Six String Samurai -OST- Bryan Tyler, Red Elvises

Starting off with a blast (literally) of the apacolypse, the track "The United States of Russia" plays a slow chorus with a perfect guitar note, a combination that peforms what can only be called Badass Doom. It's a very short, unmelodic track that is wonderful for beginning. But it's not a song. The Red Elvises make that their prelude as they rip right into the soundtrack with surf guitar tracks. There are drums and the occasional vocal in the background, but the guitars deservedly steal the show. "Love Pipe" almost seems empty, but it's too much fun not to enjoy. The Red Elvises aren't alone on the soundtrack though. Brain Tyler scores sections as well, not very prominently at first, but he is there. "Mother's Hand/Buddy" gives a musicbox melody for The Kid, and then a gritty guitar theme for Buddy before handing things over to the Red Elvises again. Dividing the score between the two is unfair, but appropriate, because unlike some movies where the score and soundtrack don't fit, with one dropping the load and the other stealing the show (such as for "Spider-man 2", where Danny Elfman's score outshines the lackluster songs), the songs and score for "Six-String Samurai" work together wonderfully, even though they each have their own halves (the Red Elvises dominate the first half, while the second half is mostly Brian Tyler score cues.) Don't look for anything of granduer though. This album is set right to the film, even including dialogue snippets from time to time. The Red Elvises specialize in surf tunes, with the occasional jazzy bit here and there, while Brian Tyler takes their surfer style and matches it to the guitars used in most post-Morricone western tunes, but never does it turn into an orchestral bit. I'm tempted to call this soundtrack an aquired taste, however, most people love to have fun, and as the Red Elvises' song "Jerry's Got the Squeeze Box" evidences, that's what this soundtrack wants to promote: Have fun, with twang and sword.

1. United States Of Russia - Six String Samurai, Red Elvises, Brian Tyler
2. Neverland - Brian Tyler
3. Love Pipe - Red Elvises
4. A Mother's Hand/Buddy - Brian Tyler
5. Fly Away Little Butterfly... - Six String Samurai, Brian Tyler
6. Kill 200 Men - Six String Samurai
7. Boogie On The Beach - Red Elvises
8. I Do Not Like Rock And Roll - Six String Samurai
9. Hungarian Dance #5 - Red Elvises
10. Arrowed Kid/Bowlers On The Floor - Six String Samurai
11. Rock N' Rolling Ourselves To Death/Jerry's Got The Squeeze Box - Six String Samurai, Red Elvises
12. Lonely Highway Of Love/Scorchie Chornie - Six String Samurai, Red Elvises
13. My Darling Lorraine - Red Elvises
14. Astro - Brian Tyler
15. Follow The Yellow Brick Road/Leech - Six String Samurai, Red Elvises
16. See You Around Kid/Siberia - Six String Samurai, Red Elvises
17. Good Golly Miss Molly - Red Elvises
18. My Love Is Killing Me - Red Elvises
19. Sacred Funeral - Brian Tyler
20. Relentless Sun - Brian Tyler
21. Over The Hill - Brian Tyler
22. Bring His Guitar To Me/Sahara Burn - Six String Samurai, Brian Tyler
23. A Boy And His Spirit - Brian Tyler
24. If You were Me You'd Be Good Looking/Surfing In Siberia - Six String Samurai, Red Elvises
25. Dragging A Fallen Hero - Brian Tyler
26. Nice Tuxedo/Showdown At Not Okay Corral - Six String Samurai, Brian Tyler
27. Bend Before The Ways Of Heavy Metal/Dueling Guitars - Six String Samurai, Brian Tyler
28. Dream March - Brian Tyler
29. The Great Battle - Brian Tyler
30. End Of A Hero/Finale - Brian Tyler
31. On My Way To Vegas - Brian Tyler

sixstring

redelvises

The Moon Rays - Thrills and Chills

Surfing, monsters and spies...if they ever decide to re-make any of the old Frankie and Annette beach movies, throw in The Creature From the Black Lagoon and spy girl Stephanie Powers to fight him off you'd have the groundwork for a Moon-Rays soundtrack. Spy-Fi at it's best.

I really, really, really, enjoyed this CD the first time I put it on. I like it even more with repeated listening. The thing thats different about "Thrills and Chills" is the variety of themes woven into this recording. It goes from spooky 60's flavored Halloween tunes to 50's exotica, to ear blasting surf and then to spy jazz. But it works!!! Totally different styles but they all blend perfectly into the same genre. I've bought a lot of CD's that have tried to do the same thing but thyese guys pull it off with panasche! My only complaint is with the 11 tracks it should have been longer. I WANT MORE!

1.1313 Mockingbird Lane 2. Shot in the Dark 3. Hypnotique/ Our Man Flint 4. Beat Girl 5. The Bat 6. Shockwave 7. Twang 8. Bonzai Pipeline 9. Lament for a Trapped Spy 10. Run Spy Run 11. Experiment in Terror /"Theme from Creature Features"

thrilz

William Orbit - Best of Strange Cargos

"The Best of Strange Cargos" covers some of William Orbit’s best independent work. Essentially a dynamic album of quirky mood music, with the producer exploiting the full range of his synthesizer presets and evoking a quintessentially '80s style of Fourth World digitalia, with some fascinating twists. "Via Caliente" and "Riding to Rio" are exceptional spaghetti twang pieces that evoke the old west. Cuts from Stange Cargo 2 show Orbit moving (slowly) away from the synth-horn solos and overall sound of new age/contemporary instrumental. Though there's a bit more electronics on this record, he still uses textural touches like Spanish guitar, to give a more human appeal to the digital beats. The last and best of the Strange Cargo albums, III matches elegant sequencer trance and understated organic instruments (piano, guitar) with ethnic-fusion and soft house rhythms. It's the only Strange Cargo featuring vocals, with Beth Orton making an early appearance (more earth mother than neo-folky) on the beautiful ambient-trance single "Water From a Vine Leaf." "The Story of Light" are excellent variations on the same form, while Orbit borrows from hip-hop and dub for "Time to Get Wize," with the toasting of Divine Bashim. There is enough variety here to keep you going from beginning to end, not always knowing where you will wind up and having a good trip getting there.

1. Water From A Vine Leaf 2. Dark Eyed Kid 3. Gringatcho Demento
4. Fire And Mercy 5. Via Caliente 6. Time To Get Wize
7. Ruby Heart (Transmogrified) 8. Atom Dream 9. Harry Flowers
10. Love My Way 11. Riding To Rio 12. The Story Of Light
13. Silent Signals 14. Painted Rock 15. Water From A Vine Leaf (Underworld Remix)
16. Water Babies

strange

kargo

Senor Coconut - Fiesta Songs

Uwe Schmidt continues to explore the line between sincere music philosophy and comical exercise with his Señor Coconut project. While his breakthrough El Baile Alemán album brought to life the idea of a traditional Latin band covering the songs of Kraftwerk to amusing yet intellectual effect, Fiesta Songs does the same to pop hits such as "Smoke on the Water," "Riders on the Storm," and "Beat It" with less finesse but still fun results. An extravaganza of sound and festive energy that will pump new life into your sound system pronto. A highly amusing and entertaining arrangement of voice and spiced up instruments, not to mention the wonderful little surprises like Martin Gore influences.

1. Smoke On The Water 2. Negra Mi Chachacha 3. Riders On The Storm
4. Smooth Operator 5. El Rey De Las Galletas 6. Oxygene Part II
7. Blue Eyes 8. Las Maracas De Machin 9. Beat It 10. Electrolatino
11. Humo En El Agua

nutz

Famous Monsters - In The Night

While Rob Zombie (before his delusions of being a cutting-edge horror movie producer) pulled the classic faux pas of thinking that he could be White Zombie without the rest of the band, Sean Yseult decided to do something ORIGINAL with her music career and enter the realm of crazy-cool chick-trio music. While Cake Like had the kitsch of Kerri Kenney's background on The State, and The 5, 6, 7, 8's have Quentin Tarantino at their back and the Japanese thing to boot (like Shonen Knife, but with more emphasis on retro-rock than food), Famous Monsters went to the realm of surf rock and its tributary, monster-movie shlock. Playing in the personas of Devil Doll (Yseult), She-Zilla (Carol Cutshall) and Vampire Girl (Brijitte West), the humor quickly becomes a little thin in songs like "Bloody Mary," where each band member declares her favorite drink (which do you think declared her favorite the title drink?), but there's enough oddities among the predictable stuff to keep this album interesting. The playing? Oh no, it's not virtuoso stuff, but virtuosity is not the end-all, be-all of what makes music good –i.e The Ramones. This is all very surf-oriented garage rock with a 50's-era horror movie feel (take THAT, Rob not-such-a-Zombie!). "Hairy Eyeball" is a masterpiece, and the opening 2 tracks definitely promise a lively spirit. The album as a whole doesn't live up to the energy completely, but the surprises that keep the shtick from getting too old are the Cheap Trick cover ("Clock Strikes 10") and the cover from Groovie Ghoulies, just to make sure that we see the monster routine as a little childish and not necessarily out to be ground-breaking. This band seemed to last for only two albums, which is a shame, since this album alone makes a far more creative effort that the rest of Rob Zombie's entire career, but this one is definitely worth having--at least for inclusion into a good file shuffle. A lot of potential booty-shaking going on here. If you're looking for SERIOUS music you're definitely looking in the wrong place. Go check out Tales from Topographic Oceans or A Love Supreme. But if you're just looking for all out fun and have a thing for girls dressing up like rejects from a bad horror film- this will definitely hit the spot.

1. Murder Beach U.S.A. 2. In The Night! 3. Lone Wolf Massacree 4. Destroy Puny Earthlings
5. Bloody Mary 6. The Haunting Of Planet Earth 7. Hairy Eyeball 8. Outerspace Deathrace #13
9. Satan Sends A Rat ! 10. Vampire Cosmonaut 11. Oui Monstre, Oui
12. F Is For Fiend 13. Clock Strikes 10 14. International Monster Presentation
15. When I Grow Up

monstrous

Tiki Time At the Lounge ....with Apologies to Eek the Cat

Hi guys -- was so impressed with my buddy Eek the Cat's (see links) Tiki post that I had to follow up and give my version. Yea -I know, not a lot of original thought here -- but, hey - you can never go wrong with the classics. Just to add to the mix frequent Eek contributor, AL ZOMBIE, sent me this deadly delicious recipe for --you guessed it ---

So mix one up, grab your favorite smoke, mine for sweet drinks is a light to medium bodied cigar like a Montecristo, and get that mental vacation rolling. By the time you have gone through both Eek's and this post -- you will be long gone from the hassles of everyday life. Enjoy.

The Zombie 2000
2 oz. Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
1 oz dark rum
1 oz. light rum
6dashes apricot brandy
6 dashes cherry brandy
1 oz.pineapple juice
cracked ice

Miles Corbin -- Sounds From the Tiki Hut

It takes spades of talent to create music as beautiful as this without the aid of layered mixing, over-hyped production and in Miles' case, even lyrics. Even if you're not a big surf fan, but are looking for a some amazing relaxing guitar, this is it! If you happen to love surf to begin with, you will be pleasantly surprised. This is not a full-blooded surf album. It is mainly sparkling reverb with occasional acoustic amid a tapestry of soft bongo-like percussion. No one plays as clean or precisely as Miles. It takes me back to the islands, basking in the sun, sipping a mai tai, w/ some local cats playing under the palapa. I'm a big fan of the Aqua Velvets, and Miles playing is stunningly gorgeous on this as well. His songwriting capabilities are the real treat here though. Haunting, dramatic but always relaxing, it dosen't get more mellow or exotic than this.

1. Tiki Hut 2. Coconut Syrup Daydream Skies 3. Sister Moonlight
4. Indian Summer 5. Quintana Roo 6. Enchanted Island
7. Beats Around The Bush 8. Kahuna 9. California Slack
10. Trail To Magic Falls

mc

Don Tiki -- Adulterated - The Remix Project

Every couple of years we are treated to a new neo-Exotica treasure from Honolulu's Don Tiki. The new album, Adulterated, is a remix project featuring 11 tunes from their first two albums. Now I'm sure some of you are thinking this is a recipe for disaster (we are all too aware of failed "lounge" remix projects, right?). In this case, Don Tiki have done it the right way. As implied by the title, this is a remix of classic Don Tiki sounds, which pay homage to Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman and all the forefathers of exotica. Even repertory tracks have been mixed, reshaped, refined and re-invented by a coterie of top deejays - call it Martin Denny for the millennium - and the tunes take on new sass.For the most part, the remixes stay true to the vibe of the original songs, so things are mellow and relaxing and not hyper and kinetic. Some good tracks in this mode are All Quiet Flows the Don, remixed by 8FatFat8, and Close Your Eyes, remixed by A Certain Frank. Adulterated features three standout tracks, starting with DJ Jimmy B's remix of The Natives Are Restless. Now, we're big fans of the original song but Jimmy B's remix takes it up a notch. Extremely effective remix effects and nice spoken word pieces highlight this mix, along with chanting to die for. Br Cleve contributes a HiNRG "Bongo Congo" mix of Bwana Banana that somehow fits in even though this has a much higher BPM than the rest of the album. "The Other Side of the Moon," remixed by Ursula 1000 of NYC as heard on the Samsung Electronic worldwide TV campaign. Lastly, Clutch Cargo Cult gets a great remix from 8FatFat8 that includes a nice rap by Julio Davis. Now, things aren't all Mai Tai's for Adulterated. An Occasional Man has a syncopated remix style that I found annoying (honestly, I'm not a fan of the original version either) with several grating effects.

There's a mix of sultry, intermittent vocals with inventive instrumentals. This is party music that collates a myriad of styles, from exotic jazz to ska, from funk to pop. Light the tiki torches, turn on the lava lamps, haul out the tiki mask and start groovin!'

A review in Time Out/NY states, "Don Tiki have a sexy allure along with flair and a good sense of humor." The Honolulu Advertiser says, "Don Tiki captures exotic sounds, party spirit...this is Martin Denny for the Millenium!" This sensuous, flowing piece of work is an instant classic.

1 The Other Side of the Moon 2 Clutch Cargo Cult
3 Heat [Jack Fetterman's Tabuzack Mix] 4 Da T'Ing He Grow
5 An Occasional Man 6 Close Your Eyes 7 The Natives Are Restless
8 Polyamoré 9 Bwana Banana 10 Terminal [Perry Coma's Comatose Mix]
11 All Quiet Flows the Don

dtiki1

dtiki2

Music For a Bachelor's Den - Exotica (Rare)

This 14-track survey isn't the most extensive exotica compilation, and lacks the single-minded depth of those Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman anthologies. What it lacks in depth, however, it more than compensates for in breadth, especially as it's not limited to the back catalog of a single specific label. Cuts by some of the standard-bearers of the genre are here (Arthur Lyman, Les Baxter, Yma Sumac, the South Sea Serenaders), as well as more unexpected contributions from Duke Ellington and Percy Faith. The absence of Martin Denny due to contractual issues excludes this from the top of the field, but it's one of the better introductions to the strange world of exotica, with the expected more or less equal doses of kitsch and off-the-wall goofiness. It is the BEST recorded collection of exotica you will find. This is the direct to disc from the master tapes DCC version loving engineered by Steve Hoffman. This will come alive on a good system, the imaging is almost 3 dimensional even in this reduced format. Sit back, pour yourself a Zombie and go far far away to your happy place.

1 Taboo South Sea Serenaders
2 Song of India Irving Cottler
3 Ritual of the Torch Hunter, Frank & His Orchestra
4 Jungle Fantasy Percy Faith
5 Bonga Ellington, Duke
6 Poinciana Maxwell, Robert & His Orchestra
7 Sim Sim Lyman, Arthur Group
8 Salome's Veil Lester, Sonny And His Orchestra
9 Arab Dance Irving Cottler
10 Mountain High, Valley Low Ethel Azama
11 Ataypura (High Andes) Yma Sumac
12 Simba Baxter, Les And His Orchestra
13 Zimbah! Hunter, Frank & His Orchestra
14 Tahiti Sunrise South Sea Serenaders

ex

Tipsy - Trip Tease

Tipsy totally defies categorization. On a crude level, I suppose you could call them electronic, though I think they actually bring all their instruments into the studio and organically recreate the sound of exotic electronic music. Think of them as Martin Denny on acid.

On their debut album Trip Tease, they seem to get as much pleasure from playing around with their music as they do playing it. Given that Tim Digulla and David Gardner were involved in industrial and ambient projects previously, it's not a surprise that there are bizarre juxtapositions of mood, tone and texture on this album. What is surprising is how well the group's blend of state-of-the art editing and retro-exotica-sci-fi kitsch works. Songs like "Liquordelic," "Mr. Excitement" and "El Bombo Atomico" go beyond the intellectual, studio experiments they could have been, blossoming into hothouse hybrids that transcend genres and just sound good. The weightless keyboards and slide guitars on "Space Golf" and "Nude On The Moon" wink at the Atomic Age's preoccupation with living in outer space, while "Oops!" and "Grossenhosen" sound like a collaboration between Carl Stalling, Raymond Scott and the Orb. "Tuatara," "Fuad Ramses" and "Something Tropical" nod to the exotica trend of the '50s and '60s. The album's remarkable arrangements feature bouncy drums, sitars, harps, horns and all sorts of unclassifiable "space" effects that jell into a collection of songs that are retro and cutting edge, bachelor pad and launching pad.

A must for sound geeks and space age bachelors alike, Trip Tease is an invigorating debut that only gets better with each listen Their music veers in such diverse directions, though, that it is at times difficult to tell the music is even modern. If you own a swimming pool, this is music to lay out with and sip fruity green drinks from martini glasses with paper umbrellas. If you are a landlocked city dweller, this music can transport you to a little island called Tipsydonia, where the natives are friendly, the beaches are white, and there's a luau till dawn every night. If you live in the country and feel misunderstood, this CD will either make you feel that someone does understand your slightly wacky view of the world or make you so immensely cheered up that you will no longer care. Beware, though...listening to this music in your sleep may cause sudden knowledge of the entire Tahitian language and a strange longing for cat-eye sunglasses and pina coladas...

1 Mr. Excitement 2 Space Golf 3 Grossenhosen 4 Tuatara 5 Nude on the Moon
6 El Bombo Atomico 7 Liquordelic 8 Cinnabar 9 Fuad Ramses 10 Oops! 11 Ugly Stadium 12 Something Tropical 13 Zenith

trippy1

trippy2

Check out the archive for their second effort -- Uh Oh! more in the lines of space age pop.