Far Out: Swinging Bachelor Pad Music

Not to be confused with collections of vintage cuts from the golden age of authentically cool-to-silly topical lounge and exotica (1953-1963), Water Music's Far Out: Swinging Bachelor Pad Music is a mini-festival of 21st century electronic production that draws largely upon the work of mix and remix artists from the roster of Irma Records, a label based in Bologna, Italy. Although the widespread revival of the phrases that make up the title of this album has brought the vernacular to the brink of overuse, there's no denying that the original Cold War lounge recordings (swinging, space age or otherwise designated) have spawned an amazing post-postmodern semi-send-up genre of beat-driven entertainment that fairly bristles with elements of jazz/organ combo and cocktail jazz, jet-set pop and good-life sleaze within a conceptual arena rendered peculiarly stimulating by most every methodological trope known to modern electronica. Participants include Capiozzo & Mecco, Black Mighty Wax, Hammond Express, Montefiori Cocktail, DJ Rodriguez, and the Key Tronics Ensemble.