Cosmicleaf Records (sub label of Unicorn Music) is a chill label based in Athens, Greece. They released their first compilation (Chill On Ice) last year, and now they are out with their second compilation called Fragile Life. For some reason, this CD comes in a DVD box. Too bad that it doesn’t fit into my CD collection... This label is focusing on new, fresh artists from, mostly from Greece. Most of them are totally unknown. It is compiled by Side Liner (Nick Miamis).

First out is a quite mystic sounding track by someone called Will-O-The-Wisp (Vasilis Miamis). Floating all the way. Pretty deep, relaxing vibe, but there could have been some more variation. Track 2 is by Zero Cult (Emil Ilyayev) from Israel. He continues the floating vibes with a bit more melody. One of my favourite tracks on this compilation. Track 3 is by Omegahertz (Dimitrios Pouranis). This one goes a bit lighter, with some nice melody, but not as deep. Track is by an artist called Side Liner (Nick Miamis), who also has compiled this CD. Totally relaxing vibe with some tiny beats and floating vibes, but for some reason this one becomes easily a bit flat for my taste. Track 5 is by an artist called MLT (Miltiades Schimatariotis). This track is one of my favourites on this compilation, but might sound a bit too fluffy for some people. Somehow, this sounds a bit flat too, but I really like the floating vibes here. We also get a pretty nice female vocal and some piano.

Track 6 is a track by Dimitris Batistatos. This one starts with the sound of rain, before a dubby rhythm hits in. More bass and dubby vibes, but again it sounds a bit flat. Track 7 is another track by Zero Cult. Here we get another quite deep track with a pumping down tempo beat and swirling vibes, but I prefer the other Zero Cult track on this compilation. Then we get another track by Omegahertz. Here we get some Ballearic guitar vibes mixed with a slow, pumping beat. Also some flute sounds and Arabic vibes. Quite psychedelic sound picture. Track 9 is by an artist called Cydelix (George Deligiannis). This is one of my favourite tracks on this compilation. Totally chilled, floating track with some nice summer vibes and ethnic influences. Track 10 is by a group from Australia called Red Eye Express (Giorgio Giampetri, Christopher Innes & Damiano Verna). This one is not bad either. Relaxed guitar and floating vibes. Totally summer chill. The last track on this compilation is by an artist called Goasia (Balint Tihamer) from Serbia, who has released tracks on several labels lately. Here we get a quite trippy, atmospheric vibe with some slow break beats, vocals etc.

It’s nice to see that you can make a pretty good compilation with only new, fresh names. Side Liner has done a good job putting together these tracks, and it is nice to see so many young fresh chill artists from Greece. I really enjoy some of these tracks, while other are more mediocre chill tracks in my ears.

Intelligent elevator muzak…

Cosmicleaf Records is the chilled sub-label of Greek label Unicorn Music… Last year’s compilation Chill On Ice was a nice little surprise with loads of debuting artists – and journey-wise that compilation was quite impressive… And now it’s time for the second release – with many of the same artists… Let’s have a closer listen…

Ahh – what a nice compilation here… The first compilation from Cosmicleaf was nice – and this is even nicer… There are no bad tracks here, and we get a bigger percentage of stand-out tracks – great! …Again I’m impressed by the flow here – it’s a continuous journey and the tracks seem very carefully selected to ensure the best possible voyage… Also the packaging is pretty stylish with the DVD amaray case and cool artwork… Well done Cosmicleaf – keep evolving this way, and you’ll soon be one of the leading chill-labels…

That being said, I could still have hoped for a little more psychedelia here… I’m a nostalgic trancer you know… Some of the tracks are a little too epic for my taste and generally I need that little extra spice to rank this as an essential release… But yeah, the cross-over potential is evident and you can play this for both your parents and non psy-friends easily… They’ll love it… I recommend this compilation to fans of smooth, melodic downtempo music… And I’m looking forward to the next step… Enjoy!

Favourites: 2, 4, 5, 8, 11