Mello Exotica

12/09/2025

🌴Roman Angelos - Tropical Nites 🌙 🍹

Written during a holiday in Key West, Brooklyn musician Roman Angelos (the lounge/exotica alter-ego of Rich Bennett) takes listeners into a nocturnal reverie led by lush vibraphone from Brittany Anjou.

Produced by the prolific Shawn Lee, the record is a cinematic, transportive, lushly orchestrated soundtrack to a night of cocktails under palm-tree-lined streets.

Let the vibes sparkle like crushed ice in a mai tai, as Roman Angelos and his ensemble take you away for a new kind of tropical.

This is one you’ll want on vinyl for the neo-exotica collection. available now at www.MelloExotica.com

🌺🗿🍸

11/09/2025

Mello Exotica: Tiki Playlist 🌋 🥥
Bamboo breezes, tropical rhythms, and velvet vibes. A fire-lit escape into vintage tiki paradise....

The Ritual of Sound
Mello Exotica: Tiki, Tao, Rum, Records

Follow our Official Exotica Playlist on Spotify 🪘

Featuring music from L’Exotighost, Cosmique Hypnotique, Kava Kon, Creepxotica, Sabu Martinez, Sun Ra, Closeaux, Cal Tjader, Healing Gems, Ixtahuele, Don Telling, Skip Heller, The Tikiyaki Orchestra, Eden Ahbez, Arthur Lyman, Rex Kona, Martin Denny, Tak Shindo, The Sorcerers, Les Baxter, Mr. Moai, Chicha Libre, Roman Angelos, The Manakooras, Robert Drasin, Don Tiki, Moondog, Korla Pandit, Gene Rains, Combustible Edison, and more.

Painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff “Green Lady”

11/09/2025

L'Exotighost Announces Upcoming Album

• Coming Oct 3rd on Mello Exotica

"Hawaii Is in Your Mind" is the third album by L’Exotighost, a new step forward in expanding the boundaries of 21st-century Exotica toward new horizons. The Madrid-based band is one of the few in the world today that dares to truly dive into the mysterious waters of this musical genre, born in the 1950s as the soundtrack of tiki culture and a testing ground for one of the most suggestive, sophisticated, and elusive sounds. The tour for their second album, Kamongo, took them around the world and, more importantly, earned them acclaim from the international tiki community as one of the most innovative bands and one that best embodies what Exotica means today. They’ve performed at the genre’s top festivals: Tiki Oasis (in 2023 and 2025) in San Diego (California, USA), The Hukilau 2024 in Pompano Beach (Florida, USA), and Mexótika in La Paz (Baja California, Mexico). They’ve also toured major cities in Morocco and Mexico, where they played the largest concert of their career before more than 3,000 people at the Eurojazz Festival in Mexico City in November 2024.

All this live experience and travel is clearly reflected in the sound of this new work—much more defined, yet never losing their signature spirit of exploration, embracing new combinations of various exoticisms.

10 track album

10/09/2025

New L’Exotoghost Album Coming Oct 3rd 🏄🏽‍♂️ 🇪🇸

Today released the first new single from their upcoming album Hawái Está en Tu Mente (“Hawai‘i on Your Mind”). 🌊 🌴

Madrid’s own L’Exotighost conjure a dreamlike voyage where surf guitars, vibraphones, and hypnotic rhythms collide with echoes of the South Pacific. Hawái Está en Tu Mente (“Hawai‘i on Your Mind”) drifts between vintage exotica, lounge, surf rock and cinematic world sounds—an album that transforms tiki beach cocktails into kaleidoscopic soundscapes for the modern age.

Mello Exotica is excited to be working with on this new album making it available in the USA, Japan, UK, and Oceania. The new album will be out digitally Oct 3rd and on vinyl in the USA, UK, Japan, and Oceania at the top of the year on gorgeous special edition wax. Pre-Order now at www.MelloExotica.com 💿

The new single “Hawaiii está en tu mente” is now available on streaming, a preview of the upcoming album. More new music coming soon, and the long-awaited third album. Cover and design by 

09/09/2025

🗿Milan Guanko (1906-1994) • Mello Tribute 🌋

Mello first tasted tiki as a kid at the legendary Kahiki Supper Club in Columbus, where Milan Guanko’s towering carvings set the stage for wonder. Years later in Tucson, his first date with his wife was at Kon Tiki, beneath those same Guanko tikis. From Kahiki to Kon Tiki, tiki has been the backdrop of his life all thanks to Milan Guanko — and it’s the spirit we celebrate with Mello Exotica. From wonder to Love, Mello Exotica thanks Milan Guanko. 🌴🗿🍹

Milan Guanko was a Filipino-American tiki carver whose bold wooden idols became icons of mid-century Polynesian Pop. From the 1950s through the 1970s, his hand-carved figures adorned countless restaurants, motels, and backyard oases across the U.S., blending tropical fantasy with roadside Americana. Today, his surviving works—like those at Tucson’s Kon Tiki—stand as rare, authentic relics of exotica’s golden age and a lasting tribute to one of tiki culture’s most prolific artists.

Milan Guanko carved out of Gray’s Nursery on a beach Boulevard in Westminster. His tikis appeared at Disneyland, Western Hills Hotel, The Royal Hawaiian Restaurant in Laguna Beach, The Islands Restaurant in Phoenix, Kahiki Supper Club, Ren Clark’s Polynesian Village in Texas, and the largest remaining collection is at Kon Tiki in Tucson.

Pay homage to mid-century tiki legend Milan Guanko with this ringer tee. A deep-cut essential for true exotica heads and Polynesian Pop purists.

08/09/2025

Tiki Thursday was all over the map 🗺️ we hit for some food and to build with on some special spirits, then we hit for the meet up, before finally going to for Tiki Thurs and Tiki Oke. Some amazing spirits and even better ppl! More chartreuse than I ever thought I’d try!

03/09/2025

🌴✨ Martin Denny Exotica Vinyl ✨🌴

The bamboo curtains part… 🗿 The vibraphone shimmers… 🌊 We’ve stocked the tiki temple with a treasure trove of Martin Denny vinyl — the godfather of Exotica himself.

Now spinning in our Hi-Fi Hideaway:
📀 Exotica (1957) — the record that started it all.
📀 Exotica Vol. II (1958) — jungle dreams continue.
📀 Forbidden Island (1958) — a passport to the Pacific.
📀 Hypnotique (1959) — twilight moods, mysterious tones.
📀 The Enchanted Sea (1960) — where surf meets spell.
📀 Exotic Moog (1969) — space-age grooves in full bloom.

From the clink of bamboo to the call of distant birds, Denny’s sound sculpted the original tiki soundtrack — part cocktail lounge, part South Seas fantasy, all timeless escapism. 🍹🌺

Martin Denny vinyl now available at www.MelloExotica.com

02/09/2025

🌴🍹 A Visit from the Pufferfish 🐡✨
An original Ken Ruzic

Pull up a bamboo stool… Tonight I’ve got a story — about a painter named . You see, he don’t just paint — he conjures.

His latest, Visit from the Pufferfish, well, it’s two paintings in one. The front’s a stained-glass dream of jungle masks, pufferfish and shifting tides. The back? A secret world — cats paddling under the stars, catching fish while a toucan watches - a tale only a few lucky eyes get to see.

Ruzic’s the same cat behind mugs like the Cannibal King and the most recent cover of Exotica Moderne. He’s been mixing paint like we mix rum — with a touch of danger, a dash of mystery, and a whole lotta kick.

Huge shout to Ken for the new original for our Tiki Art collection- plus the bonus piece he added! Overjoyed to hang these in the Mello Exotica suite.

31/08/2025

🌊⚓ We set sail beneath the waves at UnderTow Phoenix — one of the most immersive tiki bars around.

🥃 We sampled 3 incredible rums: Japanese Kiyomi, Mount Gay 1703, and Cadenhead green label 17.

🍹 Then dove into cocktails: the Missionary’s Downfall (our favorite 💚🌿), the silky Macadamia Daiquiri, and the bold Smoking Canon 🔥.

If you haven’t add to your voyage — it’s tiki storytelling at its finest. 🌺🗿

🌴🍍🍹

30/08/2025

🌴⚓️ Last night we dropped anchor at Captain’s Cabin in Phoenix — a hidden nautical hideaway, still sailing strong with rum, wood, and mystery in every corner.

🍹 We set course with a classic Painkiller (coconut, pineapple, orange, nutmeg bliss) and then braved the storm with Three Dots & A Dash (a WWII signal for victory and a glassful of tiki triumph).

Big mahalo to Captain Dave 🚢🗿 for steering the ship and keeping this desert port alive with old-school tiki spirit. ✨🌺

Hope to see the captain in Tucson soon at with 🌵

🌊🍍

28/08/2025

🌙✨ Last night at Bata in Tucson, I had the pleasure of diving deep into cane spirit magic—thanks to bartender Andy and an introduction by my friend Rob at . Four Haitian clairins + an Oaxacan Agricole + one Barbados legend later, here are my takeaways:

🥃 Clairin Sajous (Haiti)
• Wild, grassy, and electric. 100% crystalline cane juice, fermented with wild yeasts, distilled by Michel Sajous. A raw expression of Haiti.

🥃 Clairin Pignon (Haiti)
• Rustic and soulful. Earthy sugarcane notes balanced with bright citrus and mineral edges. Feels like drinking the terroir itself.

🥃 Clairin Communal (Haiti)
• A blend of four villages (Sajous, Vaval, Casimir, Le Rocher). Harmonious yet funky—perfect for cocktails, but vibrant enough to sip.

🥃 Ak Zanj (Haiti)
• Aged clairin blended by the historic Linge family. Rich tropical depth with whispers of barrel spice. The Angel’s Share never tasted so alive.

🥃 Cañada Rum (Oaxaca, Mexico)
• A wild card: aguardiente de Oaxaca. Fresh cane juice, raw vegetal punch with a touch of smoke—like mezcal’s cane spirit cousin.

🥃 Foursquare Indelible (Barbados)
• The closer. 11 years in ex-bourbon & ex-Zinfandel casks. A masterpiece: balanced oak, ripe fruit, vanilla, and that unmistakable Foursquare elegance.

✨ Haiti to Oaxaca to Barbados—last night was a tour of rum’s raw power and refined grace.