Tranquil Beats by Carminelitta

Welcome to the first edition of Tranquil Beats! Tranquil Beats is a special monthly curated playlist by music experts, producers, beatmakers, and people with great ears for music! Airing Monday through Friday, 9-10AM EST and Midnight till 1AM EST, Tranquil Beats gives you a fresh outpouring of chill vibes to start and end your day.

Meet Carminelitta:

I’m Marion aka Carminelitta, a French music lover, writer, radio host and traveler. I’ve always been listening to music I guess, but I would say a turning point was when I “fell in love with hip-hop”, around 1994. I feel that’s the moment when I was not listening only to what mainstream TV and radio were feeding me anymore, and I started actively looking for independent artists. I was also listening to R&B and what was called “neo-soul” during the same period, but another important moment was when I started listening to an amazing radio show from London, UK, called The Morpheus Soul Show, about a dozen years later. Thanks to them, I discovered what they called “progressive soul” and “soulful hip-hop”, and it really opened up my ears and my mind. After moving to London in 2008, I became more and more passionate about music and I finally created my blog, The Wonderful World of Carminelitta, in 2010. Most of my first articles on the blog were actually about artists I discovered on The Morpheus Soul Show, so I’m eternally grateful to DJ Johnny Rebel, Ten Mill and Soulful Solly Brown for not only allowing me to expand my musical horizons, but also for helping me realize that sharing music was something I loved and was quite good at. Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Keisha aka TastyKeish, the co-founder of Bondfire Radio, who is my main inspiration when it comes to radio and who gave me a chance to really enter this world I was attracted to but didn’t really know at the time.

This particular selection is all about smooth, relaxing instrumentals and I really focused on music you can vibe to. I wanted beats that were chilled and inspiring, something that is quite melodic and makes you want to escape reality for a while. Some are a bit more uptempo than others, but overall I think it really sounds like a sonic journey that allows you to unwind and feel positive. Some choices for who to include were quite obvious for me, such as producers Sinitus Tempo, AFTA-1, or Somepling, among many others who always create beautiful, soothing, dreamlike music. Then, I just tried to remember artists or albums that really exuded this kind of atmosphere, scrolling down in my iTunes library and picking songs that I felt would be great matches. It’s really all about starting the day the right way, putting yourself in a positive state of mind and enjoying some lovely melodies. Most tracks have some of my favourite and most melodic instruments like the piano, the flute or the violin, which helps create the “escapology” element.

I would say the main challenge with the explosion of digital music is that too many people think they are artists and can start making music to sell it. Many of those people are more interested in “fame” or being “hot” or whatever, so it can create saturation and prevent great artists from being heard. For me, that basically means that I need to dig deeper. That is not necessarily a bad thing, since great things sometimes have to be deserved, but if an artist is out there creating amazing music and nobody knows about it, then it’s a problem. Fortunately, I know quite a lot of wonderful artists and I can follow their career, one project after the other, and be assured that I will be able to enjoy great music. I also discover many musicians on various music streaming sites, or through newsletters and direct emails from the artists so I don’t always have to spend hours looking through the net to find new songs and albums to listen to and play on my show.

I think everything is about cycles in the music industry and, while I hardly listen to any mainstream music, I can’t but notice the overwhelming influence of “trap” sounding music. I’m not going to go into details about how much I dislike this musical genre, but what I don’t appreciate for sure is when everyone is doing the same thing. Some people lose their identity and start creating music that sounds like everything else that’s out, just because they think that’s the only way they can be heard. I think we have more and more live beatmaking, which sounds quite interesting. I haven’t witnessed a lot of it, but I do like the idea and it’s a great way for beatmakers and producers to come out of the shadows and be more prominent. I do listen to a lot of instrumentals and it’s great to know that more and more people do so as well, recognizing the talent of musical architects who can create wonderful soundscapes that express a lot of things without words.

The most important thing for me when I listen to music is that I need to feel something. If a song doesn’t touch me, one way or another, I won’t be able to appreciate it. I need to be able to relate to it, even if only partly. Whether it’s vocal or instrumental, the music must tell a story, express a feeling, make you think, smile, cry, etc. I do have a preference for melodic instrumentals but that’s just personal taste. I try to be a bit more open-minded and listen to more experimental music sometimes, but generally I like sounds that are pleasant to the ear. I also appreciate it when producers add their own personal touch, something special that makes a track unique and unmistakably theirs.

Listen to the February Edition of Tranquil Beats curated by Carminelitta M-F 9am and Midnight EST on BondfireRadio.com and TuneIn app &

The Wonderful World of Carminelitta Every Monday 1130am – 1230pm EST on Bondfire Radio