Written by: Craig This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 4:54 am and is filed under Best Of. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
10 Best Chillout Bands » The Music Mag
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10 Best Chillout Bands
This is a list completely done on my personal opinion. If you’d like to leave your feedback it would be fantastic to hear your views (most likely berating my opinions!).
Anyway, chillout music has always been a highly played category of music and there are countless albums such as ibiza chillout, ultimate chillout, the list goes on. The following is the list of the bands (that I have heard of), that I rank highest on my personal list.
10/ Röyksopp
- If you’re in to slightly trance/dancey sounding chillout then make sure to check these guys out. Sounds brilliant.
9/ LemonJelly
- Only recently discovered this band. All i know is that every song I’ve heard I’ve loved. Some nice beats in there but not too fast or hard to move it away from some great relaxing music.
8/ 4 Strings
- I haven’t heard much by these at all, but I was recommended them for this list. After a brief listen on youtube they definitely seem like a band to check out. I know I’ll be getting hold of their album (and writing a review) as soon as i possibly can.
7/ Mono
- Not known by too many people, this japanese post rock band are just breathaking. I didn’t list them higher because whilst they are breathtaking, I wasn’t too sure whether they official fell under chillout as a lot of their riffs do get a little heavy.
You need to check this band out if you like progressive tracks which build up to a climax. The tracks are normally around 10-25minutes long, but youtube has some shorter ones – make sure to find the right band too.
6/ Air
- Classic chillout band. Nice sounding music, but as I’ve not heard very much of them I can’t put them higher than here, even though they have a very good reputation..
5/ Enigma
- Great sounding and majorly relaxing. They’re often featured on chillout albums and for a reason. Great background music.
4/ Zero 7
- These have to be on here and quite high up the list if this list is to have any credibility. Check out “Destiny” for a quality introduction to his band. Was thinking about perhaps putting them higher, but number 4 they shall remain.
3/ Moby
- Not his biggest fan, but I have to respect him. I like some of the lesser known tracks as well as some of the classics however. Songs such as “why does my heart feel so bad” and “porcelain” are undoubtedly pinnacles of mainstream chillout music.
2/ Massive Attack
- Angel, Teardrop, the list could go on and on. Sublime chill out music! But not quite at the top of the charts so to speak.
1/ Sigur Ros
- These guys have to be number one. I mean, wow. Nothing much can be said about the emotion that their music conveys. It’s perfect and the one good thing about the ending to Vanilla Sky!
The Music Mag recently wrote a review on Sigur Ros’ untitled album, make sure to check it out for more information on the brilliant Icelandic band.
17 Responses to “10 Best Chillout Bands”
June 11th, 2009 at 7:55 am
“The following is the list of the bands (that I have heard of), that *I rank highest on my personal list.*”
6/ Air
- Classic chillout band. Nice sounding music, *but not one of my personal favourites.*
Er, okay.
Might also want to double check where Zero 7 are ranked as well, given where you say they’ll remain…
June 17th, 2009 at 1:28 am
good point there Simon!
June 18th, 2009 at 2:46 am
I liked it a lot. Not sure about Mono in there though.
June 18th, 2009 at 2:54 am
I’m a massive fan of Lemonjelly, and I’d really recommend any of their albums. “Lost Horizons” flows best, but “64-95″ is the best to start with; that album also has a DVD version that is staple viewing after a night of clubbing, with some incredibly interesting visuals for each song.
Zero 7; I’ve only heard “When It Falls” and it hits a spot for me. Air, I’ve only heard the modern classic “Moon Safari” and it’s of the same ilk of “When It Falls”. I’m a sucker for softly spoken French as well…
I’m not an expert on Sigur Ros nor Royksopp, but have liked what I’ve heard from both. I think that if it’s just “Play” that’s focused on from Moby’s work then it really misses out a lot of his influence in dance music as a whole; he’s an icon for me.
Massive Attack have always been superb, dark trip-hop to worldly beats, they’re superb live as well. Long may they continue.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:39 am
I don’t think anybody has mentioned Thievery Corporation yet. Their new album Radio Retaliation is a little more political and edgy, but they can produce great chill out when they want to. Likewise, with Nightmares on Wax.
June 24th, 2009 at 10:59 am
i will add a part 2 soon if people keep recommending good bands
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 am
the shins, explosions in the sky, porcupine tree, portugal. the man…. could mention infinite.. ^^
October 25th, 2009 at 11:01 am
i think portishead should replace enigma. i think enigma is more of a “new age” band than it is chill out
November 19th, 2009 at 1:19 am
[...] Best Chillout Music | The Music Mag [...]
December 17th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
i’ve never met a guy who puts Sigur at the very top. love them,think they are exceptional. definitely the best piece of art that human kind has brought to existence. and no, im not exagerrating:)
January 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
I think Zero 7 would be my personal number 1. Each tune is designed to release your mind. ‘Destiny’, ‘Somersault’, ‘When It Falls’, ‘Solaris’ and a few from their latest album too.
Love Lemonjelly.
January 11th, 2010 at 9:20 am
What about Telepopmusik and Vangelis?
May 13th, 2010 at 12:19 am
This is a great post, I stumbled across your article while looking for lyric updates. Thanks for sharing, I’ll be sure to come back.
January 22nd, 2011 at 6:23 pm
WHERE THE FUCK IS PORTISHEAD? Ultimate chillout music right there.
March 17th, 2011 at 1:43 am
I’ll definitely be listening to a few of these. But no one mentions The XX?? THE BEST chill out band ever!!!!!!!!!!!
October 24th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCFKiKMUIiA
December 11th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
You should extend your top ten to top twenty or so…
There are important names missing.
Here’s a couple for you to consider:
Blank & Jones
Lemongrass
Chicane
Goldfrapp