From: transmat@teleport.com Subject: ISM v2 Date: 10 Jul 1994 00:12:28 -0800 Saw a copy of Incredibly Strange Music V. 2 today. I didn't feel like forkin out the dough yet. Has anyone read it, or started to? How do y'all feel about 'exotic' music becoming more 'popular'? I find that when i go to a used record store to check out the 'eze-listenin' section, what once was 'cheap' is now over-priced. Oh, well, i still mange to find some interesting things at garage sales, etc. richard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sarah Pearson Subject: Re: ISM v2 Date: 11 Jul 1994 08:37:28 -0700 (PDT) On Sun, 10 Jul 1994 transmat@teleport.com wrote: > Saw a copy of Incredibly Strange Music V. 2 today. I didn't feel like > forkin out the dough yet. Has anyone read it, or started to? Yep! Bought it instantaneously upon its arrival at my fave-rave bookstore. :) I like it a lot. It has a big huge interview with Jello Biafra, with him totally dominating the "conversation", which I personally don't mind. There's also an interview with Rusty Warren, where she asks if anybody wants to write her biography! jeeeez...if I had the time and the knowledge.... There's lots more, but the book's not at hand, and it's early morning where I am. > How do y'all > feel about 'exotic' music becoming more 'popular'? I haven't really noticed. There's a whole four people I know of around here that even collect weird vinyl, and one of them works in the best record store around here. figures. Later! sarah. n9048262@henson.cc.wwu.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dx@netcom.com (dx) Subject: POPularity Date: 11 Jul 1994 10:01:55 -0700 It is really quite amazing to see the change in popularity of 50s instrumental and other odd music. When I first started collecting Martin Denny records, in the late 70s, they were easy to find, and usually cost $1 or less. Non-"name" artists (including a lot of the artists that Denny found for Liberty as part of his A&R job) sold for even less. Now, of course, you can't touch mint Denny records for anywhere near a dollar, unless you happen upon them at some garage sale, or in the middle of Podunk USA. The supply of vinyl at the thrifts has dried up quite a bit, and those that still have LPs are usually thoroughly picked over. On the plus side, however, the resurgence of interest has gotten a few things out on CD that I never would've expected to get. Two Martin Denny comps, plus the "Exotica '90" release, two Arthur Lyman comps, the Perry & Kingsley reissue, and so on. Of course, there are 1001 other pieces of vinyl that'll never see CD issue, and the original vinyl is getting very hard to find... *sigh*. - -dx ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Karty Subject: Re: ISM v2 Date: 11 Jul 1994 12:52:53 -0700 (PDT) IMHO Incredibly Strange Music 2 is marginally better than vol 1. Both seem to me to just be creating more marketing categories for the Faith Popcorns, Details magazines and Aaron Spelling Productionses of this world. Thye just seem to be about consumption rather than creativity. To me, collectors are boring and parasitical. I mean, have you ever met one of those people who collects lunch boxes? In their own little mercenary way they make Donald Trump look like Lenin! At least Vol 2 has interviews with the musicians themselves and it's great that the editors hunted down those people; for this reason I'll probably buy the book and I recommend it with reservations. BTW I've been on the exotica list for about two months and I've only received two messages, if memory serves. (not an exaggeration... I really think it's been about two messages.) I wonder if the traffic is really that slow or is something not working... R. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lazlo@einet.com (Lazlo Nibble) Subject: Re: ISM v2 Date: 11 Jul 1994 18:52:02 -0600 (MDT) > BTW I've been on the exotica list for about two months and I've only > received two messages, if memory serves. I wonder if the traffic is > really that slow or is something not working... Traffic's really that slow, probably because all us boring parasitic collectors are out looking for cool records . . . - -- Lazlo (lazlo@rt66.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: transmat@teleport.com Subject: martin denny on CD Date: 11 Jul 1994 19:53:37 -0800 The resurgence of interest has gotten >a few things out on CD that I never would've expected to get. Two >Martin Denny comps, plus the "Exotica '90" release, two Arthur >Lyman comps, the Perry & Kingsley reissue, and so on. I have one Denny comp CD on Rhino, is there a new one? thanks richard time...space...transmat@teleport.com bleep on! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dx@netcom.com (dx) Subject: Martin Denny CDs Date: 11 Jul 1994 20:49:50 -0700 Since a few people asked, here are the Martin Denny CD's that I know of: * The Very Best of Martin Denny - The Extoic Sounds * EMI Japan CP32-5657 An outstanding 29 track collection that covers a broad range of Denny's exotica catlog. Includes Japanese liner notes and a very good discography (in English), listing all the Denny issues I know of, many of the ancillary releases (they missed one of Augie Colon's solo LPs), Arthur Lyman's catalog, Les Baxter's exotic releases, plus other related exotic issues. The booklet reproduces classic Sandy Warner cover. * Exotica! The Best of Martin Denny * Rhino Records R2 70774 A good collection of 20 tracks, though I think their coverage of the entire exotica catalog is a bit amiss. Not a great deal of overlap with the EMI comp, so it makes a nice addition. * Paradise * Pair Records PCD-2-1267 A cheesy knock-off 16 track compilation ("Equivalent to two albums!", yet it's only 41 minutes). I'm not sure of the origin of these tracks, since there's absolutely no liner information other than the song titles. Who knows. * Exotica '90 * InsideOut TOCP-6160 [Japan] As far as I know, this is the latest thing that Denny's recorded. Much of the old combo is here, including Arthur Lyman, Augie Colon and Julius Wechter. Sadly, bassist Harvey Ragsdale didn't make the session, and passed away in March of 1990, just a month after the recording. Overall it's not as exciting a recording as the original 50's sounds. The updated approach, with synthesizers and electric guitars on many of the tracks, just don't work for me. On the other hand, it's great to hear Denny and his crew still at it! And while I'm at it, here are the two Arthur Lyman compilations I know of: * Music of Hawaii * Legacy International CD 323 Like the Pair Records issue of Martin Denny's work, this one features 20 tracks of unknown origin. Not a bad compilation, mind you, but not one that explains much about itself beyond the music in the pits. * The Arthur Lyman Group * DCC Compact Classics DJZ-613 A nice issue from the DCC Jazz line. 25 tracks, spanning '57-'61. No discography, though, nor info linking the tracks to particular LPs :( ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Malcolm Humes Subject: this list/some recent finds Date: 13 Jul 1994 12:44:47 -0700 > > BTW I've been on the exotica list for about two months and I've only > > received two messages, if memory serves. I wonder if the traffic is > > really that slow or is something not working... > > Traffic's really that slow, probably because all us boring parasitic > collectors are out looking for cool records . . . When did this list start? Is there a FAQ? Archives? I've noticed most lists go through a period of initial explosion and heavy traffic and then taper off sometimes to die, sometimes to be ocassionally revitalized by newbies wandering in or coming in waves as the mailing list gets publicized by posted references, etc. Just curious if there was a period when this list might have had more posts on topics of interest and if those discussions might be archived? If there isn't any sort of FAQ is anyone interested in working on one, or on a WWW site? As to finding records and pricing, I'm not having much trouble. My girlfriend Kat is a bit more fanatical about exotica than I and she's finding more than we can afford, both in stores and flea markets - even when they're priced at a buck each or less. She works right near Down Home Music, mostly known for rootsy folk, blues and such - but in her near daily browsing she's turned up a few harmonica jazz lps (Harmonicats - hated by Sinatra as noted in ISM 1), a Yma Sumac cd (live in russia 1961), and some really strange old folk and blues stuff like The Skillet Lickers, who are led by a blind guy who looks like he was in the movie Deliverance and sings with a pretty weird voice. We've also hooked up with an old guy at a local flea market with a basement full of all sorts of records. He rotates stock each week. I've found some great small indie things like an Oakland hippie/jazz release by this guy who invented his own horn device - sort of like an organ with a bunch of trumpets attached. Last week we found a Hong Kong release of YOUNG BOY'S ORGAN MUSIC that has hilarious 70's photos and a space age organ on the front. Kat is nuts for organ stuff and George Wright rules in our place right now. Some other recent finds: Port Said - Music of the middle east 1958 Mohammed El-Bakkar and his Oriental Ensemble Ebb Tide and other instrumental favorites by EARL GRANT - decca organ solo with piano arrangement Musica De La Corrida De Toros (in sterophonc SpaceSound) Music of the bullfight (says "file under SPANISH INSTRUMETAL") Marlene - songs in german by the inimitable Deitrich includes funky german covers of some US tunes. Alan Sherman My son the nut, alan sheerman, sings nutty things, this time with stings (1963) includes a cool song about machines taking jobs, "Automation". Probably one of the most surreal recent finds is the fantastic: Manuel and his Latin Strings (I think I got the title right, maybe not) which has cover art with little wooden dolls and music that really moves me into a strange place. We're trying to catalog the 50 or so exotica lps we have now. It's the first time I've ever really felt like just having a section entirely of one sort of lps instead of just filing them alphabetically with the rest of the jazz, rock other stuff... - Malcolm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lazlo@einet.com (Lazlo Nibble) Subject: this list/some recent finds Date: 13 Jul 1994 14:25:12 -0600 (MDT) > I've noticed most lists go through a period of initial explosion and > heavy traffic and then taper off sometimes to die... This one never exploded. :-) Your post was the twentieth post, period, since the list was created three months ago. There haven't even been enough postings to fire off a digest yet. Haven't figured out why interest is so low, but the fewer people interested in the material, the more stuff there'll be at the garage sales. > If there isn't any sort of FAQ is anyone interested in working on one, > or on a WWW site? I'd love to see them created, but have my hands full with other projects at the moment. If anyone would like to do either, you have my blessing. > We're trying to catalog the 50 or so exotica lps we have now. It's the > first time I've ever really felt like just having a section entirely of > one sort of lps instead of just filing them alphabetically with the rest > of the jazz, rock other stuff... Ditto. I feel this strange urge to heavily-subcategorize the stuff, and don't really know why. I'm resisting. It seems to introduce more problems than it "solves". A favorite find was an absolutely cherry sleeve from Yma Sumac's album Mambo that turned up in a $5 auction box. Unfortunately, the record in the sleeve was a serious trashed Voice Of The Xtabay/Inca Taqui and the other sleeve and record were nowhere to be found. The sleeve's nice enough to frame though. I wonder about the people who took such wonderful care of their sleeves but who seemed to play driveway-hockey with the records themselves. - -- Lazlo (lazlo@rt66.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Karty Subject: Re: this list/some recent finds/ church bells Date: 13 Jul 1994 16:08:00 -0700 (PDT) Now that I know people *are* out there, I'm going to be grateful that the list has such light traffic. Better too slow than too heavy IMHO. Is anyone aware of any CDs of church bells? I really like those old (European) cathedral bells playing those scales and semi-melodies. I think they're called 'changes', right? I have one track of this on a recordof Gregorian chants; plus a few of the chants have a single bell gonging away in the background, which is nice too. I'd like to find a currently-available CD but would be interested to hear of old vinyl just out of curiousity. BTW this is not to be confused with handbell ensembles. I like that music too but I already have arecord of it. Richard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Malcolm Humes Subject: Re: Martin Denny CDs/more stuff Date: 17 Jul 1994 09:59:09 -0700 (PDT) Found a martin Denny cd I don't think was on Dx's list: Enchanted Islands Cema Special Markets S21-56638 1993 quiet village/return to paradise/the hawaiian wedding song/ beyond the sea/martinique/off shore/pearly shells/now is the hour/ the enchanted sea/hawaii tattoo. No liner notes. Not clear what these are sourced from, I don't think this an original release, just another compilation. I'm curious how the track list overlaps with other comps. Had a great flea market day yesterday - about 30 lps. Kat found a few organ ones, a lot of mexican/spanish instrumentals and the usual stuff that makes me cringe. I spotte a few releases by the Community Psychalogical Consultants, Inc from St. Louis - looks like a series of stuff from '71- '77 - I got "Where the hell does the energy come?" which starts off with a sort of hippie rap pondering where we can find the energy to face all the evils of the world. The Best of Tavana's Polynesian Spectacular recorded live looks to be some hawaiian thing claiming a bit more authenticity than Denny but it looks pretty hokey. Looks to be post-1970, though the liner notes note how he was working with Don Ho back in '65. Kat brought home an interesting cd this week too, on Arhoolie: Martinique: "Au Bal Antilles" Franco-Creole Biguines - some old (1929-1951) stuff that fuses early jazz sensibilities with carribean dance music. Uses a lot more strings than horns. If I understood the liner notes this was stuff recorded in france by caribbean and creole folks living there. Sort of tangential to early zydeco pre rock'n'roll? Perplexingly early world beat fusion? How about: Bent Fabric - Organ Grinder's Swing - Atco SD 33-164 Stereo Bent Fabric is supposedly a danish guy. 1964. Bent has another lp called "the Happy Puppy". Music to Lure Pigeons By - The Night Pastor and Seven Friends 1967? Claremont Record co. Wisconson. I've been a sucker for a lot of these obviously-limited-pressing indie release and this looked like a possible winner. Turns out to be rather straight ahead dixieland jazz or somesuch. HEAR 4 EXCITING ALL-NEW ACTION-ADVENTURE STORIES: STAR TREK 1979 - original stories for children inspired by Star Trek despite pictures of Spock and Kirk on the cover the audio is dense and sped up so it's hard to tell if it's even really Shatner or Nimoy. Stereo! The dialog jumps from speaker to speaker. Debating whether to go back for another lp in the same series. on Peter Pan records. One of my faves from this weeks haul: RX - Deep Relaxation - the meditative control of overeating and smoking SELF-CONTROL AWARENESS - the Non-Drug therapy prescribed by Jackson White, MD. Dr. White looks like a mid 20's refugee from a soap opera. This 1975 lp is a hip guided meditation thingy that sounds like it really slowly builds up over very simple proto-ambient guitar by going through body movements to convince you that you have control of your body. Sounds like both sides start off with the same meditation session tape and then get into the programming part at the end of it. A welcome addition and a new category for me - guided meditation lps - and with a pseudo medical slant. And this was still sealed and mint! Maybe I'll have another listen right now... - malcolm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lazlo@RT66.com (Lazlo Nibble) Subject: Arthur Lyman CD's Date: 18 Jul 1994 23:14:44 -0600 (MDT) > Was talking to someone who thought all this "exotica" revival stuff was > just a fad....yet I have sold quite an impressive number of Mr. Juan > Garcia Esquivel. Fad? Or have the times finally caught up... Well, it *is* a fad. Whether it's "just" a fad remains to be seen. We're still living with the fallout five years after Modern Primitives, so it's going to be quite a while before it's clear what impact ISM will have. - -- Lazlo (lazlo@rt66.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dx@netcom.com (dx) Subject: Re: Arthur Lyman CD's Date: 19 Jul 1994 07:54:57 -0700 > Well, it *is* a fad. Whether it's "just" a fad remains to be seen. We're > still living with the fallout five years after Modern Primitives, so it's > going to be quite a while before it's clear what impact ISM will have. Sadly, Lazlo is right - and for once I was on the train long before it pulled out of the station. Personally, I wish the Re/Search people hadn't written the books. It was a lot more fun collecting this stuff 10 years ago. Looking for the next undiscovered `thing', - -dx ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: gah@netcom.com (gah) Subject: Newbie... Date: 19 Jul 1994 06:50:23 -0700 Quick introduction. I am a card carrying vinyl junkie. I have thousands of records of all types. I'm especially interested in odd things like picture records and those throw-away records that used to come on cereal boxes, and in advertisements. I've got some really strange rock and roll that *no one* has heard of. I'm looking forward to sharing info here. Gregg Gregg Hungerford - Boulder Creek CA (Multimedia: ftp.netcom.com - cd /pub/gah) gah@netcom.com / gah@cruzio.com / 72115.540@compuserve.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Malcolm Humes Subject: Re: faddism Date: 19 Jul 1994 10:07:46 -0700 > Was > talking to someone who thought all this "exotica" revival stuff was just a > fad... I think it's barely even got to the point of being a fad, yet, and I'm certainly not feeling too trendy since I've been collecting stuff like this for years already and I only got around to picking up the first ISM book a few weeks ago. It'll really be a fad when we start seeing numerous cd re-issues of old lps that no one would buy today. Give it a few years - now that the music industry has mined the archives of all the classic rock, jazz and classical and re-issued most of the stuff that any large consumer-market-segment will buy we'll probably start seeing more unusual limited re-issues of true schlock that no one normal would ever buy or listen to unless they thought it was "cool" to do so. But first the folks collecting it now have to buy up all the real good stuff that's left in the lp bins so we can create scarity to drive up the value and make the cd market turn to this as a new genre to exploit. :^) - malcolm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: transmat@teleport.com Subject: Re: research inc. Date: 19 Jul 1994 19:33:46 -0800 >> Well, it *is* a fad. Whether it's "just" a fad remains to be seen. We're >> still living with the fallout five years after Modern Primitives, so it's >> going to be quite a while before it's clear what impact ISM will have. > >Sadly, Lazlo is right - and for once I was on the train long before it >pulled out of the station. Personally, I wish the Re/Search people hadn't >written the books. It was a lot more fun collecting this stuff 10 years ago. > >Looking for the next undiscovered `thing', > >-dx I'm not a religious person, but i'd like to add 'amen' to your feelings. I heard a friend tell of an art exhibition, at a fancy schmanzy LA gallery that exhibited painting gathered from thrift stores. richard time...space...transmat@teleport.com bleep on! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dx@netcom.com (dx) Subject: Thrift Store Paintings Date: 19 Jul 1994 20:40:46 -0700 > I > heard a friend tell of an art exhibition, at a fancy schmanzy LA gallery > that exhibited painting gathered from thrift stores. There are actually two (at least!) books out on the subject... one on thrift store paintings directly, and one on black velvet paintings. Basically, anything I get interested in eventually seems to become a 'thing', and I can no longer find them at garage sales or thrift stores for $0.25. I guess there are just too many of us with baby-boomer collector personalities for anything to stay undiscovered for long. Anyone want to collaborate on a book about soundtracks to industrial trade- show plays? Anyone have any they want to trade or sell? - -dx ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: James.Langdell@Eng.Sun.COM (James Langdell) Subject: Church bell recording Date: 20 Jul 1994 10:48:43 +0800 Here's a CD I have of church bells, as requested by Richard Karty. Church Bells of England --Traditional change ringing from some of England's most famous peals SAYDISC CD-SDL 378 (Imported by Qualiton) Saydisc REcords, Chipping Manor, The Chipping, Wotton-Under-Edge, Glos. GL12 7AD, England This includes 3 to 9 minute samplings of change ringing from 16 churches, including Westminster Abbey. There's information on the bells at each site. SAYDISC is a pretty exotic label from merry olde England. Offerings range from Tibetan bells to operatic music boxes to hurdy gurdies to Christmas Gregorian chants to 18th century drinking songs accompanied by a serpent trio. - --James Langdell jamesc@eng.sun.com Sun Microsystems Mountain View, Calif. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lazlo@RT66.com (Lazlo Nibble) Subject: Thrift Store Paintings Date: 22 Jul 1994 09:28:33 -0600 (MDT) > Basically, anything I get interested in eventually seems to become a > 'thing', and I can no longer find them at garage sales or thrift stores > for $0.25. You just have to go to the right garage sales. :-) I got four pieces of honest-to-god Danish Modern furniture at a garage sale a couple of months back for $15 each. - -- Lazlo (lazlo@rt66.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Malcolm Humes Subject: incoming... Date: 27 Jul 1994 16:42:00 -0700 Last weekend brought home a few more interesting finds. The stuff is coming in faster than I can catalog it in my database... I got a phone call Saturday asking me "who is Paul Dresher?" Dresher is a minimalist composer who lives in Berkeley. Does theater works and used to hang out with Diamanda Galas and a friend of mine at UCSD. Seems that Walter had just stumbled onto his garage sale and picked up a bunch of academic electronic releases by Rosenboom and Bucchla. We jumped in the car and rushed over and picked through Dreshers old lps. I ended up with about 30 lps for $20. Pick of the bunch was a near mint copy of Les Baxter's Dance Au Savages (or whatever the title is) which includes the original Quiet Village tune Martin Denny covered. Most of the other stuff wasn't really in the exotica realm but the Baxter lp was a great find. Back from the flea market the next day Kat dragged home a couple of Lawrence Welk lps and what looked like a cool Romper Room lp. I really wanted the hear the Romper Room tune on cleaning up your room (looking for a little inspiration) but it turns out the lp inside is some *weird* childrens lp by The Witch Doctor! The Witch Doctor sounds like Screamin' Jay Hawkins or something and does some warped versions of childrens songs. Anyone ever heard of The Witch Doctor? One of the Lawrence Welk lps has a Dick Dale in the band - it doesn't seem likely it could be the same surfin' Dick Dale though. Another Welk lp has a cover of the theme to Star Wars! Pending in orbit is an Artur Lymon lp that gets liberated from the hold shelf next payday... - Malcolm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Karty Subject: Save yourself $40 Date: 28 Jul 1994 12:28:40 -0700 (PDT) Last week I found what should have been the find of a life time: Les Baxters "la Femme" for $2. It has a classy Ingres-goes-technicolor cover photo of a nekkid woman, and all the song titles are the French words for "the arms", "the thighs", "the nape of the neck" etc. (A shop here has a copy for $40, but Iknow none of you would fall for that!) Anyway, it's just dull orchestral easy-listening music. That is, easy-listening in a *bad* way. I love the cover; it's just that lately I've been more interested in records that I can actually *listen* to. Same goes for a lot of my Martin Denny. I put on Primitiva the other day and I couldn't stand it. They were definitely 'phoning it in' on that one. Any "Litlle Marcy" and Dora Hall fans out there? ISM kinda took all the mystery out of Miss Hall , but that's OK. Richard