Reggae. Only with a touch of funk. Lovely percussive melodies, not too much vocals and heavy, lazy funky music. I suggest you serve this album with plenty of chill and a big cloud of smoke, of whichever substance takes your fancy. Particular favourite from the album is ‘make dub not war’ which is a lovely slow shuffling track which makes you feel like you’re in the Caribbean.

[x] Obscure name [x] weird album cover [ ] rock and roll [x] beautiful music

I know very little about King of Woolworths except that his music is beautiful and life-affirming. Firmly in the electronica end of chillout this album is none-the-less definitely worth checking out. Lovely calming beats underpin sweeping orchestral music which will carry you away into day-dreams faster than you can say whatthefuckisgoingonwithtrackfive? Which is the album’s only downfall – a weirdly atmospheric monologue about some woman explaining to the police why how she was attacked by her husband (if I remember correctly – something like that anyway). Still, that aside the album is awesome and highly recommended.

If you ever meet someone who doesn’t like chillout music or who decides that all chillout music is ‘the same’ then you should first poke them in the eye. You should then force them to listen to Contact Note by Jon Hopkins. This is chilled music but it’s richly textured, it’s varied, it’s funky and it’s beautiful. The opening two tracks are truly beautiful music which will calm even the hardest soul (and you they might need calming after being stabbed in the eye) but before long the music starts to shift and take on a more sinister edge with some bass and low tones coming in to scare you. And that’s when this album starts to come into it’s own – the beats start to drift in amongst the chilled music and what develops is a richly textured shifting pattern of head nodding beats inbetween the graceful and beautiful melodies.

If you ever get the chance to see Jon Hopkins live then do so at all costs. He’s so, so much more than ‘just a man and a laptop’ – prepare yourself for dancing though! He’s also got a new album out sometime soon which I’m very excited about.