Various Artists, Midnight Soul Dive (Aleph Zero)

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Young Israelis - especially those coming off their three years of compulsory military service - have a particular fondness, maybe even a spiritual need - for chill-out music, and Aleph Zero has quickly become an Israeli rallying point for classy downtempo ambient. Midnight Soul Dive is the label´s latest compilation, with contributors both foreign and domestic.

Unoccupied - what a clever monicker in context; on two or three levels at least - open the proceedings with a dirge to "Everyday Life", expressing a world-weariness resolved by simply staying at home rather than dealingl with the demands of clubbing. "Zodiac" by Cord from Hungary, however, gets its glad rags on and dives into the nightlife with the perfect, easy-grooving dance track for loosening up the limbs before getting a serious move on. This segues seamlessly into the more moody and dubby "Wie die Wolken zieht auch der Tag vorbei" - a title as catchy as "It´s Raining Men" - by Krill.minima.

Some pleasant but rather anodyne tracks later, Bulgaria´s Vataff Project stretches the very synthetic wings of its "Plasticene Bird" over ten minutes. Omnimotion´s "Embrace" is far too saccharinally sacral in this profane atmosphere -only its nifty accordian riffs redeesm it from being a total buzzkill.

But then ambient/chill stalwarts Ishq and Shulman take the stage, their first collaboration on record if I am correct. "Mother Nature" is as light, airy, green and ethereal as you might fear - and that´s just fine. It is audio chlorophyll pumping some fresh and necessary oxygen into the room. Elve (Ishq again in another costume) spreads a cloud of birdsong and syths boops about him, before the equally-talented Bluetech gathers the pollen of the former´s "Cyantium Flower" and turns it into a honeyed "Snow Drift", albeit one with a few sharp chunks of ice in it.

Rena Jones rounds the evening off perfectly with her take on a smooth jazz combo consisting of pitter-patter percussion, wobbly electric piano and breathy saxophone, suitably titled "A Curious Unravelling".

It all makes for the perfect soundtrack for an evening in a sultry, smoky discotheque or your very own living room - though one filled with friends and their cigarette fumes. Great background music to conversation, rather than lone comtemplation.

http://www.aleph-zero.info