Chill

What began in the chill-out rooms of the early '90s as a breather from the kinetic exertions of the dance floor evolved into a fascinating stand-alone scene, a canvas on which the modern masters of electronica projected their imaginations with one eye on sensory pleasure, the other on contemplation. Welcome to the universe of chill, headed up by Lamb's cornerstone track, "Gorecki". Once you're horizontal, slowly levitate in the direction of Next Steps.

Simplicity and complexity are bedfellows here, as the stripped-down charm of the Cinematic Orchestra's "To Build a Home" — slow piano, gentle vocal — exists in marked contrast to the smartly layered dissonances on the Jackson remix of Air's "Alpha Beta Gaga", which gradually takes shape from a roiling maelstrom of brass-heavy synth, light whistle, and banjo. Your chill experience takes a leftfield turn in Deep Cuts.

The landscape of chill may be dominated by fluffy clouds of sound, but it embraces far more than therapeutic electronic whimsy — plug into the circuitry of Rochdale's Autechre and, on a track like "Basscadet", you're being led through a place that owes more to dystopia than to nirvana.

There's a fundamental conflict at the heart of these mind-expanding Chill Essentials, which makes the whole collection all the more fascinating. Many of the tracks here slow the pulse and lull the brain into a state of entranced relaxation, yet once that state is achieved, the grey matter becomes so receptive to new ideas that further mental exploration can prove incredibly intense. You're chilled out, yet fully switched on. Absolute harmony gives way to cerebral stimulation. In other words, these seminal chill cuts are more than mere massage music. From trip-hop to techno-dub and every shade of electronic experimentation, this collection represents the sound of a beguiling future-present.