“One night, I was DJing and I glanced over the booth to see everyone sprawled across mattresses,” recalls Mario Aguero. “It seemed like a record-breaking attempt with all those people lying down. That was, of course, until someone needed to use the restroom and began stumbling over everyone else.”
This scenario unfolded at Telepathic Fish, a notable party scene in London during the early 90s. Co-promoter Kevin Foakes grimaces as he remembers the event. “We had hauled in several mattresses from the streets.” Renowned music critic David Toop was in attendance and reported that his first error was sitting on a damp mattress.
Sodden mattresses at an event might not immediately signal a pivotal moment in the history of British music. However, the gatherings at Telepathic Fish marked the genesis of a new era in club culture known as chillout.
Today, the term ‘chillout’ might conjure images of generic spa music or repetitive playlists titled ‘Ibiza Poolside Chill’ or ‘Relaxing Piano.’ It might also bring to mind exhausted clubbers rambling in superclub chillout rooms. Yet, a newly released compilation titled ‘Trawling the Early 90s Ambient Underground’ revisits the bold origins of chillout music. Additionally, a resurgence of events from London to Berlin and New York continues to celebrate the legacy of Telepathic Fish, complete with cozy duvets and pillows.
Back in 1992, Foakes was studying at Camberwell College of Arts with his friend David Vallade, while Aguero had recently moved from the north during the Madchester era and was working at a computer graphics firm. They shared a passion for the edgier side of rave culture, attending events like Club Dog and various squat raves. The trio lived in a three-story house above a store with no neighbors, which seemed like the perfect venue for their own party, Vallade recalls.
By their second event, they had christened their gatherings Telepathic Fish, attracting over 300 attendees who paid £1 each for entry, receiving a hand-cut holographic foil fish lanyard in return. Their neighbor and DJ, Mixmaster Morris, managed the chillout room upstairs, which was decked out with old TVs, making the night a tremendous success. “That was definitely our favorite part,” Aguero shares. “It was social, fun, bizarre, and the music was incredibly diverse.”
By mid 1993, a new flatmate named Chantal Passamonte, later known as the acclaimed producer and sound artist Mira Calix, had joined them. After moving from South Africa, she quickly immersed herself in London’s music scene, working in record shops and interning at the label 4AD. “That’s when our parties really took off,” Foakes notes. “We were just three guys throwing parties, but she connected us to a much larger network.”
They moved their events to a large squatted former dole office in Brixton, transforming Telepathic Fish into a fully horizontal experience. “We completely did away with the dance floor,” explains Aguero. However, they realized they needed visual entertainment for those not dancing, so they hired Matt Black from Coldcut as a video jockey. “We barely knew what that entailed, and it turned out he had never performed publicly before,” Foakes admits. “It was a baptism by fire, but he pulled it off, and continued to do so at every subsequent party.”
The fusion of futuristic graphics by Black and Aguero, combined with primitive stenciling, camouflage netting, and occasionally damp mattresses, all illuminated under UV lights, created an intensely laid-back atmosphere. Foakes recalls, “The best record-buying advice I ever received was from Morris who said, ‘if you see an old record with hippies and synthesizers on the cover, buy it!’” The music selection included dreamy Detroit techno, early trip-hop, space-dub, and was interwoven with film soundtracks, minimalist classical music, and Krautrock.
Telepathic Fish was considered a contemporary of other chillout pioneers like Oscillate in Birmingham and Sonora in Glasgow, which was managed by JD Twitch, later of Optimo. Influences from acts like the Orb and the KLF were significant; DJs Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty frequently played in the ambient rooms at Paul Oakenfold’s club nights at Land of Oz. Following a series of squat events and guest appearances at clubs and festivals, plus all four founders working at the epicenter of the scene, the record shop Ambient Soho, Telepathic Fish became a crucial focal point for the era’s avant-garde movements.
Artists like Aphex Twin performed there, just as Warp Records was establishing him and others like Autechre as avant-garde superstars. The Ninja Tune label, which Black had co-founded with Jonathan More and which, along with Warp, became a leading force in UK electronic music, also used Telepathic Fish as a proving ground. Foakes took on roles as Ninja Tune’s in-house designer and also released music under the name DJ Food. Aguero and Vallade found success in video gaming and illustration, respectively.
The events concluded in 1995, and while chillout rooms became commonplace across club scenes, the concept of a nightclub devoted entirely to chillout music gradually faded. “It was always a small-scale operation,” Vallade remarks. Despite the occasional squatter selling drinks or chai from a folding table, it never quite matched the scale or professionalism that club culture evolved into as the 90s progressed.
Ambient electronica continued to become more artistic and experimental, and trip-hop replaced it as the quintessential stoner soundtrack. Meanwhile, Ibiza developed its own chillout tradition, famously at Cafe del Mar with its sunset sets and mixtape/CD series, where DJ Jose Padilla would play tracks from Aphex Twin alongside Ennio Morricone and Astrud Gilberto. However, over time, Balearic chillout became synonymous with mundane beats that might be played as hold music for a multinational bank.
Three decades later, the Telepathic Fish compilation is released amidst a renewed interest in cosmic sounds and relaxed events. DJ/producer Mark Barrott champions the original Ibizan chillout spirit with blissful sets at Hostal Del Torre, featuring artists in the Telepathic Fish tradition like Boards Of Canada and µ-Ziq alongside Nina Simone and Mazzy Star. Inspired by home gatherings and after-hours sessions at London’s Brilliant Corners, Errol and Alex Rita of Touching Bass started the ambient-leaning listening event A Loose Ting. “It’s about making music feel really nice in a small space, a little haven for a few hours away from the rest of the world and the madness in it right now,” Errol explains.
Speaking is discouraged at A Loose Ting, much like at the private loft gatherings of New York’s Planetarium, where the audience mainly reclines. Organizer Justin Carter takes pride in the subtle sounds of appreciation heard during intense moments in recordings of his sets. Although there are no light shows or stencil art, the events echo the psychedelic vibe of 90s chillout. Carter says a big inspiration for Planetarium is the use of psychedelic drugs in therapy, a setting where participants wear eye masks and are encouraged to delve deep. Similarly, at Planetarium, “the music acts like a guide or a therapist. It’s a quiet, introspective experience.”
