Lounge

Lounge Vinyl Records: Downtempo, Chill-Out and Exotica on LP

What you'll find in this lounge vinyl collection

This page gathers the lounge vinyl records listed on Vinyles.com: downtempo, mellow trip-hop, chilled electronica and the easy listening tradition behind it all. Lounge is less a strict genre than a mood: moderate tempos, round bass, horns or strings in the background, relaxed vocals. It is music built to fill a whole evening, which is why the full-length LP suits it so well. You'll find current electronic producers such as Four Tet, Apparat, Rone and Chet Faker next to the downtempo classics of the 1990s and 2000s.

From exotica to chill-out: essential lounge records

Lounge starts in the 1950s with Martin Denny's exotica, notably "Exotica" in 1957, the space age pop of Juan García Esquivel and the polished arrangements of Henry Mancini and Burt Bacharach. Those records were made for the early hi-fi era, and period pressings still turn up used at fair prices.

In the 1990s, lounge came back through electronic music. The Café del Mar compilations defined Ibiza chill-out, Kruder & Dorfmeister released "The K&D Sessions," Air put out "Moon Safari" in 1998 and St Germain followed with "Tourist" in 2000. Zero 7 carried the sound forward with "Simple Things," while De-Phazz mixed jazz, soul and samples. Ninja Tune, Compost Records and Thievery Corporation's ESL Music are labels worth following.

Reissue, original pressing or compilation?

Many downtempo albums from the 1990s and 2000s first came out as double LPs in modest runs and have since been reissued. For listening, a recent reissue is usually the easy pick; original pressings mostly matter to collectors. With music this detailed, built on pads and space, surface condition matters as much as the edition itself.

• Check whether it's a studio album or a mixed compilation
• Favor double LPs for long albums: wider grooves, more headroom
• Read the condition grade carefully on used copies
• Compare a new reissue against the price of an original pressing

Comparing lounge LP prices across stores

Vinyles.com doesn't sell records. It compares offers from partner stores for the same album, so you can see available prices, condition for used copies, and click through to the store you prefer. That helps with lounge reissues, whose prices can vary noticeably from one shop to another. If you want something more danceable, the house collection in the same electronic section is the natural next step after lounge.