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Chilled Soul Vol. 6

Thirty-two tracks from 2017, caught at the point where R&B, indie-electronic and bedroom pop stopped being separable categories.

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ChilledSoul 6

This volume is the most of-its-moment in the series. Almost everything here is from 2016 or 2017, and it documents a specific convergence: American R&B singers, British jazz-adjacent players and European electronic producers all arriving at a similar sound at once.

What they shared was a preference for softness — muted drums, warm synthesisers, vocals mixed into rather than above the track — and a distribution model that did not require radio.

What to listen for

SZA's "Love Galore" with Travis Scott is the biggest record here and comes from Ctrl, one of the defining albums of the decade.

Clipse's "Nightmares" with Bilal and Pharrell is the outlier — a 2006 Neptunes production, considerably darker than everything around it, and the record that best rewards being played loud.

Loyle Carner and Tom Misch's "Damselfly" is the London entry and the best-written thing on the list — Carner is one of the most quietly affecting British rappers of his generation.

Maxwell's "Lake By the Ocean" in the Michaël Brun remix is the Haitian producer's reworking, and it is one of the few remixes of a Maxwell record that improves on the original's energy without losing its atmosphere.

Amber Mark's "Lose My Cool" is the discovery — her debut EP, written after her mother's death, is one of the best short records of that decade.

Darien Brockington's "If Only" is the deepest cut, from the Justus League circle around Little Brother and 9th Wonder.

John Legend's "Penthouse Floor" with Chance the Rapper is the Chicago moment, and 2rude's "Bout Your Love" with Glenn Lewis is the one that connects to the Toronto scene elsewhere on this blog.

Mali Music appears twice and is the gospel-trained voice that anchors the set.

Go deeper

SZA's Ctrl and Amber Mark's 3:33am are the two essential records from this moment.

Loyle Carner's Yesterday's Gone and Tom Misch's Geography are the British pair, and both are considerably more substantial than the mood-music framing suggests.

What they had in common: softness and a distribution model that did not need radio. Once a bedroom producer in Europe, a British rapper and an American R&B singer were all mastering quietly and releasing straight to streaming, the categories stopped describing anything real — which is precisely why the transitions on this set pass without friction.

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