Musicbox IV

Well, time for another music box (actually i'm way late, but it's ok cuz you're in for a treat).

This week : AFTERLIFE.

Unless you spend a lot of time in Ibizza, or you're a Cafe Del Mar collector, you probably don't know these guys. I sort of got interested in the whole downbeat music bizness after hearing Afterlife, and I have high respect for them.

Besides featuring on every Cafe Del Mar album, they only have released one complete album. Simplicity, released in '99 (and later again in 2000 under the name "Simplicity 2000") on Hed Kandi.

These guys have always been huge on the Ibiza dance scene. Simplicity, is simply a festival of chilled breezy beats, warm sun-drenched vocals, luscious ambiances complete with a nicely blended flamenco flavor. It's silky smooth and at times even Jazzy.

With Sunrise, ou can just feel the first rays of the sun showering your face at 6 AM just after you're walking out of the club, walking back to your hotel along the beach.

Or take a plunge into the pool on that hot summer day's pool party by checking out Guitarra (although this is not featured in this album, but on the All Chilled compilation).

Relax again in the lounge by checking out the heavenly groove of Cry, feel the drum n' base to the max with La Nina or Glide, feel the trance with Blue Bar and get back into the flamenco mood with Never Again.

With Simplicity 2000, it's always summer. It's perfect for the "late-night hours where the breeze is right, the wine is chilled, and the lights are low."

Now, after four years, they are releasing their second solo album. It's "Speck of Gold" and will be released June 1st. The label is no longer Hed Kandi, but Bar de Lune. This is what the label has to say about the new album:

Afterlife’s ‘Speck of Gold’ is summed up by its title track - an emotional, lilting, silky-smooth, genuinely soulful and sophisticated, breathtaking, almost heartbreaking, form of chill - it’s like the best Café Del Mar album you never heard yet, but all by one producer.

If it's anything like the first one, then that's all true, and I simply can't wait to get my hands on it.