The Freaky Tiki Surf-ari is back and I’m really excited about this year’s schedule of events. We’ve got two exotica reviews, two surf rock reviews, a tie-in episode of the podcast and more! On top of that, each music review will have a bonus sample track! I’m also looking forward to showcasing my new, stripped-down take on music reviews. If you go back to my earliest music reviews, it’s painfully obvious that I had no real idea of how to do a music review and tried to fake my way through it by describing as much about the music as possible. While this has its advantages for Music to Haunt By, it’s just a burden to read for everything else. Using my new take on reviewing may take me a little longer to get the review out, but I think the end result will be worth it.
Another reason for my excitement is that I’ve recently solved a mystery that’s been vexing me for quite some time. Back when I was writing the introductory entry for the first Freaky Tiki Surf-ari, I had wanted to note an example of how a jungle exotica album used artwork from a horror movie poster in order to both show the horror/Tiki connection and show that exotica extended beyond its Polynesian origins. However, I had to leave it out due to me being unable to identify the horror movie in question. Thankfully, idly searching for DVDs on Amazon led to me finding the movie in question. Granted, I’m not sure if the tracks from the album in question are truly exotica, but jungle exotica definitely does exist. In fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that some of the exotica tracks I’m reviewing this year contain a mix of both traditional exotica and exotica influenced by other locales (as I had originally intended to discuss using the above example).
Oh, and that’s not the only new connection between exotica and horror that I picked up on this year. Remember how I said the opening of “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific sounded like something out of a science fiction movie? Well, it turns out my offhand comment for more accurate than I had anticipated, as some horror fans have noted how the first few notes of it sounds very close to the “Bride’s Theme” from Bride of Frankenstein. Freaky Tiki indeed!
To tide you over until the first review, here’s a look back at last year’s Freaky Tiki Surf-ari:
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: The Return
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: Go!Tsunami
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: Ding Dong Devils
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: 6′+ Episode 11 is Up!
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: More Arts & Crafts
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: The Crimson Ghosts
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: King Kong vs. Godzilla Soundtrack
