Downtempo (or Downbeat) is a laid-back
electronic music style similar to
Ambient music, but usually with a
beat or
groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from
loops that have a
hypnotic feeling. Sometimes the beats are more complicated and more featured instead of being in the background, but even then they are usually less intense than other kinds of electronic music like
Trance. Often the name
chill out music is used to refer to songs demonstrative of the genre, but those names also refer to other styles of music, and downtempo encompasses a wider variety of styles than those terms alone would indicate. Another related genre is
Trip-hop, though Downtempo usually uses slower
BPMs than Trip-hop.
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