End
Wednesday, March 16th, 2005 by Paul Irishglitch lounge // exotica remixed
When Martin Denny passed away a fortnight ago, I had to admit that my knowledge of him and his work was scant. I had familiarized myself well with Les Baxter, but really didn’t know much about the true founder of exotica music. Denny was the first to bring together his own trademark tropical jazz music with sounds from nature: bullfrogs croaking, songbirds calling, and palm trees swaying; thus creating a new musical innovation that he termed “exotica”. Now, on his EP Percussions, New York-based End now has taken this sound and interjected a healthy dose of electronic sample-magic to take exotica into the decade of the aughts.A frenetic lounge soundtrack delivering the South Sea by way of the sampler.
Just got my paws on a smooth new gem and found our friend Kieran Hebden tossing a track on. 
Despite being a significant fan of downtempo electronica, I have to admit it’s difficult for a downtempo track to “jump out” at you. I mean, the whole point is that they are chill and unobtrusive grooves. But when I was listening to one of 
Despite the absolute frigid temperatures this morning, my ride to work was warm because I had the sizzling island flavor of this tune to keep me moving. What at first intrigued my ears as odd spanish rap, soon matured its sonic sound as a dubbed-out dance track where you choose your level of involvement. You can let it be the backdrop for your utterly fascinating conversation of say, 
You know you’re doing something right in music when you attract the remixing talents of Quantic, Soulstance, the Bedroom Rockers, the Cinematic Orchestra, and Four Tet. This Milanese duo has been putting out fairly solid albums since 1999 providing the perfect sonic groundwork for some involved and exquisite remix action. And I believe that’s exactly where their work really shines — drop these (long, but) groovy, soulful tracks and taste it for yourself.
This powerful duo debuted originally with the name “The Dust Brothers”, but an American group with the same name (later well-known for the Fight Club soundtrack) pressed some litigation and forced a change. Though mildly bitter, the british Chemical Brothers carried on, releasing their first album appropriately named Exit Planet Dust. Now, ten years later, the two release Push The Button, a break-rocking record exploring their trademark dance-rock-rap mix. Though “Galvanize” has gotten the first-single attention, it’s the sophisticated dance track “The Boxer” that rocks this record. Hard.
It being a chilly night and my furnace giving out, I’m turning to some warm snuggly music to envelop me. But instead of soft, comforting sounds, I want some sonics that come at me unexpectedly — from beneath, from behind and circling around my head. And I want all this confused sound to make complete sense. I’ll thank Telefon Tel Aviv and their debut album Fahrenheit Fair Enough for giving me exactly what I need tonight. They push both music in new directions and meanwhile continously demand more from themselves; their second album saw them mixing their trademark bleeps and twitches with vocals, breakbeats, and some more downtempo elements. (Sample the new album @ the 
Awash in aural beauty. A sonic landscape of life unfolding. Electronica heads know Plaid’s 1999 album 
Akufen’s unique sound arises out of a dedication to keep his listeners’ ears on their toes. For his acclaimed 2002 album, My Way, Akufen used a technique he calls micro-sampling; he would record hours of AM/FM radio and splice together half-second samples of different songs and voices to make a pattern-work quilt of fierce house sound. And now, just last month, The Rip Off Artist, Freeform, and Akufen collaborated on 
Sex. Video. Ya-boos. F i A S C O, aptly named to reflect its absurd overexcessiveness, crafted together this delicious quasi-porno-video morsel. It’s bringing the ultra-sex of Mount Sims, adding in a handful of porno actors, the voice of David Bowie (or maybe Oingo Boingo) and spinning it in a superbly edited video showcasing the most hilarious sex strips and peeks I’ve seen. They apparently have