Everyone likes Balearic now. I like it, you like it, the student barber who cuts your hair likes it too. We can guarantee you that this summer, you'll be hearing old Alfredo mixes everywhere, and at barbecues up and down the land, back gardens will shake to the sound of vintage Bob James LPs and Chris Rea deep cuts.There's a few people you can thank for that, and Phil Mison is one of them. The esteemed selector's been a vital presence in the scene for over two decades now, and a new compilation—released on Leng later this month—shows exactly why he's such a respected selector.Out of the Blue sees Mison harking back to 1993, the year he first soundtracked the Ibizan sunsets down at the Cafe Del Mar. A few years before, Mison'd fallen in love with the distinctive sounds strung together by Jose Padilla down at the waterfront, and a chance encounter with the Spainard in a London record shop led to a blossoming friendship—and a residency for Phil.Taking in everything from dusty, dusky flamenco guitar to hydrotherapy soundtrack deep house, via wave-riding ambient, knotty jazz-fusion, and some good old fashioned slow-motion sunset-music, Out of the Blue is as good a Balearic compilation as you'll hear all year. Which shouldn't be surprising at all, given that Phil Mison knows more about Balearic than you, me, and that student barber combined.To celebrate the release of the record, we decided to send Phil a few questions over email. Phil then answered them, and let us stream a track from the compilation, and that track is the fantastic "Gambarra" by Phil himself, under his much loved Cantoma guise.Check out the track and the interview below.
Phil Mison: Only on Wednesdays and the occasional bank holiday. How was the recent trip to Japan? Why do you reckon the Japanese crowds lap up music the way they seem to?
It was pretty amazing. I went over for the Claremont 56 tenth anniversary party with Paul Murphy. Japanese people seem to have a real appreciation and patience for music. The sound systems are usually good too. When it's all put together on a high level like that, it makes the whole experience of playing music a joy. When you think about the changes you've seen in Ibiza since your first started making the visits over and playing out, do you think the island is in a "good place" when it comes to music in 2017?
i've had a great time over there the last couple of years. The shift seems to be away from the big clubs and into more smaller, intimate parties with better music. DJ Pippi and Willie Graff are great in the funky room at Pacha, Jon at Sa Trinxa and Harvey's Mercury Rising at Pikes is the best regular night I've been to in Ibiza for years. There's already talk with seasoned old Ibiza clubbers about attending the closing party in September. On that note, were those first six weeks of your Ibizan adventure some of the best of your life?It's certainly a period I look back at fondly. I was only 22, so pretty carefree at the time. It's strange to think that back then we didn't even have a phone in the house. If you wanted to get in touch, you rang the Cafe del Mar or wrote a postcard to say you were coming over. I feel very lucky to have experienced playing music at the cafe then. I met some very interesting characters, had a few adventures in Ibiza town at night, and generally just had a blast really. No social media, no distractions. Wonderful. So thanks again to Jose Padilla, without meeting him I wouldn't have had that opportunity to play there. With the new compilation, it feels like you're keeping a kind of "authentic" Balearic spirit alive…was that the intention?
No, not really. I just wanted to put a few records on there that I played then, and tried to capture the feeling of those couple of years. The sun still fairly high in the sky, having a coffee, taking the lids off the decks, chatting to friends through the side window, looking through the cafe's collection of records and getting a tape ready to record it. Phil Mison's Out of the Blue arrives on 9th of June, via Leng.
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THUMP: Phil, there's no two ways about it: you are about as Balearic as it gets…does that spirit infuse your every move?
Phil Mison: Only on Wednesdays and the occasional bank holiday. How was the recent trip to Japan? Why do you reckon the Japanese crowds lap up music the way they seem to?
It was pretty amazing. I went over for the Claremont 56 tenth anniversary party with Paul Murphy. Japanese people seem to have a real appreciation and patience for music. The sound systems are usually good too. When it's all put together on a high level like that, it makes the whole experience of playing music a joy. When you think about the changes you've seen in Ibiza since your first started making the visits over and playing out, do you think the island is in a "good place" when it comes to music in 2017?
i've had a great time over there the last couple of years. The shift seems to be away from the big clubs and into more smaller, intimate parties with better music. DJ Pippi and Willie Graff are great in the funky room at Pacha, Jon at Sa Trinxa and Harvey's Mercury Rising at Pikes is the best regular night I've been to in Ibiza for years. There's already talk with seasoned old Ibiza clubbers about attending the closing party in September. On that note, were those first six weeks of your Ibizan adventure some of the best of your life?It's certainly a period I look back at fondly. I was only 22, so pretty carefree at the time. It's strange to think that back then we didn't even have a phone in the house. If you wanted to get in touch, you rang the Cafe del Mar or wrote a postcard to say you were coming over. I feel very lucky to have experienced playing music at the cafe then. I met some very interesting characters, had a few adventures in Ibiza town at night, and generally just had a blast really. No social media, no distractions. Wonderful. So thanks again to Jose Padilla, without meeting him I wouldn't have had that opportunity to play there. With the new compilation, it feels like you're keeping a kind of "authentic" Balearic spirit alive…was that the intention?
No, not really. I just wanted to put a few records on there that I played then, and tried to capture the feeling of those couple of years. The sun still fairly high in the sky, having a coffee, taking the lids off the decks, chatting to friends through the side window, looking through the cafe's collection of records and getting a tape ready to record it. Phil Mison's Out of the Blue arrives on 9th of June, via Leng.