Friday, October 17, 2014

What Is Lounge Music And Where To Find It

By Patty Goff


Throughout the nineteen fifties and sixties, a style of music became prevalent that had first appeared on the musical scene about thirty years prior. Lounge music is defined as a chillout, easy listening style. It is a very mellow form that is most likely to be heard at hotels, such as in their bars or lounges, or at casinos.

This particular genre boasts a number of musical inspirations. Electronica, swing, space age pop and downtempo are just a few of the origins of this style. Simultaneously, the genre borrows from cultural styles, such as polynesian, bossa nova and exotica. However, jazz is the predominant origin of this type of music. You will hear key instruments when listening; these include ethnic percussion, drums, the piano, the guitar and also vibraphones.

When you listen to this musical style, you will get a sense of being taken to another place; one that is more tranquil and perhaps even other-worldly, like outer space. The key theme behind the genre is to relax and feel comfortable. This is easy to understand when you consider where you might hear these tunes. It is a good choice of genre for a relaxed social setting.

While a great deal of this genre is purely instrumental, particularly in modern times, there are quite a few artistes who can date the start of their careers back to being lounge singers. The swing jazz era of the 30s and 40s is also considered to be of this genre. With this era, however, there is more importance placed on the singer as opposed to the instrumentals.

Some of the best known singers from this period include the Rat Pack. Other popular vocalists during this period are Jackie Gleason, Louis Prima, Sam Butera and Sonny King. Many of the performers of this time were using music and songs from Burt Bacharach, who is a six-time Grammy Award winner and a three-time Academy Award winner. A lot of the artistes he collaborated with could be found performing in the casinos of Las Vegas.

In the nineteen nineties, Combustible Edison, Love Jones, The Cocktails and The High Llamas were just a few of many groups that revived the genre. In nineteen ninety-six, Capitol Records released an entire seris of Ultra-Lounge albums. The genre itself was very different to the other popular style at the time, known as grunge.

At the turn of the century, the genre was again spun to create new sounds by using a combination of musical styles. Richard Cheese and Lounge Against The Machine did a number of covers of hip hop and metal tracks in the style of lounge singers. Similarly, Nouvelle Vague, a French group from Paris, used eighties post-punk tracks as the basis of their creativity.

Ultra-lounges are like nightclubs, however the layout is more like that of a cocktail bar than one where you would find a dance floor separate to the drinking area. It is a more relaxed social setting, where there is not so much musical noise; it is much more subdued than in the average nightclub. Furthermore, in these places, you can socialize more intimately through use of their semi-private rooms.




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