''The Fantastic Plastic Machine'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Japanese musician Fantastic Plastic Machine. It was released on October 10, 1997, by Readymade Records. The album was subsequently released in Germany on April 24, 1998, by Bungalow Records and in the United States on September 15, 1998, by

Emperor Norton Records Emperor Norton Records was a Los Angeles-based electronica, hip-hop, and dance-music record label. Among the artists featured on the label were Ladytron, Arling & Cameron, Money Mark, Ugly Duckling, and Fantastic Plastic Machine. Additio ...

. The album drew influence and inspiration from music styles—including baroque pop,

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

, and

europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

, as well as

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

roots. The album cover art was illustrated by

French-Armenian Armenians in France ( hy, ֆրանսահայեր, translit=Fransahayer; french: Arméniens de France) are France, French citizens of Armenians, Armenian ancestry. The French Armenian community is, by far, the largest in the European Union and the A ...

cartoonist and illustrator Edmond Kiraz.

Critical reception

Steve Huey of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described ''The Fantastic Plastic Machine'' as "a delightful, infectious album that's not only hooky as all get-out, but also rewards repeated listening", deeming it "one of the best albums to come out of the Japanese club-pop movement". In 2007, ''

Rolling Stone Japan ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its c ...

'' placed ''The Fantastic Plastic Machine'' at number 67 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time". In 2011, the album was included in ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

''s "beginner's guide" to

Shibuya-kei is a microgenre of pop music or a general aesthetic that flourished in Japan in the mid-to late 1990s. The music genre is distinguished by a "cut-and-paste" approach that was inspired by the kitsch, fusion, and artifice from certain music styles ...

music. ''

Tokyo Weekender ''Tokyo Weekender'' magazine is the oldest English publication in Japan. Founded in 1970 by Corky Alexander and Susan Scully, ''Tokyo Weekender'' was first published bi-monthly. Now ''Tokyo Weekender'' is published monthly and is distributed in ...

'' writer Ed Cunningham later cited it as a "groundbreaking" Shibuya-kei release, noting: "Some post-Shibuya-kei artists would follow in the footsteps of the guitar-driven

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

Flipper's Guitar Flipper's Guitar (フリッパーズ・ギター) were a Tokyo-based rock band led by (and later a duo of) Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa. The band were influenced by the chirpy sound of British 80s pop and post-punk groups like Haircut 100, Ex ...

, but many more significant acts, in genres such as picopop and electropop, would expand upon the

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

initiated by antastic Plastic Machine"

Track listing

The German LP edition (total length: 45:25) follows the track order of the original Japanese edition, but substitutes "Fantastic Plastic World" with "Fantastic Plastic World (Voice 'n' Baroque)" and omits "Allen Ginsberg".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fantastic Plastic Machine, The 1997 debut albums Fantastic Plastic Machine (musician) albums Nippon Columbia albums Emperor Norton Records albums