To what extent is it necessary to be entirely strung out before you can chill out? Does the concept of chill out exist solely within a dialectical relation to getting cranked up (thesis), and strung out (antithesis)? Is chill out a modern phenomenon, or can it be seen as a timeless one? Can we speak meaningfully of chilling out as an art? Or is it an art only in the sense that love or war can also be viewed as arts? Are the sleeve notes for this compilation of the finest contemporary chill out going to consist entirely of questions? And if this is the case will they themselves require their own equivalent chill out, in the form of a lot of answers? To this question let me say, emphatically, yes.
WILL SELF, ART OF CHILL SLEEVENOTES, LONDON 2003

As the infamous journo & writer Will Self alludes to in his sleevenotes, the genre itself serves many purposes