Unless you are a die-hard crate digger, you would stear clear of any album with that title, by a band with that name or with that cover. But read on, this is top chill-out music hideously packaged.

Crate diggers are people, mainly blokes, who dig through crates of dusty old vinyl records in the hope there’s the odd drum break or instrumental nugget among them. After a while you develop a 6th sense for which type of hideous cover spells ‘potential hit’ and which type simply spells ‘yukk’.

‘The Astral Projections’ boast a truly atrocious cover. In fact, it looks like the kind of album that Hare Krishna disciples used to flog in pedestrian zones across Europe not so long ago. But as Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim and crate digger extraordinaire, once said: ‘I always buy records by guys with beards, it’s usually a good sign’. Simon ‘Woolfy’ James and his sidekick Dan Hastie sure have beards.

So, listen up, because the unpromising packaging hides two top Balearic Disco grooves and a lot of ace chill-out material.

Let’s look at the two Balearic nuggets first. ‘Neeve’ is the hit here, a moody mid tempo groove with loads of atmospheric synthesiser noises and a killer rhythm guitar. It’s Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’, all discofied and dangerous. ‘This Space’ goes for that mid-70’s Disco Funk sound. The funky rhythm guitar and the brass section are undeniably 2008, but the ‘feel’ is just right.

What’s more, these tracks sound fat, not like some cheap sample edits on a laptop. I’m sure Hastie’s experience playing with Westcoast live acts like Breakestra and Orgone has contributed to this. ‘The Astral Projections’ is a very rich and incredibly lush album.

This particularly benefits the more downtempo tracks like ‘Absynth’, ‘Carry On’, ‘Return Of The Starlight’ and ‘The Chase’. Theres a splash of Soul, a hint of Jazz Fusion and a good deal of film music in the mix. Tasteful, mellow chill-out stuff for sunsets, sunrises and anytime in between.

Watch The Underwater Video For ‘Absynth’

Londoner James came to Los Angeles more than a decade ago, liked the Westcoast lifestyle and stayed. He’s been recording under the Woolfy moniker for a while, but ‘The Astral Projections’ is definitely his most interesting slab of wax so far.

Woolfy is one of these US-based artists who are a bigger draw in Europe than in the States. Outside a few hip pockets, his brand of Balearic Disco is just not going to find too many open ears at home. So his drinking buddies in LA will have to pick up the album on import. Woolfy’s record label is German.

To cut to the chase: Ignore the artwork and the rather silly name, just give it a listen. Whether you’re a bar DJ looking for more obscure warm up tracks or whether you just want a mellow album to kick back to at home, you might find what you’re after on ‘The Astral Projections Of Twilight’.

We say:

You can listen to ‘The Astral Projections Of Twilight’ here and download the album from iTunes UK.

US Readers - Buy Woolfy’s New Album On CD Here!

UK And Ireland Readers - Buy Woolfy On CD Or Vinyl Here!