There comes a time when there's only so much chilling out you can do…

The shelves of record stores worldwide are cluttered with them; bulging racks of unimaginative chill out albums, all sharing the same track listings and a fifty year old record company executives idea of music to relax and come down to. You'll no doubt find one nestling in your Mum and Dad's collection filed next to the 'Best Of Enya' and any of the Enigma albums. It's time to move on…

Enter the 'Escape To…' series, breathing new life into an otherwise tired and soporific genre. The aim of the series is to provide the listener with an experience on two different levels. The first, a musical journey (part-chilled and part up-tempo) with an expertly selected tracklisting that provides an altogether more fulfilling experience than the average chill out compilation. The second is to introduce parts of the world that are renowned for their easy going, idyllic vibes and reputation as havens of escape.

Formentera is the destination for the first instalment, a beautiful, unspoilt island paradise in the Mediterranean. It has a burgeoning reputation as the place for the discerning, perhaps more mature clubber, to take a break from the neighbouring island of Ibiza's breakneck hedonism.

The tracks contained on 'Escape To Formentera' take the listener on a journey through Balearic-themed, laid back deep house. Opening with the flamenco-tech of Metro Area's 'Pina' and closing with the quality, down tempo bliss of 'Sunglasses After Dark Mix' of Solaris Heights' 'Solarism', 'Escape To Formentera' has a totally unique tracklisting, and evokes memories of the Cafe Del Mar when it wasn't full of football hooligans and girls with spammy legs. These two tracks act as a blissful bookend for some rare treats from such luminaries as Derrick Carter (in his Oneiro and Experience Chris Nazuka guises), Cosmos (Tom Middleton), Groove Armada (remixing Akasha) and Ewan Pearson ("Everything he touches turns to gold" - Jockey Slut) remixing under his acclaimed Maas moniker. From the chugging conga rhythms of Phil Asher's 'Restless Soul Peaktime Mix' of Nemo's 'Darkest Day' to the opiate piano-swirls on Iz & Diz's 'Biolatinoids', and hotly-tipped Norwegian producer Doc L Jnr's epic, dubbed-out 'Preacher Man', this album provides a gorgeous soundtrack to many different scenarios and states of mind.

The album is stylishly packaged with artwork containing amazing photographs of Formentera from local resident Beni Trutmann. A competition will run on the label website www.europarecords.com with a lucky pair jetting off to Formentera for a week (UK residents only). The web site will provide links to other sites packed with information about Formentera and all the artists and labels involved.

'Escape To Formentera' will be released in June 2002 with the second instalment, 'Escape To Key West' following later on in the year.

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