Radio LBB – a Chilled Playlist: The Halcyon Days of Pre-COVID

“It’s now June in what has to be the craziest year of our lives. Music-wise, festivals have been cancelled, 99-year old Captain Tom Moore scored a UK number-one single, and Lady Gaga has released a Europop banger with Elton John! If someone had told us this time last year that this is what the music scene would look like…we wouldn’t have believed them.

It’s been a strange few months, but the ability to listen to music throughout this period has ensured the sanity of myself, and I’m sure many others, currently remains intact. With our ability to create new memories curtailed somewhat, in this chilled playlist I wanted to conjure up some nostalgia and highlight a genre that sonically represents the halcyon days of a pre-COVID world: Downtempo. 

Drawing influences from Hip-Hop, Jazz, Ambient, Dub, and Downtempo (or Trip-Hop) that appeared in the 1990s and is characterised by chilled out beats, and breezy/ambient atmospheres – this is the perfect soundtrack for a summer’s afternoon spent social distancing in your local park, garden, beach – or wherever else you like to relax and unwind.

This chilled playlist contains classics from DJ Shadow, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Nightmares on Wax, Air, Thievery Corporation and Moby, although I’ve also included tracks released more recently. 

For these, see HNNY – ‘By’ (one of the best tracks of last year), Session Victim – ‘Made Me Fly’ (from their latest album), and Catching Flies – ‘Daymarks’ (which samples ‘Lighthouse’ by the amazing Patrick Watson). There’s also a remix of Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ thrown in there for good measure. 

Enjoy this chilled playlist and stay safe everyone, we hope these chilled-out beats bring a ray of sunshine to your time in lockdown”

This blog post was originally published in Little Black Book. You can read it on their website HERE. Enjoy!