Various - Island Breeze - Dubby, Tropical & Balearic (2013)

01 - intro (the san sebastian strings - the gypsy camp)

02 - richard schneider jr. - hello beach girls

03 - roberto lodola - marimba do mar (vocal version)

04 - azymuth - estrada dos deuses

05 - tony asha - lion of zion

06 - naturally - sunny gets blue version

07 - cornell campbell - be thankful (niagara 12inch)

08 - vikings guadeloupe - sweet florence

09 - ahmed fakroun - la ya hob (edit)

10 - ilonar staller - cicciolina pane marmellata e me (discodromo re-edit)

11 - ze roberto - lotus 72d

12 - joao donato - o morro nao tem vez (onur engin edit)

13 - original tropicana steel band - spanish hustle

14 - azymuth - dear limmertz

15 - letta mbulu - nomalizo

16 - helen - zanzibar (afro mix)

17 - ivano fossati - panama (nassau dub edit)

18 - noel ellis - version (black gold 7inch)

I made this compilation like six months ago for a friend. At first I meant to call it "Island Breeze - Dubby, DREAMY & Balearic" - but the "dreamy" got all "tropical" over the course of time - while I was selecting & listening to songs for this compilation. Expect to find some classic balearic sounds - mixed with leftfield late 80ies dancehall instrumentals with dreamy synths, island disco, brazilian boogie, italian sweetness & much more...!

After a short intro using the spoken part from the Balearic classic The San Sebastian Strings - Gypsy Camp from their 1967 album The Sea, I am ''mixing'' right into track #2 - the wonderful & joyful Hello Beach Girls. John Schneider Jr. from Germany made this warm, dreamy and latin inspired song, which you can find on his album Dreamlike Land, from 1977. ''…Imagine Jaki Liebezeit on Drums, a guy called Jumpy (Helmut Zerlett) on keys & synths, almighty Wolfgang Maus on Bass and an ironic Mr. Schneider on Glockenspiel, Acoustic 12 String guitar, Synthesizer, Tubelar Bells, Tambourine & Cowbells… See you at the beach!'' (via The Growing Bin). On track #04 we have got another sun touched beauty full of jazz smoothing grooves & some incredibly warm synth sounds - that will bring you straight to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro: Estrada Dos Deuses from Azymuth's 1975 debut album of the same name. Track #05 - Tony Asha's Lion Of Zion takes us right from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to the Ghettos of Kingston Jamaica in the late 1980's - when the digital revolution forever changed the face of Jamaican music. Digital music was taking Jamaica by storm - all started in 1985 by the legendary Under My Sleng Teng by Wayne Smith. ''While the riddim is quite easy the sound of it was outstandingly new - it was produced 100% digital reggae, never heard before at that time! Wayne Smith, a singer for Jammy's, experimented around with a CASIO music box and did some interesting stuff with a slowed down rock'n'roll preset-drum pattern out of which Tony Asha (also know as Tony Asher), keyboardist at Jammy's and one of the few people around who new their ways with the new equipment, build the final riddim. Jammy produced the revolutionary classic of it, which today is one of the most versioned riddims ever'' (via Jahtari). Read more about the Sleng Teng history here. On ''Lion Of Zion'' we have aforementioned Tony Asha going loose over the classic Rumours riddim - which took its name from Gregory Isaacs's 1988 hit tune Rumours. I think some of these digital riddims blend & mix quite well with other 80ies (?!) balearic not balearic songs - the synths, the minimalism or even ambientness, the insistent pulse of drum and bass, scattered and shuffling percussion, the sparness, a certain rawness and sometimes shards of vocals - and all the time being uncompromisingly electronic. And these riddims have swing & bump. Some Detroit Techno/House & or even Acid House tunes spring to mind. I will be sharing some more of my favourite Riddim ''versions'' or b-sides soon... (Isn't ''Balearic'' so often about ''b-sides'' - or those overlooked songs?!). On track #15 - slowly coming to the end of this compilation - we have Nomalizo by South African artist Letta Mbulu. A fine slice of South African boogie funk straight out of 1985 - summer vibes all ova’...

"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun." (Anonymous)

Enjoy! DubMe