SWINGIN' SOUNDS FOR THE JUNGLE JETSET - The Tikiyaki Orchestra

YEAR: 2009
LABEL: Future Primitive
TRACK LISTING: Bachelor #1, Tabu For Two, Singapore Swing, Bachelor #2, Dan-o's Day Off, Sunset On the Kona Kai, Tango Tahiti, Bali Hai-Ball, Makaha, Last Sampan to Kowloon, Bachelor #3, Poho Moku
IMPRESSIONS: After the mid-90's explosion in lounge music/exotica/space age bachelor pad music, quite a few groups released proto-lounge music. However, long after the lounge music fad has passed, only those of us who truly love that genre of music are left standing. And for our faithfulness we have been rewarded with Jim Bacchi and his Tikiyaki Orchestra: simply the best current lounge music group going! Evoking the spirits of such past lounge/exotica masters as Les Baxter, Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman, the Tikiyaki Orchestra stacks up favourably with all of 'em. From their own website, the Tikiyaki Orchestra's mission statement reads as follows: "The Tikiyaki Orchestra is a musical experience unlike any other today. Utilizing a unique combination of sounds...smooth, mellow vibraphone, twanging, reverb-drenched surf guitar, pulsating theater organ, lilting Hawaiian steel guitar, bongos, congas, and an arsenal of exotic perucssion from around the world, all set against the sounds of the ocean and jungle. The Tikiayki Orchestra transports the audience to a place and time when Cantonese food was "exotic cuisine" and people escaped the mundane with the aid of strong, sweet rum-based cocktails served in tiki mugs with little colorful umbrellas.. i.e. Waikiki in 1955."
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Honestly all of 'em. How can you toss any aside when the entire album needs to play from start to finish?
FACT SHEET: SWINGIN' SOUNDS FOR THE JUNGLE JETSET is the Tikiyaki Orchestra's second album. The Tikiyaki Orchestra is conceived and lead by Jim Bacchi; former heavy metal guitarist for Attila as well as Hittman, the power pop bands Fuzzbubble and also Teen Machine. In 2007, Bacchi released a solo CD of exotica lounge music entitled "THE TIKIYAKI ORCHESTRA -- STEREOEXOTIQUE" on his own Future Primitive Label and later formed a group which now tours around Southern California.