{{short description|Electronic music genre}} {{more citations needed|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Downtempo | other_names = Downbeat | stylistic_origins = {{hlist|Electronic|ambient|Bristol sound|hip hop}} | fusiongenres = | cultural_origins = Mid-to-late 1980s, United Kingdom | derivatives = {{hlist|Lofi hip hop|ambient house<ref name="bloom">{{cite book |last1=Albiez |first1=Sean |title=Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 11 |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury |pages=26 |isbn=9781501326103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKc0DwAAQBAJ |access-date=10 January 2020}}</ref>|psybient|chillwave<ref name="atlantic" />}} | other_topics = {{hlist|Chill-out music|dub|trip hop|list of downtempo artists}} }} {{Electronic music top}}
'''Downtempo''' (or '''downbeat''')<ref name="maier">{{cite book |last1=Maier |first1=Carla J. |title=Transcultural Sound Practices: British Asian Dance Music as Cultural Transformation |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury |page=Ch. 5}}</ref> is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music (downtempo tracks are usually around 90 BPM).<ref name="masterclass">{{cite web |last1=Staff |title=Downtempo Music Guide: 5 Popular Downtempo Musical Acts |url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/downtempo-music-guide#what-is-downtempo |publisher=MasterClass |access-date=4 July 2021}}</ref> Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm,<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web|title=Downtempo: Overview|url=http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/downtempo-ma0000004999|website=AllMusic|access-date=3 May 2016}}</ref> the style may be played in relaxation clubs or as "warm-up or cool-down" music during a DJ set.<ref name="masterclass" /> Examples of downtempo subgenres include trip hop, ambient house, chillwave, psybient and lofi hip hop.<ref name="masterclass" />
The style emerged in the late 1980s with the UK's Bristol scene that birthed artists like Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky.<ref name="masterclass"/> In the 1990s, the style was heard internationally in artists such as Hooverphonic, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Fila Brazillia, and Thievery Corporation.<ref name="masterclass"/> Other prominent artists to emerge in the style include Underworld, Orbital, Fluke, Boards of Canada, Nicolas Jaar, and Bonobo.<ref name="masterclass"/>
==Characteristics== Downtempo music is a broad genre but is united by several characteristics: *Atmospheric sound: artists focus more on layered sounds and mood than on catchy melodies or riffs<ref name="masterclass"/> *Slow beats: songs typically feature beats around 90 BPM<ref name="masterclass"/> *Gentle melodies: artists typically include more melodic phrases than straightforward ambient music<ref name="masterclass"/> {{listen |filename=Wickethewok_-_Deepecho.ogg |title="Deepecho" |description=A full-length sample downtempo chill out track. }}
== History == {{See also|Ambient music|Chill-out music|Electronic dance music|Trip hop}} Downtempo emerged from the UK's late-1980s Bristol sound, which developed a slow, psychedelic fusion of hip hop with electronic music known as "trip hop" and birthed artists such as Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky.<ref name="masterclass"/> The 1990s brought on a wave of slower paced music which was played throughout chillout rooms—the relaxation sections of the clubs or dedicated sections at electronic music events.<ref name=TOucan21>{{cite web|title=A history of downtempo and chillout music|url=http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/chillout.php|website=Toucanmusic|access-date=22 May 2015}}</ref> UK act Nightmares on Wax helped to pioneer downtempo electronica in the early 1990s, drawing on dub reggae and hip-hop.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cooper |first1=Sean |title=Nightmares on Wax - Biography |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax-mn0000869417/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=21 September 2022}}</ref> Downtempo music also started to surface around Ibiza, when DJs and promoters would bring down the vibe with slower rhythm and gentler electronic music upon approaching sunrise. At the end of the 1990s a more melodic instrumental electronica incorporating acoustic sounds with electronic styles emerged under its own umbrella name of downtempo.<ref>{{cite web | last=Dalling | first=John | title=Chillout and Downtempo Electronic Music, a History | year=2006 | url=http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/chillout.html | access-date=2007-03-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323153114/http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/chillout.html | archive-date=2012-03-23 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
In the late 1990s, the Austrian duo Kruder & Dorfmeister popularized the style with their downtempo remixes of pop, hip-hop, and drum and bass tracks with influences of the '70s soul jazz. Britons Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry, producing under the name Fila Brazillia, released a handful of downtempo, electronica and ambient techno albums that propelled the style further. Meanwhile, the Washington, D.C. locals Eric Hilton and Rob Garza, better known as Thievery Corporation, have introduced the Brazilian sound into the style after discussing the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and enriched it further by combining elements of Jamaican dub and reggae.<ref>{{cite news | last=Johnson | first=Martin | title=Downtempo: A Genre With Plenty in Reserve | page=G4 | newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 17, 2002 | access-date=August 8, 2013 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-324346.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611091229/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-324346.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 11, 2014}}</ref>
In 2010, "downtempo pop" was described by ''The Atlantic'' as a variety of music styles from the 2000s characterized by mellow beats, vintage synthesizers, and lo-fi melodies. In other words, an umbrella term that includes chillwave, glo-fi, and hypnagogic pop.<ref name="atlantic">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/07/downtempo-pop-when-good-music-gets-a-bad-name/59803/|work=The Atlantic|date=15 July 2010|title=Downtempo Pop: When Good Music Gets a Bad Name|last=Hinkes-Jones|first=Llewellyn}}</ref> Later in the decade, another form of downtempo music, tagged as "lo-fi hip hop" or "chillhop", became popular among YouTube music streamers.<ref name = Vice>{{cite web | url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-lofi-hip-hop-radio-to-relaxstudy-to-became-a-youtube-phenomenon/ | title = How 'Lofi Hip Hop Radio to Relax/Study to' Became a YouTube Phenomenon | last = Winkie | first = Luke | date = July 13, 2018 | website = Vice | access-date = September 13, 2018}}</ref>
==List of artists== {{Main|List of downtempo artists}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}}
{{Electronica}}
Category:Downtempo Category:Electronic music genres Category:Electronica Category:British styles of music