Waitiki is a Boston based band that first came to my attention through a friend that told me they were repeating their one-off Esquivel only live show that caused so much amazement to those who saw it the first time.

Upon receiving Charred Mammal Flesh in the post, I thought of the UK band Los Chicharrons. Both bands share the same tiki aesthetic. Upon playing the disc, Waitiki are a bit jazzier that Los Chicharrons, but both bands use a lot of jungle drum percussion, and have tribal call outs between and during tracks.

Cults centered around the tiki icon have been a part of exotica culture since the 50s. Sites such as tikinews.com document the lives of tiki related personalities. Waitiki share all of the imagery of tiki fetishists. The CD cover is a three panel color foldout with airbrushed art of a giant pig on a spit, attended by two bikini clad Hawaiian girls.

The music on Charred Mammal Flesh is sometimes tranquil and sometimes invigorating. There are vibes and bird calls like a Martin Denny Record, and crazy rhythms like a Voodoo Drums disc.

Hawaii has always had a special allure, and allegory involving pigs even reached such mainstream culture as George Orwell's Animal Farm. Dan Simmons used a giant pig as the centerpiece of his excellent book Fires of Eden, also based in Hawaii.

Dew Drop In is an upbeat Augustus Pablo (due to melodica) styled instrumental that skirts the area between reggae and gypsy music.

Even though the music is great throughout, there are 2 songs (Insomniac Food, parts 1 and 2) when you may want to skip the track after you've heard it a few times, as Mel Blanc (I think) tells corney jokes in a cartoon voice during the song.

Pan-XOTIC-Da is a 2:30 lead-in to the following song. Its Zappa-esque chant of "eats shoots and leaves " gets you hopped up before settling into the peaceful Asian instrumental China Fan.

Waitiki have made a really fun CD that is unlike most of the music being made today. Their musical vision comes through clear. I'm not sure if this CS is widely distributed, so you may wish to visit their website where you can download songs or purchase the disc.