Phil Mison / Out Of The Blue / Leng

Summer`s almost here and its almost time for dancing in the streets. And on the beaches. To help you do so there seem to be a lot of seasonal compilations on the way. Jim Breese`s Balearic series has its Volume 3. Hostel La Torre have their Volume 2. Kenneth Bager`s Music For Dreams have an exhaustive, 19-track, label overview, Music For Mindfulness. P-Vine`s pulled together a selection of music from Phantom Island`s super limited 12s. But the first one to hit shops is Phil Mison`s prophetically? / optimistically? titled Out Of The Blue on Leng.

It`s a selection of classics played by both Phil and Jose Padilla at Ibiza`s Cafe Del Mar back in the 1990s. Plus a few more recent discoveries, that I`m sure must have come from Phil`s frequent visits to Amsterdam`s Red Light Records. Most of the music dates from the late `80s to the mid `90s and does the “Balearic” essential of jet-setting about the globe. From Belgium, to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Trinidad, the U.K. and the U.S. of A. “Including everybody, excluding no-one.”

The thing about asking an experienced DJ like Phil, a master of his genre, to produce a compilation is that the selection and sequencing are gonna be perfect. If you`re a label-owner it at least doubles your demographic. The results being both a seamless holiday soundtrack for folks who don`t DJ, and a collection of fantastic rarities for those that do.

In demand instrumental Europop. Texan flute-softened Rock. Jean-Luc Ponty-like Fusion. A Mirage of chiming, syncopated minimalism. Smooth Post-Soul II Soul brass. Caribbean Jazz that had me convinced it was from Japan. Sunshine chants. Acoustic picking. House from Don Carlos, Alex Neri, Language and Moodswings. Moonlit pianos, deep blue dives, Techno Sambas, and an Ambient excursion from a New Beat pioneer. There’s an unreleased mix from Phil`s own Cantoma project. Where Gambarra is transformed from languid Dub into full on Flamenco. And a previously CD-only transcendental moment from Red Sun. Nothing on Out Of The Blue is cheap. Or easy to find. You`re not just paying for music here. You`re paying for knowledge. These aren`t just Phil`s current favourites. He`s cherry-picked these tracks from countless set-lists. Lists built up over nearly thirty years of digging and playing to audiences. Countless great nights and countless bad. When this music fell out of fashion in the early `90s, when super clubs, superstar DJs, and big room bangers threatened its extinction, Phil and a few fellow travellers stuck it out. DJing in pubs and bars to a handful of friends.

In my opinion, people like Phil, and Moonboots, don`t get anywhere near the credit, or commercial opportunities, they deserve. I haven`t seen Phil or Moon interviewed by the Sunday papers about Ambient or “Chill” being the latest vogue. About a return to the original sprit of The White Isle. Some kind of payback must surely be due. Be decent karma. These guys fought the Balearic Wars. It`s only with their good grace and generosity, that you don`t have to.