Exotica is a mailing list for fans and collectors of weird and unusual music from the early LP era forward. The list takes its name from the title of jungle-exotica pioneer Martin Denny's seminal album. Common topics of discussion include artists like Perez Prado, Les Baxter, and Yma Sumac; cool record finds; current reissues in the genre, and so forth.

For more information on the list, you should send email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with the command info exotica on a line by itself in the body of the message. A complete archive of list postings is available, as is a FAQ.

I hope we can help you stumble across something you've never seen or heard before.

--Lazlo Nibble (http://www.studio-nibble.com/)

The Exotica Mailing List FAQ v3.2

The American Gallery of Exotic Album Covers

Acres of wicked sleeve artwork. Formerly part of Space Age Bachelor Pad Music on the World Wide Web.

Art's Bachelor Pad

Join Art in his decidedly swingin' lair.

Cool and Strange Music! Magazine

A definitive print resource takes to the net.

Jack Diamond's House of Games

Home page for Jack's KFJC (Los Altos, CA) radio show. Sleeve art, notes on record collecting, Esquivel area, and scans from Jack's collection of cool vintage shirts.

Disquarium

Johan Dada Vis' Exotica hyperdiscography -- 1713 entries as I type this.

The Easy-Tune Encyclopedia

Defining the terms that define the scene...or something.

The ELP Laser Turntable

Included here because the idea of playing a 25-cent thrift store mambo record on a turntable that costs eighty-two thousand times as much is pretty damned cool.

Gerald Ross' MIDI Cha-Cha, Swing, Fingerstyle Guitar, Polka, Mambo and More!

A smattering of exotic tracks, well-captured in General MIDI format.

In Hi-Fi

A NYC club guide, plus cover art, with a special gallery by Jim Flora.

King Kini's Club Velvet

Home page for live exotic club & radio DJ action in Minneapolis. Great look, cool sleeves, and a solid Les Baxter resource too!

Lounge Los Angeles

Online version of the long-running print journal.

Music for Better Living

Yet another radio show home page (WZBC 90.3 FM Boston).

RareMusic

A rotating collection of weird and freaky choonz from all musical eras. Supposedly lets you hear 'em (I couldn't for some reason) but interesting sleeve art anyway.

Nitty Gritty

Because you never know who's been walking on that thrift-store record.

Retro Cocktail Hour

The wall of retro radio continues at KANU 91.5FM University of Kansas.

Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music on the World Wide Web

The site that started it all! Now online courtesy of Vik Trola's Lounge of Self Indulgence.

Space Age Pop Standards

"Any song worth playing is worth wearing into the ground." And that's exactly what the musicians of the Exotica era did with songs like Caravan, Quiet Village, and The Hawaiian War Chant...

Space Safari - To Hi-Fidelity And Beyond!

Long-time scions of the Edinburgh club scene.

Spyjazz

A wander through the mean wet naked city streets of Exotica's swinginest sounds. Sleeves and samples.

Swank-O-Rama: The Cocktail Revolution Homepage

Paul McKay's ever-so-stylish plunge into the fabulous jet age.

Tiki News

America's premiere newsletter of Polynesiana!

Tiki Publishing

Internet consulting inspired by the moods and flavors of the South Seas. Well, maybe not, but we like 'em anyway.

Triad Radio

Saul Smaizys documents his early-'70s radiophonic adventures.

Tricky Dicky's Rapa Nui Page

Loads of info for those curious about visiting this most amazing place (known to most of us schlubs as Easter Island).

Vik's Lounge

Quite possibly the best-designed and most informative site of its kind. Reportedly no longer being updated, but still well worth a visit.

WFMU-FM 91.1 East Orange NJ

Independent freeform radio lives on. Raymond Scott/Esquivel reissue-producer Irwin Chusid spins for them so they must be okay. In the future all radio will be this cool but we'll be dead.

101 Strings

Lest we forget...

Les Baxter

Official but hi-tech-heavy. Off-brand browsers need not apply!

Jaymz Bee - The Beehive, Leisuredisc

Canadian cocktail strangeness; extra points for having worked with members of Yello.

June Christy: Misty Miss Christy

Includes an extensive discography.

Combustible Edison

SubPop Records brings us these popular bastions of the New Cocktail Revival. Bring 3D glasses for full effect.

The Temple Of Denny

Part of Vik's Lounge, but deserving of its own link.

Martin Denny

Another Denny site.

Connie Francis

The usual extensive discography, images, and so forth, with regular appearance updates.

Friends of Dean Martinez

Soundtracks for those late-night runs to Vegas with the hardtop down on the Lincoln, somewhere in the desert east of Silver Lake...

Serge Gainsbourg

Hmm, can't think of anything clever to say here. Visit the site and see if you can do any better.

The Haoles

"...everything you could possibly want to know about New York's best loved purveyors of genuine, authentic faux-Hawaiian music."

Peggy Lee

Way too much stuff on the main page, but lots and lots of great images!

Spaced Out! - The Enoch Light WWW Site

Robbie Baldock's frighteningly extensive Light resource. So good it's scared everyone else out of even trying.

Julie Is Her Name

Miss London, of course!

Man... Or Astro-Man? Intergalactic Interface

Telstarweb: The Joe Meek Website

Acres of info, including a mailing list.

Moog Cookbook

Once I heard their cover of Boston's "More Than A Feeling" I stopped caring about anything else.

Korla Pandit

Apparently an official site!

Perez Prado and Mambomania

Nice scholarly look at Prez and his form. Part of the Vinyl Tourist site, less exotic but still worth checking out with detailed turntable tips.

Edmundo Ros

Official site, apparently by a relative.

Voodoo Martini

New-school cocktail tunes from NYC, sorta Edwin Collins-esque.

Asphodel

Label of Tipsy, some Ken Nordine, and the second RE/Search: Incredibly Strange Music compilation, all of which are well-supported here with graphics and sound samples.

The World of Del-Fi Records

King of the classic surf labels -- and home to Eden Ahbez and a nifty Mancini tribute album as well.

Scamp

The exotic-reissue arm of Caroline Records brings us Martin Denny, John Barry, the Sound Gallery series, and more.

120 Years Of Electronic Instruments

A truly amazing survey!

Moog Music Incorporated

As they say, "The First Name In Synthesizers". (Official site.)

Popular Electronics Theremin Plans

From a 1976 article, these Postscript files include an introduction and instructions, a set of schematics, and a circuit board layout for a transistorized theremin design.

Sunsite's Theremin Page

Pictures of Leon Theremin, legendary theremin player Clara Rockmore, and some of Robert Moog's "Big Briar" model theremins. Also includes Moog's article on the instrument's history, as included with Clara Rockmore's CD The Art Of The Theremin.

Take A Look At THEREMINS

Theremin archive.

The Theremin Home Page

Another exhaustive web archive of theremin information, maintained by Jaron Barile.

78 Quarterly

Web site supporting the print magazine of the same name.

The 78rpm Record Home Page

Lots of information on this classic format. Maintained by Gary Herzenstiel.

Wolverine Antique Music Society

A self-described Shellac Acquisition Cult shepherded by R.D. "Gus" Frederick. Sleeve art, lots of tech and history info.

Credit Where It's Due...

A Toast o'The Tasty Exotica Cocktail (please don't poke your eye out with the umbrella) to the following folks for their contributions to this page: Saul Smaizys, Aaron Oppenheimer, Ken Freedman, Rex C. Arthur, Malcolm Humes, Schwarz Grafiken, Erik Gilbert, and the many readers of the Exotica mailing list.