Chill Out - The KLF (1990)
Ideated from: a week of stuff that doesn’t seem to exist on streaming services
Wax Trax! records was a chaotic enterprise that was nonetheless an important part of the industrial and left field house world of the 80s and 90s. It’s kind of a tragic story, which includes the merely chaotic label being bought by an outright shady one that also subsequently disappeared. So basically I’m not sure that anyone is administering digital rights to the Wax Trax! catalog, which is probably why some pseudo-legal-at-best fan uploads of this record on YT are all I could find.
Exposition aside, The KLF would go on to some significant commercial success but this is the one that people still put on their best-of lists even though most people didn’t hear it at first.
It’s the kind of ambient / field recording / sound collage project that I admittedly have a hard time with (still trying to find a way into some highly touted releases in this vein), but it’s very well made. Steel guitar and synths create a backdrop for the sounds of a road trip, complete with samples of songs and chatter on the radio (this was in another era where you could deadass sample Elvis and not get in trouble).
The whole thing is very meditative and calming. While they’d have a couple of hits as a rave-friendly house outfit, there’s no bombast on this record. It’s smooth and chill, a real treat in an increasingly crazy world.
