Fantastic Plastic Machine - Bachelor Pad (F.P.M. Edit)

"Bachelor Pad (f.p.m. edit)" was featured on the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack

Fantastic Plastic Machine - its the creation of Japanese producer Tomoyuki Tanaka. Tanaka draws inspiration from Pizzicato Five's retro` new wave but Fantastic Plastic Machine (Emperor Norton, 1998) is even more of a studio product, a kitsch montage of cliches borrowed from western pop music, a collection of ultra-hip, glamourous cross-cultural tunes (composed and recorded between London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Tokyo) delivered by guest vocalists over a bossanova-derived beat.

Mostly, Tanaka indulges in futuristic lounge music (Bachelor Pad, L'Aventure Fantastique, First Class '77) but his forte could be the surreal semi-orchestral pieces that manage to the border between Frank Zappa, the Ventures and Burt Bacharach (Fantastic Plastic World, Dear Mr Salesman, Allen Ginsberg).
The international flavor is even stronger on Luxury (Emperor Norton, 1999), thanks to the artificial trendiness (and real catchiness) of Honolulu Calcutta, Electric Lady Land and Mr Fantasy Love.

Tanaka reveals his passion for sexy dance music in You Must Learn All Night Long and Lotto, while letting his eclectic and witty universe get out of control in the cartoonish in Bossa For Jackie and I've Forgotten My Fagotto.


Unfortunately, after so many parodies of muzak, Beautiful (Emperor Norton, 2001) is beginning to sound like muzak. Love Is Psychedelic, Beautiful Days, Paragon still display Tanaka's phenomenal skills at orchestration, but too many tracks are merely derivative.