Navigator

His fame as resident DJ at the Café Del Mar in San Antonio, Ibiza — where he would famously soundtrack the sunset over the bay with global sounds, film soundtracks and more — has eclipsed the late José Padilla’s own recordings. But they very much deserve attention, his 2001 second album being case in point. It does, in its Seal collaboration which lifts chunks of U2‘s “One” and its rather over-egged cover of “The Look of Love,” illustrate the risks of Balearic DJs embracing of mainstream pop and gauche emoting — but for the most part it’s gorgeous. Strange jazz waltzes with flamenco vocals and Tex-Mex slide guitar, a super delicate take on LTJ Bukem style drum’n’bass, lots of lush ambience, stirring chord sequences and sublimated Latin grooves: you don’t even need the sunset to have a spiritual “moment” to this.