Lounge (easy listening) refers to a strain of easy listening music from the '50s and '60s that was based on the lush styles of latter-day swing and big band music. Lounge scaled these back, borrowing ideas from the worldbeat exploration of exotica, as well as the futuristic aspirations of space age pop. Lounge wasn't as adventurous as either form, yet it wasn't as watered down as Muzak — instead, it occupied the middle ground, appealing to fans of traditional pop as well as space-age pop. [It rose again to tremendous popularity during the nineties] -- allmusic.com
Serge Gainsbourg - Couleur Café [Amazon FR] [Amazon US][Amazon UK] Contains most of the material of "Percussions", with liner notes in French
Serge Gainsbourg put his extraordinary talent to merging Euro-Pop music with Latin and African rhythms on this album, and comes up with the most hip & happening lounge music you'll find. I gave my Esquivel away because after getting hooked on this, it just fell short. Couleur Cafe never fails to make everyone feel like having a party and transports one to an easy state of mind. At first listen, I smiled and laughed. At the second listen, I was chilling out in my own space and at the third, I realized Serge is an extremely sensitive, deeply philosophical man who can extract the very elements of an eclectic range of styles that, when combined, lightly uplift the soul. -- Jumpy1 for Amazon
Zero 7 - Simple Things[1CD, Amazon US] Longtime North Londoner friends Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns on their debut LP. Zero 7 has been dubbed the British 'Air'.
Kruder and Dorfmeister - K&D Sessions [Amazon US] Lounge, 877 sales rank at Amazon US. Personally, I believe their music is derivative and in general, I do not like people who enjoy K&D. It is not deep enough.
Gotan Project ~ Revancha del Tango
[1 CD, Amazon US] Phillipe Cohen Salal and Christophe Mueller First Projects were the Boys from Brazil and Stereo Action Unlimited. This disc is a beautiful marriage between tango (replace the syllables TAN-GO, hence the name GO-TAN project)and electronic music, this CD represents the finest example of chillout/lounge music stream. Both Piazzolla and Buddha-Bar/Hotel Costes fans will not be disappointed. Highly recommended. Amazon.com Sales Rank: 1,629
Phillipe Cohen Salal and Christophe Mueller First Projects were the Boys from Brazil and Stereo Action Unlimited. This disc is a beautiful marriage between tango (replace the syllables TAN-GO, hence the name GO-TAN project)and electronic music, this CD represents the finest example of chillout/lounge music stream. Both Piazzolla and Buddha-Bar/Hotel Costes fans will not be disappointed. Highly recommended. Amazon.com Sales Rank: 1,629