Late Night Tales: Barry Can't Swim

After topping the U.K. dance charts with his first two albums and garnering Brit Award nominations, Barry Can't Swim presented a volume of the Late Night Tales mix series, showcasing music he's fond of but wouldn't necessarily be appropriate for him to drop in a club. While there's a little of the type of lush, organic house that he produces, much of the mix is more downtempo, often exploring Balearic chillout territory, but also venturing into a few other directions. Loket's cosmic trip-hop number "Afternoon at Barenquell" is an early highlight, working up a jazzy groove before clearing out for a lovely string-based coda. Following a short excerpt of Superpitcher's 20-minute, harp-based chugger "Yves," a handful of introspective pieces briefly string together, leading to a comforting, Eastern-flavored track from Barry himself titled "Chala (My Soul Is on a Loop)." The mix inches a little bit closer to house for a few tracks, including an amapiano-leaning one from Freddy da Stupid and Daniel Avery's ambient techno rework of a Factory Floor song. A perky yet low-key Boz Scaggs cover by Ronald Langestraat leads into the Carl Craig-approved deep house of Lance Desardi's "The Power of Suggestion." O'Flynn's warm, crackly "Kola" ends the house-y portion of the mix, then Accelera Deck's shoegaze-drum'n'bass gem "This Bliss" makes a surprise appearance. From there, the mix drifts off further into the night with post-minimalism from Pepé, classic ethereal wave from This Mortal Coil, Barry's contemplative cover of an obscure Felt B-side ("Ferdinand Magellan"), and as expected from the Late Night Tales series, a short spoken story at the end.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo