Ted Feighan has been exploring a particular hip-hop-meets-exotica niche since the early 2010s, mining old records for lush, soothing instrumental samples and mashing them together with an ear for beat science.
Flowering Jungle is his sixth full-length, not including a collaboration with MC
Jay Stone and numerous EPs. This one seems to pay a little bit more attention to beat construction than some of his other releases. The beats aren't complicated, nor are they heavy or slamming, but overall they sound a bit more hip-hop than his other releases. It's still pleasant enough that you could easily put it on during a dinner party without much fuss, but it might be a little loopier than your typical
Martin Denny record. It's a fun, relaxing record, filled with earworms such as the jaunty mambo "Giant Leaves" or the vibraphone-heavy "Jungle Cruise," which ends with a bit of what sounds like a whistled "Unchained Melody." Only one of the tracks (opener "Sunny Sloth") edges past the three-minute mark: They all make their point and slide into another one, so nothing overstays its welcome. A few moments on the second side (particularly "Hot Flash" and "Sweet Fire") seem to drift slightly into yacht rock territory, but "Tropico" brings it back to the Tiki lounge.