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"The Pagan I Love": Xavier Cugat, Master Pratictioner of Early Exotica and...
My first introduction to the eternal Mr. Xavier Cugat was through an early 60's LP, the really quite exquisite Viva Cugat!, but I didn't really fall in love with the man's work or comprehend the...
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Like Young Gods Emerging From Ernesto's Forehead: A Lecuona Cuban Boys 78...
If you at all enjoyed last week's Xavier Cugat 78s, then I heartily guarantee that you will die for this collection of similar material from the incredible Lecuona Cuban Boys. Such sweet sounds are...
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Coconut Ballet and Jungle Drums: Xavier Cugat- The King Plays Some Aces...
By 1958, Cugat's "hotter" numbers-- his mambos and the like-- were starting to trade warm rowdiness for cold slick muscle, and on LPs such as this, many of the compositions he had made famous a couple...
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Baby Cart in the Land of Demons: Hideakira Sakurai- Lone Wolf and Cub OST...
The six Lone Wolf and Cub films are, without a doubt, six of my favorite films of all time. Based on the notably cinematic 1970's manga, and starring the glorious Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Itto,...
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Obcure Little Beast on the Prowl: Orera- Orera (1970)
There's a lot of great stuff to be found over at Obscure Little Beasties, much of it original rips (I assume) and of course very obscure (at least it is for me, as I know relatively little about the...
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Trance-Like With Glazed Eyes: Bianchi and His Jungle Sex-Tet- Music to Play...
I've wanted to post this for a long time, but I've never had a great quality copy. My hope was that someone would put out an upgrade on the 128 rip that's been floating around for years, but alas, to...
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Flash Car: Summer Storm/Changing Lights (2013)
I present to you all the debut single from Flash Car, the project of a one Mr. Morgan Friedman: longtime friend of the blog, even-longertime friend of mine as a hu-man and knucklehead from the day, a...
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Esorcismi in the Lonely Village: Piero Umiliani- Africa (1971), Polinesia (1972)
I present to you today two wonderful and rare Umiliani works from his classic period, a time when his own Sound Work Shop studio was churning out record after record, including a slew of weird, spooky,...
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Fire Music in the Shadow of the Moon: Gato Barbieri- Under Fire (1971)
"Gato's great strength lies in the huge, wild high tone he coaxes from the tenor instrument and in his novel mingling of South American concurring rhythms and melodic traditions with the searing...
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Mouth Harp on the Beach: Tommy Morgan- Tropicale (1958)
Beneath all the obvious Exotica classics-- the monstrous, mysterious, weird, perfect-- there exists a beautiful paradise of sly little LPs. Not particularly ambitious, bombastic, or even original,...
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Here Come the Night Owl: Horace Andy- Skylarking (1972)
The mighty Horace Andy's first LP; you could scarcely ask for a sweeter slice of roots-reggae soul. Andy's voice is here as crystal-sharp and precise as a stream of icy springwater, and the whole...
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Flash Strap Presents: Dub Hot Dubs 3 ("Black Majesty")
Dub Hot Dubs 3 is here, "Black Majesty," a dread freighter for to steer you through the thick hot haze of these wicked and cruel days of superheated summertime perdition. Cool off like the righteous...
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Evoking the Oriental Construct, Orchestrally: The Paris Theatre Orchestra- A...
A classic example of orchestral exotica, A High Fidelity Adventure in Exotic Lands first came to my ears through the late, great, lamentably expired Sleepy Lagoon, a wonderful resource for all things...
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On the Kyushu Island: Werner Müller and His Orchestra- East of India (1963)
Another odd one from the bosom of Sleepy Lagoon, and another very western take on the inscrutable and mystical Orient. This one (by the much-maligned, often fairly so, Werner Müller), in contrast to...
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A Bevy of Duo Ouro Negro Singles and EPs, A Godsend
I've expressed to you in the past my love for the brilliant and beautiful Angolan musical duo, Duo Ouro Negro. I've recommended the superb shares to be found over at the old Ghostcapital (by the way,...
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Flash Strap Presents: Jungle Shadows Vol. 4- Discover Jungle Shadows
I present to you, in the dead center of this summer, the fourth volume of Jungle Shadows, a slightly-experimental installment inspired by (and functioning as an homage to) Van Dyke Parks' phenomenal...
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Ah, 'Lectric Blue: Piero Umiliani- Synthi Time (1971)
Synthi Time is one of my favorite Umiliani LPs, largely because it is so simple and direct in design and selection. Produced in his own laboratory of sound and vision, the Sound Work Shop, Synthi Time...
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A Polish Moon Over Tahiti: Zespół Instrumentalny Marka Sewena- Księżyc na Tahiti
Another remnant from the sadly departed Sleepy Lagoon, this album has yet to get its due amount of attention from hunters of rare and unusual examples of Exotica. Księżyc na Tahiti (or Moon On Tahiti)...
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The Waning Years of a Musical Prince: Arthur Lyman- Isle of Enchantment (1964)
If you wish to escape the pressures and tensions of sophisticated commercialism, daily hypnosis of television, undercurrents of social and political tidal waves, then follow the sun to the islands in...
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The Waning Years of a Musical Prince, Pt. 2: Arthur Lyman- Polynesia (1965)
Here's another look at late-period Mr. Lyman, still worth your attention even in his decline. Polynesia has some really strong selections, actually. It opens on a killer one-two punch with "Afro...
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