Downtempo: Hazy, Compelling and Constantly Evolving

Lacking a single definition, Downtempo is a collective term that encompasses a multitude of genres and sounds — with binding elements being the slower tempos and a strong emphasis on mellow moods. Together with key figures, Arjan Rietveld explores its roots, cultural milestones and the artists and labels that shaped it — and highlights how downtempo has transcended borders and decades to remain a sonic soundtrack for many the world over.

Over the last decades, the island of Ibiza played a central role in spreading a soothing sound that perfectly captured the mood of a Mediterranean sunset. Long before turning into a global clubbing destination, Ibiza appealed to crowds looking for spiritual growth — with those from the hippie movement settling in Ibiza since the 1960s and existing through to the present day. 

The Barcelona-born DJ José Padilla is widely credited for introducing and popularising the island’s Balearic sound since the mid-1980s. Before taking up a residency at Ibiza’s much-loved Café Del Mar in 1991, Padilla sold bootleg mixtapes of his DJ sets to make ends meet. Padilla’s distinctive sound was not limited to a single genre. Instead, these tapes featured an eclectic range of styles and captured more of a mood that fitted with the laidback vibe of the Balearic island.

Not long after Padilla’s residency at Café Del Mar started, the club— which has been a central point of San Antonio’s sunset strip since 1980 — pushed Padilla’s interpretation of chill-out beyond the venue through a series of mix CDs. The series would eventually turn into of the most recognised compilation series in electronic music, whiling connecting mellow tempos and grooves to the sound of Ibiza.

By the early 1990s, acid house had taken a hold of British nightlife. As the squelching sounds and basslines of acid house creep mainstream appeal, with youngsters across the country letting off the weekly stresses of life with friends on the weekend. Its mainstream appeal inevitably let to a counter-reaction, with domestic artists such as The KLF and The Orb shaping this low-tempo sound that became known as chillout. “This idea of just playing chillout music in a public room all night grew on me, thanks to their efforts,” recalls Morris Gould — who soon became a household name for chillout as Mixmaster Morris. “This sound wasn’t popular though. I found amazing stuff — mostly from independent labels — when I would go record shopping. But no one else seemed to pick up on those records. And people on the dance floor simply preferred techno and rave.”

“Chillout came forth at a time when people realised that you could take ecstasy while relaxing, instead of pumping your fists on the dance floor,” recalls Matt Black — one half of British duo Coldcut, who has been active in the British music scene since the 1980s. “Many chillout productions at that time included spiritual references — like speeches by Alan Watts and other therapeutic texts. The sound became a refuge from house music — which I also loved but had become too mainstream.” The Big Chill, initially an ambient event series that turned into an outdoor festival in 1995, became the leading force for chillout. Black: “Especially Mixmaster Morris pioneered with creating these journeys through sound. Hardly any tracks he played moving past 100 BPM.” Gould adds: “Back then I’d write the tempo on each of my records. And then arrange them in my record bag according to these tempos, so my sets would neatly build up in time when a night progressed.”

During the early 1990s, Sheffield’s Warp Records introduced so-called Intelligent Dance Music, or IDM, into the ether as another remedy for the mainstream appeal of the rave scene across the country. By then, Black had also co-founded the Ninja Tune imprint — which pushed yet another alternative to the then-popular house sound. Black: “I was really into black music from an early age on, such as Jamaican dub and hiphop. That sampler culture, where you’d take specific elements from older records, also stuck with our own practices. But there was hardly any rap talent in England, so we ended up making instrumental hip-hop instead.” 

Together with Bristol-based acts Massive Attack and Portishead, the efforts of London record label Mo Wax and American sampling guru DJ Shadow, this newfound sound was dubbed ‘triphop’ by Mixmag in 1994. “Those folks in Bristol already experimented with these slower tempos in the 1980s,” recalls Black. “Their music was more song-oriented compared to the stuff we did with Ninja Tune. Yet, we all went for these much lower BPM-levels. We just wanted to music that made us relax.”

The appeal of triphop reached beyond the British island and far into continental Europe. The sound landed particularly well in Austria’s elegant capital, Vienna. Sofa Surfers’ Wolfgang Frisch, who almost accidentally became part of Vienna’s music scene at the time, recalls: “Although Vienna is rather small, there was a pretty solid club scene going on in town during the 1990s. We would hear lots of British music — like techno, drum & bass and breakbeat. Especially these works with more slower beats left a mark on many of us — and I believe you can trace this in many productions that were produced in Vienna.”

Cornerstones of the Viennese scene were two locals, Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister. Debuting as Kruder & Dorfmeister in 1993, the duo wisely combined dub and jazz elements, finesse and innovative production techniques to create something entirely fresh and innovative. Kruder & Dorfmeister’s G-Stone imprint became synonymous with quality and solidified the duo as the future of downtempo. Its releases included not just their own works — which were also published under aliases like Peace Orchestra and Tosca — but also put other artists from the Vienna scene like Kieser.Velten, Rodney Hunter and Sofa Surfers to the fore.

“It was an exciting period, as samplers just entered the market,” remembers Frisch. “But in all honesty, we didn’t really knew how to use them. So we just embraced the freedom that came along with it, which we all loved. Eventually, this process of using certain elements for a different purpose stuck with my practice.” The concept of ‘atmosphere’ played a central role in Frisch’ efforts: “We wanted to create something that was not hype and big - something instrumental, groovy and not too dark — stuff you’d nod to, not euphoric. Good vibes, basically.”

The pinnacle of Vienna’s musical renaissance is without a doubt ‘The K&D Sessions’ — a mixed double album featuring the duo’s remixes for other artists — in 1998. The compilation was much more than just a collection of reworks — it was a carefully curated journey through their distinctive sound range — thereby touching upon genres as diverse as dub, drum and bass, jazz and smokey triphop. It also meant the end of an era for Frisch: “After that, we felt labeled to a certain sound — which we absolutely didn’t want. There were so many musical directions that we enjoyed. So it motivated us to break free from triphop.”

As portable disc players made an appearance on the market, the CD format quickly turned into a household staple during the 1990s — allowing listeners to enjoy high-quality sound at home or on the go. Inspired by the initial success of the Café Del Mar series, brands like Buddha Bar, Hed Kandi and Supperclub brought forth compilation CDs with sonic snapshots of relaxed, sun-soaked living. The concept of ‘lounge’ and its quasi-luxurious yet tacky feel — think cocktails, leather benches and linen outfits — particularly appealed to those living in regions where such Summer-like days were sparse.

By the turn of the millennium, there was no way around slow-paced and atmospheric electronic music anymore. In Great Britain, artists like Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra, Morcheeba, Mr. Scruff and Zero 7 claimed prominent grounds. Beyond the realms of the British island, AIR, Royksopp and Moby reached global success. Their music was particularly light and easy to digest — mostly featuring a cliche-like cocktail of mellow rhythms, gentle melodies and occasional vocals, which made the sound appealing for broadcast on radio and television as well.

Yet, there was still room for experimentation. American artist Scott Hansen, better known as Tycho, drew his inspiration from Boards Of Canada — a Scottish band consisting of two brothers that were closely aligned with Warp. “Boards Of Canada had this nostalgic 70's television aesthetic to their sound design, which I loved. Also, the darkness and melancholy in their songwriting heavily impacted my own songs.” Flying Lotus — another act affiliated with Warp — turned things upside down again some years later through his productions as well as his imprint, Brainfeeder. Morris Gould is a huge fan: “To me, Brainfeeder is the most creative label on the planet. There’s traces of hiphop to be found in many of their records, yet things go way behind any classified genre. Apparently it’s labeled progressive R&B these days,” says Gould jokingly. “It’s simply unique and brilliant.”

The hyper-popular appeal of artists, sounds and genres took a flight with rapid technological development in the outside world. The introduction of the internet, following by social media and streaming services, have since become vehicles for reaching audiences across the globe. One such sound that developed primarily online was chillwave — a term coined in 2009. American artists like Neon Indian, Washed Out and Scott Hansen’s Tycho project crafted these dreamy, psychedelic pop songs that were covered in reverb sound effects. Hansen: “Chillwave was this logical extension of early downtempo. All these artists who ended up defining chillwave owe a lot to it.”

By the 2010s, organic house made its introduction into the electronic music domain. Emphasising heavy bass lines, real instruments and lighter melodic tones, the sound built forth on Balearic trance - a sound that reached popular acclaim around the turn of the millennium, and featured a mix of string instruments to capture the mood of a soft, Mediterranean sunset perfectly. Especially Latin American acts like Nicolas Jaar, Nicola Cruz and Facundo Mohrr played an elemental role in its development. Eagerly tapping into the continent's illustrious musical past, their efforts resonate with younger audiences worldwide. Meanwhile in Europe, tastemakers Lee Burridge and Matthew Dekay push organic house into the public sphere with their imprint All Day I Dream — which brought acts like Bedouin, Roy Rosenfeld, and YokoO to the fore.

Another sound that lifts along the internet wave are the lo-fi hiphop — or chillhop — channels that appeared on YouTube around 2017. These so-called study beats channels push introduces low-key, hazy drum loops and sampled sounds by little-known producers. Morris Gould: “There are playlists with millions of views — which is incredible. And some of the music on there is actually really good. Take for example Vanilla — his work is commonly featured in these playlists and by now he turned into a prolific producer beyond YouTube.”

Lacking a single definition while hovering into different musical terrains over the course of decades, downtempo has turned into a catch-all term for a wide range of music. What does downtempo still stand for these days? For Matt Black, it’s rather clear-cut: “Electronic music either has high or low BPM-levels. Downtempo simply encompasses all those slower productions.” Scott Hansen: “Its scope was pretty narrow early on — you could easily identify something as being downtempo in the 1990s. But it’s probably too broad a term to use in any meaningful way these days.” Morris Gould: “I have a hard time disseminating these current definitions - like ambient, Balearic, chillout and downtempo. It’s just different takes on the same thing really.”

For Hansen, the music that came out during the 1990s was ‘the real deal’ — and cannot be replicated as such. “Downtempo reminds me of this era when I was just getting into making music. It feels like a time and place thing for me, kind of a first wave. It’s this amalgamation of hiphop beats and textures juxtaposed with more melancholy and emotional songwriting. Wolfgang Frisher nods in agreement: “To me, downtempo has never been bound to a specific genre. Although it might be associated with positivity, downtempo could definitely be more dark and atmospheric. Many of these hazy records that came out during the 1990s felt like that.”

While its foundation is rooted in Ibiza, the sounds associated with downtempo outgrew the island far and beyond. Still, what one labels as downtempo these days may not be as far removed from its original purpose — to provide a laidback soundtrack to everyday life, in whatever form that may come. It’s hard to refuse such a plead - even if the weather doesn’t compare to the Balearic island.