 🙂 M.
It’s tricky to capture a mood in such a short mix, but I tried to get a flavour of what I’d want to hear in a longer sunset session. So there’s vintage Balearic classics from Joan Bibiloni and the San Sebastian Strings, fab new school Balearic from Nick & Samantha (out now on Chris Coco‘s label), Cantoma and Bongo Entp. Then closing out the set with the timeless, emotive beauty of David Sylvian‘s ‘Let the Happiness in’ as the sun dips below the horizon.
Cicada Interlude – Nick and Samantha The Gypsy Camp – The San Sebastian Strings Accadde a Bali – Arawak Back Into Daylight Ft. Quinn Lamont Luke – Cantoma Baby Song- Bongo Entp Summer Is Here – Nick and Samantha Sa Fosca – Joan Bibiloni Let The Happiness In – David Sylvian
The Nearest Faraway Place 