1. Flowchart - Tenjira 8:22
2. Windy & Carl - Antarctica 22:07
3. Orange Cake Mix - Streetlights and Stars 4:50
4. Tomorrowland - Arrival 6:09
5. Mirza - Dream of the Fossil Sea 13:50
6. Transient Waves - Peaceful Madman 11:44
7. The American Analog Set - Late One Sunday 13:13
8. Junior Varsity KM - You're Fabulous! 7:50
9. Sweet Trip - Fish (Halica Album Version) 11:15
10. Bright - Tapping 12:43
11. Piano Magic - A Trick of the Sea 20:23
12. The Cat's Miaow - Phoebe 2:49
13. Lilys - The Escape 8:06
14. Technicolor - Moving Slowly 7:18
15. Mus - Aquel Invierna 22:59
16. Aarktica - Aura Lee 4:33
17. Japancakes - Handguns & Firearms 16:44
18. Manual With Jess Kahr - 1986 5:27
In 1996 when loud, hard, fast, aggressive indie rock was still by far the dominant genre in the independent music market, indie electronica wasn't even a thing yet and ambient music was still mostly regarded as new age or something only Brian Eno had once done well, the Darla Records Bliss Out Series started as a venue for indie rock and electronic music artists with an acute pop sense to showcase their more ambient side in epic length and form.We approached and encouraged these artists and bands, which we liked very much and who had shown some instrumental, textural, ambient moodscape leanings on their albums or perhaps had just a pretty instrumental mood piece or two on their otherwise more trend conscious albums to make something different. "Create your ambient epic. Do a full length of instrumentals, long, slow and beautiful." Here are the key tracks by the ones who excelled.The series was an instant success. Each vinyl edition of 1000 to 2500 sold out quickly. The Rough Trade shop in London called wanting a bulk Bliss Out order direct. "Bjork was just in the store and bought the Flowchart - Tenjira 12" EP". By the early 2000s indie electronica and laptop ambient were absolutely booming. So many other bands and labels were on the train. In 2004, Darla released Manual with Jess Kahr - The North Shore: Bliss Out Volume 20 and we decided the series was complete. We have of course continued to support and release work by these and other more ambient leaning artists since: Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie, Clive Wright, bvdub, Rhian Sheehan, Yuta Nagashima, I Am Robot And Proud, Stafraenn Hakon, Ecovillage, Mahogany, Auburn Lull, Ultramarine.The Bliss Out Series was named after the book Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock by Simon Reynolds, 1990. In 1998 when the Bliss Out Series was in full swing, Simon Reynolds was Editor at Spin Magazine. He assigned a writer to do a sidebar feature on Darla Records, which appeared in the reviews section of Spin in July of that year. Jim James of My Morning Jacket said he sent Darla Records his demo because he saw the feature and thought we looked like such nice people. But that's another story.In gratitude and happy listening always,Mr. Darla
