The Mediterranean Islands Behind the Downtempo of RAW 3 by Peppe Milia
An Italian Producer Plays Guitar on the Third Track of the RAW Series
RAW 3 runs four minutes and 40 seconds and carries a guitar part. Peppe Milia, an independent artist from Sicily, Italy, dedicated RAW 3 to the Mediterranean islands. It came out on 24 April 2026, built for listening with the eyes closed, travelling in the mind rather than on a map.
Peppe Milia’s RAW 3 sits in the playlist below, between other downtempo, lounge and trip hop tracks, and every article about the guitarist is kept on Peppe Milia’s artist profile. The track came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Press play on RAW 3, then read on.
That dedication puts Peppe Milia’s RAW 3 in a long line. One branch of downtempo grew up on an island, in a bar where the music sat with the sea. What follows takes that line in order: the wave, where Milia fits in it, and the acts on either side.
Peppe Milia’s RAW 3 Follows the Island Sunset Sound That Café del Mar Built on Ibiza
So the wave starts on Ibiza. In 1991 the DJ José Padilla took up the residency at Café del Mar. The bar sits on the west coast of the island and faces the sunset. From 1994 the same DJ compiled the Café del Mar albums. Those records turned one hour of the day into a style, downtempo made to sit with the view rather than drive a floor.
The compilations travelled further than the bar ever could. Chill-out became its own section in record shops across Europe. A generation of producers also learned that a downtempo track could carry a place inside it.
RAW 3 belongs to that idea, with one difference. Milia dedicated it to the Mediterranean islands as a group, not to one resort.
Peppe Milia Builds RAW 3 From Inside the Mediterranean, With Leo Curiale on the Mix
DJs and compilers assembled the Ibiza records. Peppe Milia, by contrast, composed and produced RAW 3 and played the guitar on it. Leo Curiale mixed the track.
That guitar comes with a long career behind it. Milia’s own profile lists work as guitarist and producer for Mario Venuti, Roy Paci & Aretuska, Lello Analfino and Tinturia. With Tinturia, the guitarist also played the Note nell’Arcipelago del Vento festival on Favignana, one of the Egadi Islands. The RAW tracks take that experience off band stages and into downtempo under Milia’s own name.
The track also sits in a numbered series. RAW 1 lasts 4:35 and RAW 2 lasts 5:15, so the third part stays in the same range. That is long enough to settle into and short enough to programme between other tracks. The three tracks also appear together as Lì SOLA, with RAW 3 closing it.
Then there is the question of place. Residents and visitors of a holiday island made the Ibiza sound. Milia writes about the islands from the largest one in that sea. So the dedication reads as home ground rather than a postcard.
Nicola Conte, Bonobo and Thievery Corporation Sit Next to Peppe Milia’s RAW 3 in a Downtempo Set
Those are the roots, but the track also has neighbours. Nicola Conte, the DJ and producer from Bari, released Jet Sounds on the Milan label Schema in 2000. That record took Italian lounge far beyond the coast, and RAW 3 carries the same Italian line into downtempo.
Bonobo, the British producer Simon Green, is a multi-instrumentalist who builds downtempo records around parts played rather than only programmed. The 2017 album Migration reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart. Playing a part into downtempo, instead of programming every line, is the approach RAW 3 takes too.
Thievery Corporation is the Washington, D.C. duo of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. On The Mirror Conspiracy in 2000 they mixed bossa nova, dub and Indian music, then released it on their own label, ESL Music. That record treated downtempo as travel, the same offer RAW 3 makes about the Mediterranean.
Where This Downtempo Track Belongs in a Set, at the Turn From Day to Night
As a programming choice, RAW 3 suits the stretch of a set where the room changes pace without anyone noticing. It follows the sunset tracks and hands over to the later, darker ones. Its length also gives a DJ time to plan the next transition.
From the ElectronicMusic.News curator team: “We put RAW 3 on our downtempo, lounge and trip hop playlist between the sunset tracks and the late ones. Its spacious, nocturnal mood holds the floor still.”
Close your eyes for those four minutes and 40 seconds, as the track asks. The islands are the rest of the arrangement.
Stream RAW 3 on Spotify or Apple Music, and hear all three RAW tracks as Lì SOLA on Spotify. Follow Peppe Milia on Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram for the next part of the series.
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