Neo-Lounge Vocals

Neo-Lounge is a departure from the traditional lounge/cabaret sub-genre, primarily fueled by the emergence of synthesizers, drum machines and MIDI technology in the mid-80s. Inspired by many different other music styles, including electronica, dance, jazz, and to a lesser degree rock and R&B, neo-lounge is played in many urban areas worldwide in nightclubs as well as in private clubs where the focus is entirely not on dance but on socializing.

Lounge re-emerged in the late 1980s as a label of endearment by younger fans whose parents had played such music in the 1950s and 1960s. It has enjoyed resurgences in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, led initially by ironic figures such as Buster Poindexter and Jaymz Bee.

In the early 1990s the lounge revival was in full swing and included such groups as Combustible Edison, Love Jones, The Cocktails, Pink Martini and Nightcaps. Alternative band Stereolab demonstrated the influence of lounge with releases like Space Age Batchelor Pad Music.

The lounge style was a direct contradiction to the grunge music that dominated the period. These groups wore suits and played music inspired by earlier works of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Juan García Esquivel, Louis Prima and many others.

In the 2000s Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine has added to this resurgence by covering hit songs of other genres in the style of a lounge singer. Other artists have taken lounge music to new heights by recombining rock with pop, such as Jon Brion, Pink Martini, the Buddha-Lounge series, and the surrounding regulars of Café Largo. The movie The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag (2003) is a documentary about three older punk rockers who created a lounge-punk band.