U.K. reissue specialists
Two-Piers offer up their third volume in an ongoing series with
Lounge Psychedelique: The Best of Lounge & Exotica 1954-2022. Following their nods to vintage French pop and garage-psych, the Brighton-based label brings together a bright bouquet of lushly arranged, whimsical, and often quite campy selections from mid-century pioneers like
Martin Denny,
Yma Sumac, and
Les Baxter. Rather than focus solely on the genre's 1950s and '60s heyday, the collection is notable for its inclusion of present-day purveyors like London cumbia quartet
Los Bitchos and
Nasser Bouzida, who kicks out sprightly retro grooves as
the Bongolian. Endearingly outlandish and purposefully carefree, lounge music and its accompanying kitschy aesthetic have an enduring appeal that has inspired revivals in unlikely places. From '90s Shibuya-kei linchpins
Pizzicato Five ("ç??ç¬?ã£ã?") to 2010s Swedish exotica hipsters
Ixtahuele ("Mareld 2021"), it remains a popular global phenomenon that defies taste, drawing in new generations of listeners with its unlikely mix of jazzy sophistication and ham-fisted theatricality. As a compilation,
Lounge Psychedelique eschews the deep cuts and instead paints with a broad brush, offering a wide survey of swinging space age grooves, tropical island cocktail schmalz, and plenty of faux-jungle noises to tickle the senses. ~ Timothy Monger