space age pop

America certainly has its share of under-celebrated cultural phenomena. Two that are forever linked in my mind are Googie architecture^{FN 1} and Space Age Pop. Connected with the latter I absolutely must plug this fabulous website devoted to such music:

We've all heard this music (aka Exotica, Easy Listening, etc.) before if we've ever watched the Munsters or have been in touch with much of the cultural production of the late 50s and early 60s, but I got more in touch with it about 10 years ago or so when I encountered the Ultra-Lounge vol. 9 record Cha-Cha de Amor, and subsequently vol. 11 Organs in Orbit, which I must confess never goes too long without getting played.

As a project I think that this music taken on average is extremely successful. A friend of mine just last night told me that he thought the purpose of all art was to transport the psyche, and this music does just that. The music is not simply a set of techniques (describable by rhythm, harmony, melody, instrumentation) but is a vehicle for transporting the listener to far away places (geographically or temporally) some of which seem to have a more visibly relaxed attitude with respect to the passions (viz. sex). Even today with World Music as a well-established genre listening to the likes of Les Baxter and Martin Denny does still seem exotic and capable of transporting us to islands of the South Pacific.

Definitely check out the above mentioned site: it's full of great info, has some mp3s of rare cuts and is really fun to explore. And here's the Ultra-Lounge link if you'd like to check-out their many offerings.

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1. For some info regarding Googie architecture click here.