KBZT's Big Sonic Chill

[Radical347]

KBZT/San Diego is doing a "chill" program for 4 hours a night, for 6 (I think) nights a week. They obviously have no idea what chill is (Jeff Buckley or Talk Talk unmixed on a chillout program???) but nonetheless I like it because they play artists & songs that I never hear at any other time or on any other station.

Here's a sample hour:
Somewhere Down the Crazy River - Robbie Robertson
Tiny Vessels - Death Cab for Cutie
Frost and Fire - Everything But The Girl
Mistress - Red House Painters
We Float - PJ Harvey
Always Turn Away - Mark Eitzel
Let's Pretend - Leya
Hideaway - Ivy
Please Forgive Me - David Gray
Blindfold - Morcheeba
I Love You Goodbye - Thomas Dolby

[Tayzlor]

I have no idea what a "chill" program is either, albeit not obviously. I'm going to assume it is strictly indie music.

[halo19]

Well, some certain songs are actually chill from artists who are otherwise anything but. If you hear stuff like Beastie Boys - "Lighten Up", that particular song would fit the playlist, whereas "Sabotage" isn't anywhere close. I think they've been doing this for a while, actually. However, it wouldn't hurt to put Massive Attack on there since they basically were innovators of the genres, as well as stuff like Air, Portishead, et. al.

[Radical347]

Tayzlor said:

I have no idea what a "chill" program is either, albeit not obviously. I'm going to assume it is strictly indie music.

It's down-to-mid tempo, light and airy music, usually with a constant beat & usually electronica.

halo20 said:

Well, some certain songs are actually chill from artists who are otherwise anything but. If you hear stuff like Beastie Boys - "Lighten Up", that particular song would fit the playlist, whereas "Sabotage" isn't anywhere close. I think they've been doing this for a while, actually. However, it wouldn't hurt to put Massive Attack on there since they basically were innovators of the genres, as well as stuff like Air, Portishead, et. al.

This is true & a good point. But I listen to the program almost every night it's on & some of the songs I've heard are not chill-sounding by any stretch of the imagination. Nonetheless, I still like them because usually those songs are just as obscure as the chill songs. I'd say about 1/4 of the program is not chill at all, 1/2 is not really chill music but sounds acceptable when played between 2 chill songs (i.e. Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me) and/or the type you described, and the other 1/4 is true chill. (I do hear quite a bit of Massive Attack, Zero 7, Air, etc.)

[tico]

I remember the first time I heard Big Sonic Chill. I heard a song that didn't sound like something KBZT would play. While it isn't something I could listen to for an extended period of time, it was something very different from what I've listened to before.

[GordonUM]

Judging from the playlists, I'd probably listen every night if I lived in San Diego. It comes on too late for me on the east coast, so I've recorded a couple shows on my computer but haven't listened yet.

Alice, San Francisco's modern AC station, does a "Chill" show on Sunday mornings that also mixes dance artists with alternative and AAA ones, but may be more to your taste as they have some remixes. Doesn't look like you can listen online but playlists are at www.radioalice.com/alice_music/chill/index.asp

And Sirius satellite radio looks to be starting up something similar on a full-time station:

Chill // 64 is a combination of cool, relaxing electronic-based music from artists such as Moby, Massive Attack and Groove Armada, along with downtempo songs from such artists as Coldplay, Dido and David Gray.

It starts up on Monday, and if you're not a subscriber, you can still listen on their website for 20 minutes at a time.