The brand new Lush Exotica – The Exotic Sound Of Arthur Lyman is a 2CD set of four albums from the legend Arthur Lyman who lit the blue touch paper on exotica.

From heavy sound effects-led exotica to much simpler soulful jazz all powered by Lyman’s awesome marimba playing. Inclusive of key sounds from the incredibly strange world of music for any bachelor pad, as loved by Lux and Ivy of The Cramps, Throbbing Gristle and many more!

Featuring the band’s million-selling debut, ‘Taboo’ from 1958 acclaimed as an early pinnacle of the genre, the eerie and echoey ‘Bwana A’ take the listener much further into the jungle, ‘Bahia’ comes complete with its added ship’s horns, thunder storms, parrots, paraquats, rainfall, tinkling marimba, and a lonesome violin, plus we also get ‘Leis Of Jazz,’ in which Lyman revisits his jazz roots and love of Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton.

Simply put, this is music like nothing else! “A conch shell wailed, the conga drums thump-thumped, the bamboo sticks clattered,” Time magazine wrote in 1962, “The four men on stage were constantly on the move — clacking wooden blocks, scratching a corrugated gourd, flailing away at Chinese gongs, weaving rhythms that were insistent, sinuous and hypnotic. Occasionally, when the spirit moved them, they barked like seals or whooped like cranes.”

In the ’50s, Martin Denny and Les Baxter were pioneers of a style of music that became known as exotica or lounge music. Arthur Lyman was a member of Denny’s band. He formed the Arthur Lyman Group and achieved fame on his own.

What we have here on Lush Exotica: Exotic Sound Of Arthur Lyman, is a most wondrously kooky, and yet spiritually-embracing set of musical pieces that cover four of his albums and make for, in this glorious 2CD set, a most incredible listening experience.

I mean, this stuff is so outlandish that it is cool! And whereas there really isn’t any dire need to ensconce yourself into a deeper state of listening, it wouldn’t help to allow yourself some alone time to focus inward, shall we say.

Lyman’s group uses any and all forms of found sounds and yelps, yips, barks, whoops, and man-made animal noises, which means that his sound design skills bring to the fore a quite magnificent collective beast of sounds; come quite like you have never, ever heard before!

And sure, some tracks may have a slightly sedate, jazzier sound, laden with an organic way to entrance you into drifting along with it, but he also uses a wide variety of ethnic instruments, percussion, and even bird calls.

Always rooted in jazz, each and every one of these 48 tracks - at some level - conjure an aural atmosphere throughout, leaving the mind of the listener to choose their own closed-eyes, laid back, calm and relaxed destinations.

CD 1:
1. Taboo
2. Kalua
3. Ringo Oiwake
4. Sea Breeze
5. Misirlou
6. China Clipper
7. Sim Sim
8. Katsumi Love Theme
9. Caravan
10. Akaka Falls
11. Dahil Sayo
12. Hilo March
13. Leis of Jazz
14. Trigger Fantasy
15. The Lady is a Tramp
16. Body and Soul
17. Gypsy in My Soul
18. Lullaby of the Leaves
19. On the Street Where You Live
20. My Funny Valentine
21. The Way You Look Tonight
22. How High the Moon
23. Lullaby of Birdland
24. Aloha Oe

CD 2:
1. Bahia
2. Jungle Jalopy
3. Legend Of The Rain
4. Bamboo
5. Return To Me
6. Caribbean Nights
7. Quiet Village
8. Tropical
9. Happy Voodoo
10. Busy People
11. Beyond The Reef
12. Maui Chimes
13. Bwana á
14. South Pacific Moonlight
15. Moon Over a Ruined Castle
16. Waikiki Serenade
17. La Paloma
18. Otome San
19. Canton Rose
20. Blue Sands
21. Malaguena
22. Vera Cruz
23. Pua Carnation
24. Colonel Bogey March

Official Purchase Link