Fantastic Plastic Machine - Luxury

I'm going to try and focus one post per week, or every second week depending on how motivated I'm feeling, to a particular album that I really like. To kick things off, I thought I'd pick the one that helped get me interested in Japan's electronic music scene in the first place: Luxury by Fantastic Plastic Machine (originally released in 1998).

This is the second full-length album released by the artist, and whereas his debut featured a lot more bossa nova, and 60s kitsch, this one started to flow more into the realm of dance music with hints of house popping in now and then. Luxury very much feels like a bridge between his early, retro-esque works, and his more poppy, contemporary pieces found on recent releases.

Electric Lady Land is a stand out track for me on the album for its catchy melody, and slightly disturbing lyrics about a girl that is ready and waiting to do whatever her master wishes. Then again, it's also following a similar persona as that found in your typical maid cafe, so maybe it's not that out of line so long as it's understood that it's a fantasy. Someone synced up the song with some anime on YouTube if you want to check it out here.

Lotto is a track with a much more futuristic feel to it combined with something I would expect to hear in a game show, all with someone cheerfully singing along in German. It's a very good example of how this album is shifting FPM's sound from old school stuff, to something a little more in the here and now. There's an instrumental, slightly remixed version of it here.

Another favorite of mine from Luxury is You Must Learn All Night Long. It's got this really great rolling beat to it, with loud horns blaring in with a funky guitar, all with kids singing over top. It's a very happy song, with a whole lot of presence. People also seem to like to mention the cover of the Eurythmics' There Must Be an Angel on the album. Personally, I don't mind the song, but I don't find it stands out as much as the other songs that I've already mentioned.

If you get the chance, try and track down this album. It is well worth adding to your collection. It's combination of 60s lounge with more modern dance music is both fun, and interesting. Before you go, here's one more reason to give Luxury a listen, the album's lead off track, Theme of Luxury: