Calm is the nom-de-guerre --nom de chill, rather, of Japanese producer Fukagawa Kiyotaka, making blissful blissful music since the late 90s. Check his Discogs and Bandcamp, loads of great stuff. By Your Side--his eighth album and debut on Marco Gallerani's Hell Yeah imprint--and its accompanying remix album were balm for me during the heady days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hell Yeah (I always want to add an exclamation point) is breaking out with a new compilation series focussing on the 'art of the remix'. Label capo Marco Gallerani has enlisted Calm for the first in the series, a nice selection across four sides of his "mellow acid" interpretations of Cantoma, Seahawks, Gallo, and others. It's a diverse set of remixes, a range of moods and tempo, all with a signature touch. We commence with the shimmering balearic bliss of a take on Cantoma's "Way to the Sun" from their essential 2024 LP--accordion, trumpets, keys dropping in and out over a gentle acid gurgle. Next up, Italian band Aura Safari--twinkling piano, a very familiar horn sample all buttressed with the trademark mellow acid.

B1 - an up-tempo revisit of Dream Baby Dream's "Banana Trance" is a banger--breakbeats take the trippiness of the mid-tempo original into a tribal dance vibe, a sweet acid line coming to the fore in the second half. Calm's take on Michele Mininni's "Vertigo" is all dreamy downtempo--sweet vocals and swirling acid.

The Mellow Mellow Acid take on Meitei Mahi's Dounika Kounika is a mid-tempo hazy stoned vibe--acid, guitar, house piano chopped 'n screwed. Calm’s Beatless Dub remix of Gallo is kind of a brilliant warmup record--arpeggiation, strings, dream house piano, and an underlying syncopation that gives it an edge.

Truth in advertising, things end on a mellow note with ace remixes of chill stalwarts Seahawks as well as instrumentalist Yuichiro Kato. Nothing like a bit of sax to end things, nice.

The Art of Remix - Mellow Mellow Acid Remixes is available from all good record shops and on Bandcamp HERE

The next installment will be from balearic dons Coyote--keep your eyes peeled.