The most producer-driven act in the Japanese pop movement known as Shibuya-kei,
Fantastic Plastic Machine was formed by
Tomoyuki Tanaka. Though he has the basic stylistic tastes requisite of the Shibuya-kei artist (namely lounge music, bossa nova, French pop, and soft rock),
Tanaka has more of a club mentality, driven by his long experience as a DJ. Born in Kyoto, he entered the music business in the late '80s as a bassist for a ten-piece trad rock band known as Margarine Strikes Back. Absorbed into dance music and the acid house movement near the turn of the decade, he formed a DJ team called Sound Impossible and began spinning a mix of French and Brazilian pop, soundtrack music, and exotica. At one Sound Impossible show, longtime
Deee-Lite turntablist
Towa Tei convinced
Tomoyuki Tanaka to begin recording again, and
Fantastic Plastic Machine was born.
Tanaka contributed tracks to two compilations (
Sushi 3003,
Fish Smell Like Cat) and remixed
Combustible Edison before signing to
Pizzicato Five's Readymade Records. His self-titled debut album was released in 1998, and distributed in America by Emperor Norton.
Luxury followed one year later;
Beautiful and
Take Me to the Disco appeared in early 2001. A series of theme-based DJ mix releases entitled Sound Concierge appeared during the 2000s; other
Fantastic Plastic Machine albums during the decade have included
Too (2003),
Imaginations (2006), and FPM (2009).
–
John Bush, Rovi