#throwback album

15 years of my personal favorite instrumental album “Clouds” by Apollo Brown ☁️

“Helping Hands” by Ivan Ave is not only a benchmark of his sound and overall style but one of the most well rounded projects of the year 2016. It marked one of the first collaborations done with the incredible producer Mndsgn who helped showcase Ivan’s unique storytelling through wave after wave of intricate and equally chilled out soundscapes. My personal favorite tracks include “The Circle”, “Once Again” and the second installment of Ivan’s “Find Me” series which always pull in top notch results. I always speak about the right projects to introduce someone to an artist and once more I feel that “Helping Hands” is that project for Ivan Ave who has since continued an impressive and consistent run of amazing music over the past 10 years.

I would consider Apollo Brown’s 2011 project “Clouds” one of the most influential in my own journey as a producer. This project really helped open my eyes to the possibilities of creating bodies of work strictly centered around a producers own unique style and it’s still an album that gets plays from me almost every week at one time or another. I also feel for Apollo it was a fresh new spin on his signature sound incorporating a lot of melodic and dreamy elements paired with his hard hitting drums. Standouts for me include “Father and Son”, “Shadows of Grief” and “Baghdad Sun” all of which are now considered signature tracks within Apollo’s catalog. Everything about this album really hits home and if I ever need music to have for heavy thinking, brainstorming ideas, or just reflecting at the end of a long day, this one is sure to get the job done.

I actually recommend this to kids. The dancey tracks are great, and the lyrics are non-threatening. See how they react when they first hear "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight". I guarantee they will enjoy it quite a bit.