Tiki Your Ears Off!

Okay gang, I've got a new project I've launched on the YouTubes (as if I don't have enough plates spinning in the air to keep me occupied). Tiki Your Ears Off is a monthly album review I'm doing of exotica, surf and other tiki-adjacent music. Many, many years ago I reviewed music for some online sites and kinda miss it. These won't be track-by-track reviews, but I like to think they go into a little more depth than the brief capsules the various tiki magazines are able to offer. They also won't be terribly polished, as I'm reading from my notes.

First up is Robert Drasnin's all-time exotica classic, "Voodoo!"

In this installment of Tiki Your Ears off we have "Los Del-Vipers," the second full album from the Austin surf rock band, The Del-Vipers.

This time out, we Tiki Our Ears Off to "Lahaina Sunset," the debut solo album from Mark Riddle. Known online as "Marty Lush" and "Digitiki," Mark played vibes on the first three Tikiyaki Orchestra albums and is the producer and host of The Quiet Village Podcast.

So cool! Del Vipers are awesome (Drasnin and Riddle too) but man, I love the DV's album cover....the tiger in the reflection?? Get outta here! I'll check this out.

Please do! Ross and his crew have a tight sound. Their first album and subsequent EP are also worth a listen. They mostly play gigs around Austin and don't do much in the way of self promotion so tend to fly under the radar.

Halloween is the time of year ghosts and goblins come out to play, so let's lean into the season with a bit of "Spooky Surf" shall we? The Phantomatics is a three-piece surf rock band from San Antonio that specializes in "Spooky Surf." The band's debut album, "She Left Her Brain at the Drive-In," came out in 2011 and features six original tracks all written by the band. It's high-energy, moody and atmospheric album absolutely drenched with schlocky mid-century horror riffs (and I mean that in the best way possible).

I checked it out - cool instrumental surf! Cheers!

Glad you liked it, TikiReno!

This is great content, man. Thank you.

Thanks for the kind words! I saw this as a little tiki void on the YouTubes and decided to try my had at filling it. I'm happy folks like yourself are digging it.

Hey kids, guess what time it is? That's right, it's time for a new installment of Tiki Your Ears Off! This outing I give a listen to "Caves of the Sea," the first new studio album from the Waitiki 7 since 2014! Check it out on the YouTubes!