We have already met Chris Coco (click here for review) and spoken about his long and rich career. Now we are going to present his last compilation, “The Chillout Album”.
This is the reunion with Steel and Lovebomb after the first and only album together, “It”, of 1994. The new album is released under the Chris Coco‘s Label, Melodica, with ambient and electronic sounds. As you can read in the official websites, 20 years later, on mid summers day, the enigmatic trio return with The Chillout Album, a kind of homage to 90s chillout rooms and lost weekends at festivals. The tracks were made in a series of late night sessions in various south London studios under the heavy influence of many crackly vinyl spins of classic albums by Eno, KLF and Laraaji; with label mates Deekie, James McArthur and Haraket popping in to contribute too.
This is 44 minutes and 44 seconds of melodies and grooves interwoven with found sound and analogue noise, making one long, immersive piece that demands repeat listening…and we are sure that expectations will be satisfied.

For some more info about The Chillout Album (21 June 2014) and Melodica, continue to read the interview with Chris Coco below.

01.
Talk us about you and your music, please.
My music is Balearic, sunny, usually a mix of electronica and live instruments and voices.

02.
You follow several projects among which a weekly radio broadcast. What can you say about all of these activities?
My week is build around my Melodica radio show, you can check all the episodes here.
It’s about discovering new music and hidden gems and sharing them with a worldwide audience, sharing my passion for this wonderful music with my listeners.

03.
How have you structured your Label, Melodica Recordings, and how do you choose the artists?
Melodica Recordings grew out of the Melodica radio show as a way of showcasing new young artists who I have discovered through the show. We’re focussing on that now, a band from south London called Haraket, a great singer songwriter called Samantha Whates and lots of talented electronica producers under the Night Bus banner.

04.
Let’s make a back step, talk us about the 1994, the trio Coco, Steel & Lovebomb and the album It, please.
We were young, partying hard, working hard and making music mostly at night, sneaking into studios for secret sessions. What came out was a mix of styles and influences – house, disco, ambient all thrown in together, not exactly coherent, but kind of exuberant.

05.
After 20 years, during these days, you’re going to release a new album of that trio and with your Label. What can you say about The Chillout Album?
The Chillout Album is an homage to the crazy heyday of chillout and lost weekends at parties and festivals. It’s one long piece with melodies weaving in and out of ambient soundscapes, found sound, bits of recordings from old cassettes and new music specially recorded for the project. It’s immersive and beautiful and it features friends from the label like Haraket, Deekie and James McArthur adding spice and variety. It’s one of those projects that just came together in a magic way, nobody can
really remember how we did anything, it just happened.

06.
What there are the common stylistic features and the biggest differences between the two albums?
The comment thread is ambience and atmosphere. There’s a track on It called Harlem, that is probably the closest to where we are with the new album.

07.
How’s been for all of you three to meet again to make a new album?
Strangely beautiful.

08.
What kind of new experiences and influences each of you has brought into this project?
It’s all a mash of ideas, like the final recording, a melody, a pedal steel guitar, a lost interview with a French DJ, a train journey from India, a field recording from Glastonbury, all those elements and many more are in the mix.

09.
I know that solo summer gigs are planned. Where and when will you play the album and there will be gigs with the whole trio?
The trio no, the other two are too shy to get out much. I will DJ and extended version of the album Friday 27 June at Heaven, Glastonbury; Sunday 24 August 7th Heaven, Corfu; Friday 5 September Ambient Forest, Bestival; Sunday 7 September Festival Number Six.

10.
Do you think that will you make together other musical projects?
Let’s wait and see.

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