Various - Chill Out

barticle, Jun 25, 2003

If it wasnt clear from the title that this album is in some way a tribute to The KLFs ambient classic of the same name then its certainly obvious from the artwork. Impressively the graphic designer was able to take the idyllic pastoral scene from The KLFs sleeve and replace every sheep with a wolf! Even the wording of the sleevenote text is a parody of that on the original.

However, sonically ("musically" doesnt seem the right word to describe some of the content) its really a totally different affair! The compilation features several abstract works consisting sometimes entirely of weird noises, harsh sounds, dentist drills (eek!) and sustained high pitch tones while other, more listenable, tracks cover ultra-minimal ambience, lo-fi breaks and dirty electro. The final mention should go to Panacea who is the only artist to follow the sleeves KLF theme - he starts his offering with various samples from a couple of KLF tracks (America No More and the album version of What Time Is Love) before dropping into heavily distorted 4-beat gabber, complete with the "extreeeeeeme terrooooor!" sample from the DJ Skinhead track of the same name. So... overall quite an "interesting" release! ;)

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