Suggestions for a Tiki sampler CD or related

I don't know much about Tiki music, so I was wondering if there's a sampler or combo CD (or download) that you could recommend.

Thanks!

"Sven Kirsten Presents The Sound of Tiki" would be a great starting point.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sound-Tiki-Various-Artists/dp/B0036ULAPU

Oh, plus it has a 52 page booklet giving details about each track.

I still think this is the greatest collection of tiki music ever. Some on this forum would always suggest either surf music or real obscure exotica albums....but for me, this is still the best and most instantly representative of what I love best in exotica. Buy it used.

http://www.amazon.com/Exotic-Sounds-Martin-Denny/dp/B000002U5U/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1345259371&sr=1-4&keywords=martin+denny

For the best in modern exotica, it can only be the following three bands:

1. Tikiyaki orchestra
2. Don Tiki
3. martini kings

Most other bands mentioned here on this forum are not as purely authentic as these three bands. Most are surf, garagerock or punk with "tiki" song titles andtiki related cover art. Or, they are some band that totally copied the sound of the three bands I just mentioned. There are, however, some other great true exotica bands out there, but to my knowledge have not released albums.Some do have albums, but they lean more towards pure lounge styles.

You cannot go wrong with any tikiyaki orchestra album. They are so good that others have totally ripped them off and copied every aspect of their sound and image, but with much lesser quality.

djmont,

I'll toot my own group's horn :wink: Check out Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica's second release at http://orchestrotica.com/album2 entitled, "Third River Rangoon." You can preview it all online for free and get some free downloads too. My interest with exotica is in composing and interpreting the genre now from a contemporary jazz/classical/world percussionist's standpoint. Here's how the press described this CD release:

Top 10 CD for 2011– "…just about all the original stars of exotica...are gone -- here, at last, is their successor."–Huffington Post

Top 25 Jazz Albums for 2011–Lucid Culture

"… a perfect cocktail...deliciously accented with chamber, jazz, classical, and world music…"—Boston Globe

“2 absolute must-haves for any exotica fan...a welcome addition to the pantheon of modern exotica classics”—Tiki Magazine

"…[Third River Rangoon] shows off O'Neill's serious jazz and chamber-music writing"—Boston Herald

“…[The] Orchestrotica...leaves other retro ensembles in the fairy stardust…”—Cliff Furnald, Roots World

"…borrowing themes from Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, Mr. Ho has created his own rigorous classical-jazz hybrid..."–Boston Phoenix

Enjoy your search!

Mr. Ho

Thanks for the suggestions!

I downloaded the Martin Denny album. I also plan to check out some Tikiyaki Orchestra.

I can't recommend "The Quiet Village" podcast enough. It's available at http://digitiki.com/ I've been listening to these over the last couple of months (and there are over 40 episodes now). I've learned so much about Exotica, Surf, Lounge, Hawaiian, and all kinds of other awesome music. The only downside to listening to these is hearing about great "upcoming" events that I've missed by a year or two. (I missed the Gilligan's Island concert in North Hollywood!? Man.... :( )

I also heartily agree to listen to The Tikiyaki Orchestra. I love all of their albums, and they put on a great show too.

I prefer the old Hapa Haole stuff myself. As for buying on Amamzon, etc., I do suggest:

Hukilau Hulas It has some good stuff on there.

And you can download my Swank Vinyl Exotica if you like.

I'll throw in the recommendation for Swank's vinyl exotica. They are really good and free.

gabbahey

Thanks for the free tracks, Mr. Ho. Good shit indeed!

Glad you like it, whoopass! lol. (my spell check says that's 2 words BTW)...

"Most other bands mentioned here on this forum are not as purely authentic as these three bands. "

Oh, come on. Waitiki isn't as authentic as those guys? Mr. Ho's 4 piece?

Mr. Vigor, you need to get out of California for a few weeks to get some perspective.
As much as I love the bands you mentioned - putting them in a class by themselves is a stretch. Especially given the electronic help on some of the music released therein.

Edited to add: I have drink in hand and am smiling as I type this btw. All in the cause of good discourse.
I know the what the Mai Kai plays and has played for years and it's a mix of exotica, hapa haole and pure Polynesian music.

[ Edited by: pablus 2012-09-03 16:50 ]

Those are indeed great bands. I am a fan of both of them, actually.
Reading back what i wrote, I can see how it was a bit misleading. What I meant to say is that there are an awful lot of bands that are not even close to being tiki, but are classified as such. There also have been a lot of "lounge" type bands that are not tiki either, but may have one or two songs as an homage.
And I know it will piss big tiki dude and a lot of other off, but I have never considered surf, punk or garage rock to be tiki in any way at all. I know it is a HUGE part of the tiki revival scene, of course, and there are bands in those genres that have excellent musicians...but tiki they are not. My opinion only, but to me, Tiki music is either pure exotica or hapa haole music. That's the only stuff that sounds good to me in the tiki context.

I myself have two songs I wrote a long time ago that might be of interest to the OP:

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/lights-on-the-water

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/the-dark-continent-limpopo

Now, whether or not anyone considers these "tiki", I don't know. I wrote them long before I had ever heard of this forum or the book of tiki (yeah, I am a baxter/denny/lyman fan going back to when I was a little kid) You be the judge.

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2012-09-03 18:11 ]

I think your tunes fit in tiki perfectly. I liked them when I first heard them and stol... I mean... acqui... ummm - somehow they appeared on a disc I play at my lounge with me having nothing at all to do with it.

On 2012-09-04 08:04, pablus wrote:

I think your tunes fit in tiki perfectly. I liked them when I first heard them and stol... I mean... acqui... ummm - somehow they appeared on a disc I play at my lounge with me having nothing at all to do with it.

Good to hear!