Chill Out in Paris, Vol. 2

by Jason BirchmeierDavid Visan continues his run of Buddha Bar-affiliated releases with Chill Out in Paris, Vol. 2, a double-disc ethnic fusion mix. The broad, all-encompassing mix promotes San Carlo dal 1973, an Italian super-boutique, and indeed plays like the soundtrack to a designer-brand clothing store. Far Eastern sounds combine with sedate Arabic meditations on numerous songs, just as tranquil ambience drifts alongside organic third-world instrumentation on many others. During the latter half of the second disc, Visan picks up the pace a little, beginning with the house-style beats of the "Attaboy Remix" of Zöhar's "Ehad," but he never takes his mix into full-on dancefloor territory. And it's perhaps better that he doesn't, since this mix is most often more ambient than energetic, functioning well as the worldly ethnic sampler it's intended to be. Chill Out in Paris, Vol. 2 resembles its predecessor in all possible ways, and also shares commonalities with the other Buddha Bar-affiliated albums mixed by Claude Challe (for example, Buddha Bar, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). This mix surely lives up to its "chill-out" billing, so dancefloor enthusiasts will find little satisfaction here. Visan aims for variety and exoticism more than anything, particularly on the first disc, continually surprising you with his fusion of diverse ethnicities.