Lounge music

     Lounge music is probably one of my favorite genres to listen to mainly because there is so many styles that are woven together. I enjoy the how modern and traditional sounds play so well together. 

     Personally, I really like electronic/trance music and classical music and I find it rare for those two elements to be fused together. 

     To give a brief history on this unfamiliar genre, the derivation was actually from jazz and other traditional styles around the world. French, latin, and Polynesian styles are predominantly used due to the exotic and romantic elements they offer. The popularity rose with proportion to the development in digital/synthetic sounds. The increase in popularity steadily increased during th 1980's and 1990's.

     The mood it creates is quite exotic/mysterious. Imagine yourself in outer space, and island paradise or in the amazon. There are some characteristics that may feel retro and yet modern with the refined synthetic sounds. In this example, they also use the ocean waves that you hear on the beach, which makes you feel like you're in paradise. 

     Some people call this genre, nu-jazz. Most of these music is far more popular in Europe (Norway, UK, Belgium, Germany, France) than it is in America. The roots of combining electronic elements goes far back as 1970's with Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and Herbie Hancock in their later careers when the digital age was beginning to dawn. Artists who experiment with nu-jazz enjoy playing with broken rhythms, melodic improvisation, and atonal harmonies. These individuals enjoy fusing traditional jazz elements with creating new sounds with digital devicies. 

     This music, I believe, was a bridgeway to a new genre that clubbers tend to enjoy, which is house, trance, electronica, etc.