elise - Who are these guys? I stumbled upon this album while perusing emusic.com and fell in love with it. Love the Buddhist undertones. It is my favorite in this category.
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Amazon.com Review
Following a tide of critical acclaim and numerous appearances on every other chill-out compilation since records began, Groove Armada's Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) has an awful lot to live up to. Vertigo, released in February 2000, was a phenomenal success, critically and commercially, spawning hits like "If Everybody Looked the Same" and the sun-drenched "At the River." Having found their niche in downbeat, Groove Armada explore the style even further on Country. Goodbye Country is another musical triumph for Groove Armada, with every track as good as the one before. --David Trueman

elise - Favorite tracks are #4 Little by Little, and #6 My Friend
Listen to "M 2 Many" from this artist on their "I am Fearless Funky & Five" CD (MP3 format)
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Amazon.com Review
Bristol's Massive Attack released a classic with their first album, Blue Lines, but only those who were paying careful attention noticed; soon, they were overshadowed by the likes of Tricky and Portishead, who were colleagues. But not so after the release of Protection, which sported a massive hit and was just as critically acclaimed as their first album. Eschewing the showmanship of their scene mates, Massive prefer subtler soundscapes and using a diverse range of vocalists who give them a number of flavors and moods with which to work. Protection is an understated album with a rich palette; it reveals more of itself on repeated listens, growing better--and deeper--each time. --Randy Silver
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MTV Review
Traversing the globe like a private air balloon, UB&O touch down in arid Sahara plains, mysterious middle eastern bars, and languid Brazilian rainforests. This collective handles their duties so seamlessly that you can't detect where the turntables flow in and the live instruments flow out. With an undertow of Meters-like funk drumming navigating our direction, Up, Bustle and Out lift off on one flotatingly evocative journey.
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Amazon.com Review
With Beyond Skin, Nitin Sawhney set a high bar for global fusion music. Now he's raised it with Prophesy, taking advantage of a larger budget to bring in Indian strings, a South African choir, a Chicago cabbie, soul singer Terry Callier, and Nelson Mandela, among many other things. But what could have been an awkward grab bag of sound comes together under Sawhney's sure hands and inspired songwriting. He makes the unusual work. But this is more than a collection of great tunes--it's an album that ponders the way our world and civilization is developing, asking questions and challenging assumptions while still delivering some sumptuous grooves and melodies. It all culminates with the title track, on which Sawhney's acoustic guitar and the vocals of the London Community Gospel Choir provide a piece of quiet, hypnotic intensity. Thought provoking, intelligent, and mature, Prophesy is the work of someone who deserves to be called an artist. --Chris Nickson
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Amazon.com Review
Zero 7's ability to conjure beautiful lullabies with all the romance of 1960s French pop (as found on their debut LP, Simple Things) would have made them the toast of soundtrack composers and chill-out connoisseurs the world over. Unfortunately, two Frenchmen beat Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker to the title of "masters of comedown cool," leaving the London duo to be forever called "the British Air." And this is fair; the similarities between Zero 7's lush cinematic soundscapes and those of Air's Moon Safari and the Virgin Suicides score are so strong as to sound almost intentional. Nonetheless, their debut is a truly gorgeous album. It has all the tried and tested atmospheric tricks--bleeps and whooshes layered over plodding Fender Rhodes chords, swathes of strings and tender trumpet parps--but it's Binns and Hardaker's languid grooves and the soft melancholy of their melodies that make dream-state instrumentals "Give It Away" and "Polaris" utterly enchanting. The real power of Simple Things, however, is in its songs. As beautiful as the ambient strains are, when laid beneath the seductive vocals of Australian diva Sia on the ethereal "Destiny" or the heart-breaking "Distractions," their potency becomes apparent. --Dan Gennoe
Download and listen to "Destiny" from this CD (MP3 format)
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