Artist :: Various Artists
Album :: Om Chilled Volume 2
Label :: Om Records

In a Word :: Eclectic

Play This Cut First :: Lullaby (Edison Gem)

Om Records pitches itself as a practitioner of future music. And looking at their roster over the last decade, you can see that they’ve stayed ahead of the curve, launching a team of artists the rank among the biggest names in club music: Mark Farina, Colette, Greenskeepers, Derrick Carter, Kaskade, and so many more.

While they turn out so many great mix CDs and original artist discs, it’s easy to forget that they release some damn good compilation discs. With a collection of artists, though, how do you live up to the future music moniker? If you are Om Records, you do it through an amazing display of eclecticism.

These days the chill genre is so wide open. From ambient glitch, to traditional acid jazz, to Rhodes-laced dream pop, to sample-based salsa, it’s anybody’s game. On Om Chilled Volume 2, they touch all the bases. And it works to perfection.

From the lead track, “Love Comes First”, Techno Squirrels’ Lisa Eriksson melts you with her voice. It’s a tone-setter. Over ultra clean beats, the production is so tight that you could hear a pin drop in the gaps. From that point on, it’s hard to pick out a “best” track, because the level of musicianship is so fantastic.

Similar to the cut from Techno Squirrels, is “Lullaby” from Edison Gem. Jadis’s vocals are stupid good. Seriously. It’s a voice made for a lullaby. Their combination of dnb and chill is a stunning dynamic. On this collection, we get the chill with the undercurrent that makes their dnb so potent. Oh, so damn good.

Other standout tracks are Samantha James’s “Angel Love”. And you know how much I love Samantha James. And, of course, King Kooba’s organic sound is chill to the core, with the slap and clap of acoustic instruments kickin’ chill right from the roots.

The Bottom Line :: Om Chilled Volume 2 is like a dictionary of chill. Every style and approach is present. And it’s all so pure in its delivery that, even though the genres can be quite different, the overall level of consistency is so high, all of these cuts work together. In fact, they belong together. And leave it to Om to put them all on the same playlist.

Enough, really, just go buy it already.