Post #515316 by professahhummingflowah on Fri, Mar 5, 2010 10:56 AM

Thanks Jeff for your thoughtful comments. I think you should post all or some of it in the comment thread of that article.

It is always nice to see exotica written up in mainstream media. The more people who are introduced/re-introduced to our music the better. I was surprised to see this article and all the comments that follow it! Who knew that so many people outside of our tiki circles had so much to say about exotica?

(I was equally surprised to read the comments by Waitiki fans... looks like we have some serious, vocal mid-atlantic region followers. If any of you are reading this, my thanks for posting that).

I think the author, Mr. Pierce, perhaps confused studio Denny with live Denny. Studio Denny often used large ensembles ala Baxter. But the real magic of Denny (and therefore Lyman and Gene Rains) is the distillation approach he took: finding a way to make those large, lush soundscapes work in small groups that can be performed live. Unfortunately, as many of you know, there are few live recordings in the wild of the Denny group. ("Baked Alaska" and "In Person" are the two most known). The Lyman recordings are all done without overdubs; Mr. Lyman, as I understand it, preferred his listeners to have the experience of hearing on their turntables what they would hear live; nothing more.

As you probably know, I am a proponent of all-live, all-acoustic exotica music. That's the direction that WAITIKI has always gone and will always go. But I don't say that to spite or diminish the work of other modern (or past) groups who mix live instruments with electronics, computer music, synthesizers, etc. It's because of the diversity of approach that I think we can safely say that exotica music lives on; that modern groups should NOT be reviled; and that there is a living, breathing genre out there.