Exotica-Cool Strange Unusual Music Group

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Saturday, March 21, 2020

Radio Fantastica #1


Wanted to share the 1st Radio Fantastica to the group. It's time for a little history and a retrospective?

Radio Fantastica was one of the 1st radio programs from the late 1990's of our "cobbled genre" along with pioneers like Jack Diamond and Darrell of the Retro Cocktail hour.

This may be one the 1st efforts done on digital media. A touchstone. And now the internet is full of programs like Johan's on Mixcloud and Spotify and Podcast.

As Johan described them:

 "it's radio, Jim, but not as we know it"
(last updated: November 1, 2001)
radio FANTASTICA started as an "exotika" radio show by Johan Dada Vis, aired on local freeform Radio Scorpio in Leuven, and later also on UrGent in Gent, Flanders, Belgium. (Currently, it is not being aired anymore)
The music featured on the show is an amalgam of genres, loosely called "exotica", which encompasses almost all genres discussed in The Exotica Mailing List :
camp, novelty, cartoon music, celebrity vocals, stupid rock'n'roll, interesting EZ, music with sound effects, sleazy or greasy listening, lounge, exotic music, cocktail music, space age pop, strange covers, strange crossovers, incredibly strange music (ISM), Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (SABPM), Moog, organs, ethnic music, percussion music, bizar instruments, instro pop guitars, tape manipulations, outer space exotica, beatnik, spy jazz, crime jazz, nervous jazz, spoken word, TV Soundtracks, evocative film music, mambo and other Latin rhythms...
Some shows also contain special home-made mixes.
The format is that of a non-stop sound puzzle, a sonic expedition through the wonderful world of exotic  music, in which songs alternate with mystery sounds  (old commercials, B-movie trailers, sound effects, dialog snippets from movies...) These mystery sounds function either as contrasts, transitions or thread (Leitmotiv). For example: the Yma Sumac special also features hollering, yodelling, throat singing, screams, laughter and crying... "What the heck is going on?" -- that is exactly what i'd prefer to get as a reaction from someone being exposed to Radio FANTASTICA, as I like to see it as sort of an absurd collage audio movie . I try to make everything "flow into eachother", thematically or musically, without actually mixing tracks into eachother -- all tracks transitions are hard edits! (FANTASTICA makes extensive use of the editing facilities of the MiniDisk, which ensures perfect track sequence and clean edits.)"
 
Johan wanted to share these. They were available for purchase but he also wanted to trade with other DJ's, It was all about discovering.

    https://www.mediafire.com/folder/b7n6hn7ut6ijj/

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/b7n6hn7ut6ijj/
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/b7n6hn7ut6ijj/


Fantastica # 01
http://users.skynet.be/dada/fantastica/im/1pixel.gif
identification: magic bird
  1. Enoch Light and his Orchestra: "Istanbul"
    • album "Far Away Places Volume 2"
    • LP, Command RS 850 SD 1963 | ++++
  2. Frank Hunter: "Ritual Of The Torch"
    • compilation "Music for a Bachelor's Den Volume 2: Exotica"
    • CD, DCC Compact Classics DZS 092, USA, 1996 | +++++
  3. Sammy Davis, Jr.: "Be-Bop the beguine"
    • compilation "Cocktail Mix Volume 3: Swingin' Singles"
    • CD, Rhino R2 72239, USA, 1996 | ++++
  4. Doc Severinsen & his orchestra: "Stardust (on 78 rpm)"
    • album "Tempestuous trumpet"
    • LP, Command RS 819 SD | +++
  5. A. J. Dervaux et son orchestre: "Quand on est musicien"
    • compilation "Ambiance jeunesse actualité 7"
    • LP | ++
  6. A. J. Dervaux et son orchestre: "Fire"
    • compilation "Ambiance jeunesse actualité 7"
    • see above mention of this record for more details.
  7. BBC: "Fire engine, fire and flames"
    • compilation "Movement, Mime and Music"
    • see above mention of this record for more details.
  8. Jo Nell: "The house of the rising sun"
    • album "Sings unforgettable songs 1"
    • LP, Monopole | +++
  9. The Torquès: "Surfin' bird"
    • compilation "The Big Itch" (20 songs from America's rich musical heritache)
    • LP, Mr. Manicotti, USA, 198? | ++
  10. Jim Fassett: "fragment from side B, Band 1"
    • album "Strange to your ears"
    • LP, Columbia ML 4938 | ++++
  11. Martin Denny: "Quiet village"
    • album "Exotica I & II"
    • CD, Scamp 9712, USA, 1996 | +++++
    • info: The first in Scamp's reissue series of 12 original albums.
  12. Muzzy Marcellino and his House Party Group: "Whistlin' dixie"
    • album "House Party Music Time"
    • LP, Capitol T 1284 | +++++
  13. King Uszniewicz and his Uszniewicztones: "The birds & the bees"
    • album "Volume 3: Doin' the Woo Hoo"
    • LP, Norton ED 238, USA, 1994 | +++++ http://users.skynet.be/dada/fantastica/im/smallface.gifReview
  14. Magnificent Mortier (fairground organ): "Flight of the bumble bee"
    • album "Continental superstar"
    • LP, CJMO Record RLP 772 stereo, UK, 1977 | +++
  15. Jim Fassett: "fragment from side B, band 1"
    • album "Strange to your ears"
    • see above mention of this record for more details.
  16. Lorin Whitney & Ralph Platt: "Jesus is all the world to me"
    • album "Pipe Organ Melodies with bird calls"
    • LP, Victory | +++++
    • info: I love it! It's mysterious, odd and heavenly beautiful at the same time!
  17. Gershon Kingsley: "Sounds of silence"
    • album "First Moog Quartet"
    • LP, Audio Fidelity AFSD 6234, 1970 | ++++
  18. The Nite Blues Steel Band: "The sound of silence"
    • album "Carnival time"
    • LP, Vista Sounds | +++
  19. Terry Snyder: "Once in a while"
    • compilation "Music for a Bachelor's Den in Hi-Fi"
    • CD, DCC Compact Classics DZS 079, USA, 1995 | ++++
  20. The Three Suns: "Caravan"
    • compilation "The History of Space Age Pop Volume 2: Mallets in Wonderland"
    • CD, RCA 07863 66646-2, USA, 1995 | +++++
    • info: Essential series if you can't find the original LPs
  21. Rajput & the Sepoy: "Up, up & away"
    • compilation "Incredibly Strange Music Volume 1"
    • CD, Caroline 1746-2, USA, 1993 | +++++
  22. Roy Budd: "Get Carter"
    • compilation "The Sound Spectrum"
    • CD, When wenCD 005, a division of Castle, UK, 1995 | +++
  23. Gershon Kingsley: "Eleanor rigby"
    • album "First Moog Quartet"
    • see above mention of this record for more details.
ratings: +++++outstanding, ++++very good, +++good, ++not bad, +so-so, -yuk

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