It is sometimes hard to make a clear distinction between chill out and new age music. A compilation that has both the rhythmic qualities of chill out and new age’s ethereal dimension, is Secret Chill Vol.1 from GoFish Records. Here there are no distinctions between the two different genres – is pure and simple a high quality compilation of relaxing music by mostly unknown artists… But shhh, be quiet, it is supposed to be a secret!

Looking at the track list you might say that Deep Forest is hardly an unknown artist. True, but the Deep Forest song featured here is not really a DP song, but a remixed song from Eric Mouquet’s Deep Project – the song Amazonia. The 2min30sec Counting Clouds remix is nice, but nothing more. Just to point that out, so you don’t think that there is a Sweet Lullaby hiding here somewhere…

The compilation start with the eerie From A Letter by Paul Kwitek. It has some very interesting stereo effects, that are best heard when using headphones. Next song is the awesome Adanto by Otchenga Zoom, which with its ethnical sounding instruments is chilled new age music. But even more interesting is Ashima by Joel Kanning. It is without a doubt one of the finest songs released in our genre this year, and a comprehensive review of the UFO-album can be found here.

One other fine song on the album is the next last track, Titus Pullos’ Geisha. It is an East meets West song, with a very nice rhythmic buildup.  

Secret Chill Vol.1 has both the rhythmic qualities of chill out and new age’s ethereal dimension

Secret Chill Vol. 1 is, as the title implies, the first release of in a series. Four times a year GoFish Records plans to release a new Secret Chill Album. Artists from around the world are invited to contribute tracks to the album.

You can sample the album here - or on Amazon. But don’t tell that I said so – it is a secret after all…

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