KAAAW! KAAAWW!

There's a good chance something from Martin Denny was in your parents record collection, if not a relatives. Or you might have picked one up from a thrift store. Maybe you didn't even know exotica existed until the lounge revival about twenty years ago. Regardless, there's no denying the appeal of the somewhat goofy sounds of exotica, with their white man imitates primitives rhythms, bird calls, monkey yelps, and a waterfall or two thrown in for atmosphere. If you've listened to a number of them, you know the formula.

If you think that anyone trying their hand at it nowadays is just a poseur, you might remind yourself that the original artists could easily have been identified as such when the exotica craze first hit in the late fifties. I mean, c'mon, some white guys going tribal without ever leaving the studio? So, before you can really evaluate any current artists doing the same thing, you have to throw out authenticity, because, really, in exotica it doesn't exist. It's all fake, in a Disneyland Jungle Cruise sort of way.

The Martin Denny Group 1961

So, in a way, todays artists are playing with the same sort of tools, but with more access to legitimate world culture and better technology, they really do have a opportunity to improve on the original exotica music. Still, naysayers would undoubtedly be suspect of the modern day technology and it's possible misuse in this sort of music. While it is a concern, one only has to hear Martin Denny's cover of his own "Quiet Village," done up Moog style, to see that those blunders have already been committed, by the Chuck Berry of exotica himself.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

The new:
Waitiki7 - Similau mp3 (right click to save) at Music For Maniacs
LoungeClash - The Mysterious Island Dub mp3 (Right click to save) at Music For Maniacs
The old:
Martin Denny - Exotica mp3 (Right click to save) at Earmilk
Matin Denny - Jungle Madness mp3 (right click to save) at Beware of the Blog
Martin Denny - Quiet Village (Moog stylee) mp3 (right click to save) at the Cargo Culte
The info:
The Martin Denny page at Space Age Pop Music
The Martin Denny Fund
Exotica entry at Wikipedia