An installment in Putamayo's Lounge series, ASIAN LOUNGE fuses the beats and grooves of downtempo DJ and club music with traditional instrumentation and melodic motifs from different parts of Asia. Ethnomusicologists might sneer at the disservice such fusions do to authentic musical traditions, but that does not detract from the sultry, "exotic" vibe that flows through these eleven tracks. Nitin Sawhney's "Koyal," for example, augments a beautiful Indian ballad, sung in a duet between a man and a woman, with gentle beat-box rhythms and turntable scratching. Such unusual hybrids are the order of this compilation, which provides plenty of chill, easy-listening grooves for the globally minded listener.