The world spins on its axis; one man struggles, another relaxes. No one encapsulates the sun-kissed Mediterranean vibe quite like Phil Mison. As sunset DJs and overpriced rooftop cocktail spots have proliferated in places distant in spirit and location from the 39th parallel north, it's worth returning to the source; someone who does the "B" vibe proper. Phil played at the Cafe del Mar when it was good, and if you're new here head straight to the Mixes page where you'll find nearly two dozen mixes of Phil making magic in Ibiza and abroad.

I first encountered Phil's music in the late 90s in a Vienna record store - some outfit called X:treme Records had put out a series of mix CDs called "Soundcolors" - blissful amalgamations of popular chillout traxx and deep house. You can find them on YouTube. One of the standouts was a cut called "Pandajero"--a sand-strewn percussive shuffle, gentle lilting house beat, Spanish guitar...

It's been nearly 25 years since then and Phil's Cantoma project has seen five albums (2016's "Just Landed" is personal fave) with no ebb in quality. "Light Before" is just what you want to be playing as summer hits. The title track is the lovely Cantoma beach vibe par excellence - dreamy pads, percussion, guitar. the "Night Mix" takes things uptempo with some retro synthy offbeats and piano. There's a lovely "Ambient Outro" whose opening recalls a pitched down "Flesh"--balearic AF. Things finish off with an uptempo revisit by Phil in his Noche Espanola guise. A lovely return to form.

Light Before is out now on Bandcamp. There was a highly-limited 7" sold out on Bandcamp but a few copies are still available from Juno.