Winter is long, spring seems shorter by the year, but what’s important right now is that summer looks pretty much eternal! Yup, we’ve reached the time of year where all eyes hearts, minds (and everything else of importance!) turn to face the sun.
Whether you be beat-seeker, heat-seeker (or both), we’ve something the season simply can do without – a soundtrack! June 21st sees Roger Shah reconvene his wandering band of multitalented Magic Islanders and musical set sail for the sun.
We can all agree there’s something to be said for a bit of dependability in these crazy mixed-up times! Here’s the question though… Is Roger Shah’s ‘Music For Balearic People’ now the most reliable part of any electronic music summer!?? Consider… over the duration its eight volumes have materialised in the same month of each year. They feature a dedicated cast of music-makers, some of whom have been there from its first word and played a part in every edition. Style-wise it’s kept its musical culture locked; ditto for its ethos of globally connecting people who see life the Balearic way. And it has – every step of the way – been helmed & honed by series standard-bearer, Roger Shah.
As ‘Magic Island’ approaches its landmark tenth outing, Roger’s again marshalled his crew of Balearic People for the 2019 trip. On this expedition you’ll find regular cohorts including Rene Ablaze, Pierre Pienaar, Brian Laruso, Raul Pablo Sanchez, Bob Memphis, Clarks, David Broaders, Sergey Shabanov, Aaron Sim and others. Naturally, outside of Magic Island season, Roger’s expended his energies working on new summer-saluting material. You’ll find new pairings (many of the them for the first time) with Stoneface & Terminal, Kristina Sky, Pierre Pienaar and others besides. As you’ve every right to expect, there’s also a renewed wealth from Roger’s best-known aliases – Sunlounger, High Noon At Salinas and Global Experience among them.
In all the time I’ve been doing them, I’ve never spent as much time putting together a ‘Magic Island’ compilation as with this one. Besides the usual interaction with all the producers (one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling parts of the process), I also got re-inspired to use a lot of my aliases. This meant I ended up contributing even more of my own work. I hope everyone gets something like as much pleasure from listening to this album as I did whilst making it! – Roger Shah
You can get your Magic Island copy via the following link.