TOP CHILL OUT MUSIC - WEEK 21 2014

Dear Solange,

Pls get your shit together. I get it, it must be difficult being the alt and creddy counterpart to Bey that ultimately nobody cares about except maybe Pitchfork, but pls... Where's my gurl with the dookie braids who goes to see Grizzly Bear in concert and is BFFs with Blood Orange? That gurl had all of the cool vibes that I used to wanna GIF about on my Tumblr. Take off your weave, put on your Beats by Dre, and pls, calm your tits to this week's dose of top chill out music from Mogwai, Japanese Wallpaper, Kwabs and more.

Lots of love,
BitCandy <3.

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MOGWAI – SIMON FEROCIOUS

Sky diving? Hmm, yes, Bey has definitely done that at some point in her awesome life. She looked flawless during every moment of it, too. Are you keeping up, Solange? Mogwai are making me feel so ALIVE with this song and video! Even though in reality, I'm only sitting on my ass and eating Cheetos. Time to add sky diving to my growing list of things I wanna do in life but I'm never actually gonna do. God, now I'm depressed. Moving on...

JAPANESE WALLPAPER (FEAT. PEPA KNIGHT) – WAVES – CURATOR DUFFSTER

A couple of the chillest as fuck Australian artists EVER have come together in order to create a song titled “Waves.” Yeah, I'm already feeling chill as fuck and I haven't even bothered to press play yet. No seriously, I'm prepared to bet everything on this being the chillest as fuck song that I'm gonna hear today. Maybe I shouldn't even press play and remain in this eternal state of chill as fuck? Okay, okay, I'm gonna do it. Yeah, this is definitely the chillest as fuck song that I'm gonna hear today. Tx Curator Duffster!

KWABS – BROTHER

Kwabs, what's your voice doing to my feels, bro? “Bro.” That should be the chillwave remix of this song. Not gonna lie, the soul thang isn't always my thang, but this is definitely my thang. It's so smooth, creamy and delicious, I wanna eat every bit of it up. Nom nom NOM! “Brother” is lifted from Pray For Love, the sophomore EP from the London newcomer. The EP was produced by Plan B, who's obviously far greater at twiddling knobs than he's ever gonna be at writing songs. Just sayin...

PHORIA – EMANATE

“Emanate” is one of those kinda songs that you've gotta listen to ALL of the way through. The snaps, crackles and pops build up to one of the most emotional and gorgeous crescendos that I've EVER had the pleasure of hearing. Synths reign o'er me! No seriously, I had a life-affirming experience listening to it. That, or an orgasm. I'm not quite sure... Bring on June and the highly-anticipated release of Display, the sophomore EP from the Brighton quintet.

WASHED OUT – FEEL IT ALL AROUND

Vintage classic, anybody? Okay, so it's hardly a “vintage classic,” it's only five years old! It sounds more relevant than ever, though. Probably because it's the theme song to Portlandia, therefore EVERY hipster has to love it by default. “Feel It All Around” is taken from Life Of Leisure, the sophomore EP from Washed Out. It's among Ernest Greene's finest efforts to date, in other words, it's far greater than Paracosm. Those vibes, bro... Makes me wanna put a bird on something.

BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD – STAR FACES

Blackbird Blackbird is releasing his sophomore album, Tangerine Sky, on June 3rd. “There Is Nowhere” and the title song have both been released as official singles so far, and “Star Faces” is the flip side to the latter. “Star Faces” hasn't even made it to the final cut of Tangerine Sky, though, so can you imagine how amazing the rest of the album is gonna be? AMAZING. Dude's intricate soundscapes remind me of a young Four Tet. Tune in and drop out, but not for too long as it's time to fucking continue!

MARKAI – I'M JUST TRYNA TELL YA

If only this was longer, but short 'n' sweet is Markai's thang! Not that I have ANY idea who the bro is, other than he's from Oakland, and a bunch of chill ass trap awaits over at his SoundCloud. By the way, I admit I spent at least five minutes trying to determine if this sampled “I'm Tryna” by Omarion. It doesn't, but oh my GOD, how incredibly awesome could that have been? Somebody make this dream of mine a reality, already.

BRY – NIGHT FLIGHTS – CURATOR DUFFSTER

The great Curator Duffster has done it AGAIN! “Night Flights” is the debut single from the upcoming London chanteuse, Bry. As you can probably determine from the SoundCloud wave itself, “Night Flights” ambles along a such a steady pace that it borders on the hypnotic. At the same time, it feels like it could erupt into chaos at any given moment. The chaos never comes, though. Only an overwhelming sense of numbness, as if you're taking a final breath. That's definitely a compliment, Bry...

UNCLOWN DESPAIR – SLOW EMOTION – CURATOR DUFFSTER

Okay, stop it now, Curator Duffster. If you're not careful, I'm gonna have to give you your own column. Oh wait! To quote the man and legend himself, “From Russia with love. Putin needs to get this shit on his Walkman and chill the fuck out.” It's true. It's quite difficult to find anything out about Unclown Despair, though, as everything is in Russian. Then again, it doesn't exactly matter, as the music speaks for itself. If you wasn't already aware, that's every blogger's way of saying, “I can't be bothered to look for any more information on this band beyond Google's first page of search results.”

DNKL – BATTLES

Sweden BITCH! Can you even begin to imagine a world without it? No music, no IKEA meatballs, no hot blonde babes... Stereotypes BITCH! DNKL are an electronic pop trio from said Nordic land. Their sophomore single, “Battles,” has this week come accompanied by a triangle-infested video that most blogs have described as “haunting,” “dark,” and “stunning.” Obviously the fact that it also doubles up as a commercial for The Illuminati has gone straight over their heads. Conspiracy BITCH! By the way, I wonder if Solange is a member of The Illumanti? Bey probably got her discounted membership.

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P.S. BitCandy truly hopes that this week's dose of top chill out music helps inspire Solange to write her first ever hit single <3

About Jess Grant

When Jess Grant isn't writing on music, she can be found playing it – on her guitar, on her ukulele, and on her recently acquired mandolin. Playing it hideously, she ought to add. Jess also studies. She studies the English language, to be precise. Jess is currently on her way to a degree in the subject, and enjoys starting and never finishing novels, screenplays, and poetry in her spare time. She also likes dogs. Lots of dogs.