The Exciting Sounds Of Martin Denny - Exotica I & II

We're going to skip Scamp 9711 for now, choosing instead to focus on the next number in the catalog and the record I acquired minty and new when it came out in 1996. Martin Denny's first two LPs on Liberty, "Exotica" and "Exotica Volume II", came out in 1957, and it seems like every house with a hi-fi had a copy. There's a good reason for that: these are outstanding examples of mood music, foundational exotica records. I'd argue that, in spite of their nebulous origins, these are as crucial to a record collection as James Brown's "Live At The Apollo", Nina Simone's "Pastel Blues", and Fugazi's "In On The Kill Taker". When I listen to these, I get transported through both space and time to an idealised 1960 where I'm a few inches taller, a hundred pounds lighter, with a Lucky in one hand and a Zombie in the other. Martin Denny remains incredibly cool, nearly 70 years on. There aren't a ton of records that can claim that.

Discogs

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The Exotic Sounds Of Martin Denny – Afro-Desia

Scamp's second release (catalog number, that is) in the fall of 1995 was a reissue of Martin Denny's 1959 exotica classic "Afro-Desia". It was his sixth record for Liberty Records, and his third of four releases in 1959. It was also the first time Denny had moved away from Polynesian/tiki sounds and into something more...primal?

Is this authentic African music? Hell no. Can you reconcile that this, in spite of a cultural insensitivity that really slaps you in the face in 2026, is an incredible record? Gee, I hope so. If you're unable to find a vinyl copy in your local thrift store, I recommend snagging a copy from Portland's Jackpot Records. They reissued this a few years back, and it comes on a lovely shade of orange wax.

Discogs

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Re-up: Robert Mitchum - Calypso - Is Like So...

Re-up, July 4, 2026: let's celebrate the 4th of July with a 320kbps re-upload of this Robert Mitchum classic. I found a huge tranche of my Scamp CDs in storage this past week, so guess what you're getting every weekend going forward?

I've been planning for months to start a new series, focused on the 90s reissue label Scamp. Scamp was an imprint of Caroline Records, focused on easy listening, lounge, bossa nova, middle-of-the-road, tiki, and other 50s and 60s curiosities from the greater EMI label family. Why, you might ask, would a blogger of punk and reggae be drawn to lounge music? Probably for the same reason why these reissues came into existence in the first place. You get older, and no matter how much you might love three chords and the truth, you just don't necessarily want to listen to it all the time. Not to mention it, but I, like most of you, have been stuck inside for most of the past ten months, and you gotta collect something, right?

I'll be sharing these passports to excitement weekly, according to catalog number, every Friday, just in time for you to pull out the liquor and mixers, put a new download on the speakers, and enjoy your own throwback happy hour. If nothing else, I've committed to 23 more blog posts. It's good to set goals.

First up is SCP 9701: the 1995 reissue of Robert Mitchum's 1958 debut, "Calypso - Is Like So...". Originally released by Capitol Records, the record was inspired by Mitchum's interactions with the calypso scene in Trinidad during the filming of "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison". As far as actors making records goes, it's in my top five all-time. Whereas this would sound like crass appropriation in someone else's hands, Mitchum obviously gives a shit, and sounds so smooth doing it. It's clearly a white guy singing a white version of calypso; there's little to no innuendo present, something that makes listening to the likes of Mighty Sparrow so much fun. But there's real passion present, and Mitchum's singing voice is so strong.

Say what you will about the music, but don't you dare front and act like Robert Mitchum doesn't look like the coolest motherfucker alive on that cover. I've had two drinks all year, and I'm ready to climb off the wagon and onto that stage to split a rum and get eyebanged by the star of "The Friends Of Eddie Coyle".

You'll still find this regularly in thrift store bins, although I've never seen a Capitol pressing that hasn't been beat to hell. The Europeans are much more hip to what a great record this is; if you're looking for a vinyl copy, I definitely recommend snagging the 2010 Bear Family pressing, who cut a DMM disc on 180g wax. It sounds hella good. Surprisingly, this Scamp release is the last American release to date of this underheard classic, and one of only a handful of CDs that have come out over the last 40 years. But that's the point of writing about it, right?

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: ok_Computer

Here's the deal, sports fans: I dug through a few boxes in storage last weekend and found a cache of previously unopened Mojo giveaways. So it's going to Mojo Mondays for a while going forward. You're just going to have to...enjoy it?

It's still a free country...sort of.

Anyway, why "ok_Computer"? I was in a local second-hand media store over the weekend, and they had a bunch of copies of the Arthur Russell biography that came out last year. Now that I see what it's retailing for elsewhere, I'm rather compelled to run back and purchase one this week. But Mrs. Mummy clocked me eyeballing the cover and asked me what the deal was. So I told her I was trying to track down more Arthur Russell-related music recently, on account of a couple of his tracks had come up on comps I'd ripped in the past month or so. This is one of those comps. And now I share it with you.

Like all good Mojo comps, this has a solid mix of artists I'm familiar with (Human League, Gary Numan, Tangerine Dream) and folks I've never really encountered in the past (Xela, Severed Heads). But it's all pretty decent, covering subgenres that I typically don't delve into. The common thread is the synthesized sound, which I can dig, because I love artificiality. As for what this all has to do with the third Radiohead LP, I do not know. I lost the issue and kept the CD.

Discogs

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various artists - The Sound Gallery Volume Two

Remember back when I said I was going to post all the Scamp reissues I owned? And then I did no such thing? And I became what is known affectionately the world around as "a liar"?

That was a good time.

Clearly, Rome was not built in a day, and lies cannot be rewound, only countered. Here's my piddling effort, a swing to make things right for your Monday. This is Volume Two of the two-volume Scamp series "The Sound Gallery". Why not Volume One first, you might ask? Well, Volume One lives on a hard drive that I cannot currently find. So Volume Two is what you get.

What you get here is a wealth of late 60s through mid 70s film scoring/library music/lounge music/songs for the swapping set. Were you born too young to throw your keys into a bowl at a party? Does the word "Eurosleaze" evoke clear images for you? Do you crash YouTube looking for four-episode ITV adventure series? Then this here is your soundtrack.

Discogs

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various artists - Ren & Stimpy: You Eediot!

I told them I would shoot, but they didn't believe me.

Why didn't they believe me?

Discogs

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The Exotic Sound Of The Arthur Lyman Group Featuring Yellow Bird & Taboo

May all your Sundays be mellow and exotic and slightly boozy. Here's a nice starter pack of Arthur Lyman, the creator of Exotica and the soundtrack to many a night at Trader Vic's. This collection is 30 years old, the songs are twice that old, and it's up there with "Music For Airports" in terms of background jams for me.

Discogs

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101 Strings - Astro Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000

Remember, like, a month ago, when I was all, like, "Hey, I have all the Scamp Records releases now. I think I'll do a write-up and post about each and every one!" Hey, good times, right? Whatever happened to that?

What happened is a combination of: A) my external hard drive, which holds the vast array of my MP3 collection (and, yeah, don't think I don't get a little douche shiver every time that phrase comes up), has disappeared in one of five different places in Mrs. Ape's and my apartment; B) the hard copies of each release are spread across any number of 14 X 14 X 14 boxes in one of my storage units (that's right, units, dude); and C) I cannot be arsed to tear either the apartment or my storage units apart to rectify the situation.

Did I write that run-on sentence to justify the use of the phrase "cannot be arsed"? Damned right, I did.

So I replaced my beater, 128kbps listening copy of SCP 9717-2, 101 Strings' "Astro Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000" with a physical CD the week before last, not only to honor my commitment to you, the kind reader, but also because it was a decent price, and the seller had a copy of that Mission To Burma comp that I posted a few days back. And now I have good cause to post one of my favorite space-age/Now Sound records of all time.

This exists as one of those grail records that would turn up in more thrift stores than record stores, because as any crate digger knows, hitting a vein of 101 Strings records means you're about to dig through a fat stack of budget mood music. When I've talked to buds about this in the past, and shown them the cover, they've all collectively slapped their heads. They've seen it, handled it, even, but few ever actually bought it. Those who did snag it immediately encountered truth in advertising, a record consisting of psychedelic instrumentals, swinging, modern sounds...the kind of stuff your grandparents got loaded and spouse swapped to.

I love this shit so much. It's so much cooler than most of the rest of 101 Strings' extensive catalog; hell, I'd put it up against the best of Esquivel are far as being "far out" and "outta sight". It presages everything from Isaac Hayes' "Hot Buttered Soul", to AIR's score for "The Virgin Suicides", to the various beats of Danger Mouse, all the way up to J.G. Thirwell's most current work. The good folks at Modern Harmonic did a nice reissue of this in 2017; it was the first American vinyl reissue in nearly 50 years. However, I copped this because the 1996 Scamp release, albeit not on vinyl, came with three extra cuts from 1970's "The Exotic Sound Of Love", which has yet to be reissued since its original release. One can only hope that day comes in the near future...or I just turn one up while mining one of those veins of otherwise garbage vinyl.

Discogs

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