Without a doubt one of the most unique and daring records in the exotica canon,
Michel Magne's
Tropical Fantasy manages to encompass the complete breadth of the genre in one broad stroke -- a dizzying, 12-car pileup of bird calls, jungle rhythms, oddball instruments, and tape manipulations, its sheer mastery of sound and spatial dynamics is unparalleled.
Magne dispenses with all pretense of subtlety here: no idea is too radical, no sound effect too shrill, and no studio trickery too outlandish. Though it clearly draws influence from
Martin Denny's island fantasias,
Tropical Fantasy exists in diametric opposition to
Denny's lush, soothing arrangements, eschewing calm in favor of cacophony -- it's exotica with all the complexity and absurdity of a Rube Goldberg contraption, and there's nothing else quite like it.