12/16/2023 0 Comments Space age bachelor pad musicFor the record I consider the excellent Chicago band Coctails to fall outside the genre. When Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music, a quite unexpected compilation of material by one-of-a-kind Mexican band leader/composer Juan García Esquivel first hit the racks back in 1994 via Bar/None Records, it was a welcome curveball of smooth lounge/exotica strangeness and a dish unspoiled by the potential taint of contemporary approximation.įor outside of Combustible Edison I consider the ‘90s retro-lounge field to be a rather dismal bunch of pikers, and while I do enjoy them in doses I’m not even all that bonkers over Edison (though I am rather taken with Edison members Michael Cudahy and Elizabeth Cox’s non-retro inclined previous group Christmas). If the ‘90s fad for lounge and exotica sounds is often perceived as an unfortunate occurrence, it did hold a few pleasant twists and turns. It’s not often that a compilation of thirty-year old music is almost as representative of the time of its issue as it is of the artist that originally made it, but that’s the case with Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music from the always suave and ever distinctive musician known to many as simply Esquivel. ![]() ![]() Classical pieces are also popular among space age composers, but almost always arranged in a lighter way than the original.Remembering Esquivel!, born on this date in 1918. It is also common for composers to use well-known jazz standards as a basis for their own work and recordings, such as Harlem Nocturne, Caravan and Autumn Leaves. Even the album covers often have space or modernist themes. The arrangements of the instruments tend to be highly original, conveying a sense of humor and playful charm. A variety of keyboard instruments, from piano to marimbas to organ, are frequently used, and occasionally even the theremin for that out-of-this-world sound. For instance, many of the composers associated with the genre used a string orchestra for applying warmth and color to the sound, often combined with a Latin percussion section. Its LPs in the early 1950s included some of the earliest examples of concept albums, and embraced the earliest form of four-track recordings introduced in 1957.Įven though the space age pop-music takes on a variety of approaches in style, rhythm, composition and arrangement, it also shows some similarities. Space age pop brought innovation to popular music in several ways. Space age pop records often have space related covers, such as rockets, moonscapes, or extra terrestrial-looking graphics. Space Age pop is related to the genres of lounge music, exotica, or beautiful music/ easy listening, and may be regarded as a precursor to the musical genre of space music. There are several styles that can be recognized as an influence: classical composers like Ravel and Debussy the big bands of the 1940s and different exotic styles, such as samba, Latin, and calypso jazz. The music is not limited to a single style, and it is not always easily categorized. ![]() Although there is no exact album, date, or year when the genre was born, producer Irwin Chusid identifies its heyday as "roughly 1954 to 1963-from the dawn of high-fidelity (hi-fi) to the arrival of the Beatles." Space age pop was inspired by the spirit of those times, an optimism based on the strong post-war economy and technology boom, and excitement about humanity's early forays into space. It is also called bachelor pad music or lounge music. Space age pop is a subgenre of pop and easy listening music associated with Mexican and American composers and songwriters in the space age of the 1950s and 1960s.
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