Aura: Horizontal Bar Culture [Audio CD] Various Artists

Spin-off compilations have long been as much of super club culture as superstar djs. Bars, on the other hand, have been slightly slower on the uptake. When setting up their new bar Aura, the owners of Chinawhite, London's late-night refuge for the rich and famous, obviously realised that a sultry soundtrack is as important to a relaxing atmosphere as the choice of soft furnishings, hence this collection of stylishly laid-back grooves. More importantly, they appreciate that there' s more to chillout music than shapeless ambient sythns. With hypnotic jazz-funk (Vicenzo & Rivera's "Tu Estas Fatal"), deep disco house (To-Ka Projects "Café Style"), slick downtempo (Supreme Beings Of Leisure) and the occasional stroke of genius (Sporto Kantes Party lays the James Bond theme over Bill Withers' moody classic "Who Is He And What Is He To You", to brilliant effect), it's an eclectic mix, with soulful grooves providing both the common thread and relaxation therapy. And that the Italian Secret Service's cheesy lounge-samba shimmies next to the eerie likes of King Kooba's "Fooling Myself" just goes to show that relaxing should never be taken too seriously. --Dan Gennoe