'80s Tiki - General Tiki

B BC-Da-Da Member Joined: Aug 14, 2002 Posts: 161	B BC-Da-Da Posted posted on Mon, Jan 28, 2008 3:34 PM I wanted to open up a topic that is not often talked about, but one that I've been getting more into lately. Is there anyone here that is into '80s tiki? It is really sparse, but some exotica/jungle jazz does exist, as well as surf-mood instrumental music, and the occassional underground comic or art piece relating to tiki culture. From all that I've been told, Downtown L.A. had these events during the Reagan years... not really clubs... but kind of what in Harlem they used to call "rent parties." Only in L.A. they were (and are) called "loft parties"... and they were not regulated by anything. I'm not the expert on that scene during the '80s, but apparently what would happen was people would find some loft, rent it for the night, and have some "secret" party that everyone hip would find out about, and shit would happen there. This is well before "raves" or any of that. The guys from Amok Books used to do a club down there off and on called Mecca (see Dumb Angel Gazette #3, there's an L.A. Times writeup about Mecca that Domenic Priore reprinted)... that was really the birth of the exotica scene in L.A. Stuart Sweezy of Amok Books preceded all of the great Otto/Sven stuff by a long time. Remember that "Incredibly Strange Music" ended with the Amok guys. I believe Throbbing Gristle was clearly before anyone, in terms of exotica culture in a post-punk setting. Their album "20 Jazz Funk Greats" had a lot of other elements of punk, ambient music and whatnot, but it was also romanticized and had some wild jungle percussion. Throbbing Gristle also had that "Greatest Hits" album (1980), which the cover was a knock-off of Martin Denny's "Afro-Desia" LP sleeve. Then you had that show "I.R.S. The Cutting Edge" (on MTV), which covered L.A. during the early '80s, and went to KXLU where they interviewed a DJ there who had an exotica radio show. Lastly, Jeffrey Vallance, whose art, writing and one 7" (by his surf instrumental group the Tikis), would have to be seen as someone who was slightly ahead of the curve in all of this. Looking forward to everyone's thoughts! Brian

I wanted to open up a topic that is not often talked about, but one that I've been getting more into lately. Is there anyone here that is into '80s tiki? It is really sparse, but some exotica/jungle jazz does exist, as well as surf-mood instrumental music, and the occassional underground comic or art piece relating to tiki culture.

From all that I've been told, Downtown L.A. had these events during the Reagan years... not really clubs... but kind of what in Harlem they used to call "rent parties." Only in L.A. they were (and are) called "loft parties"... and they were not regulated by anything. I'm not the expert on that scene during the '80s, but apparently what would happen was people would find some loft, rent it for the night, and have some "secret" party that everyone hip would find out about, and shit would happen there. This is well before "raves" or any of that. The guys from Amok Books used to do a club down there off and on called Mecca (see Dumb Angel Gazette #3, there's an L.A. Times writeup about Mecca that Domenic Priore reprinted)... that was really the birth of the exotica scene in L.A. Stuart Sweezy of Amok Books preceded all of the great Otto/Sven stuff by a long time. Remember that "Incredibly Strange Music" ended with the Amok guys.

I believe Throbbing Gristle was clearly before anyone, in terms of exotica culture in a post-punk setting. Their album "20 Jazz Funk Greats" had a lot of other elements of punk, ambient music and whatnot, but it was also romanticized and had some wild jungle percussion. Throbbing Gristle also had that "Greatest Hits" album (1980), which the cover was a knock-off of Martin Denny's "Afro-Desia" LP sleeve. Then you had that show "I.R.S. The Cutting Edge" (on MTV), which covered L.A. during the early '80s, and went to KXLU where they interviewed a DJ there who had an exotica radio show.

Lastly, Jeffrey Vallance, whose art, writing and one 7" (by his surf instrumental group the Tikis), would have to be seen as someone who was slightly ahead of the curve in all of this.

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts!

Brian

Post #357691 by BC-Da-Da on Mon, Jan 28, 2008 3:34 PM