Sushi and cream cheese

>> Fantastic Plastic Machine, always in good taste

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Guess who's all grown up now? Tomoyuki Tanaka, the Japanese club-culture renaissance man, that's who. His latest album Beautiful, while familiar to fans of his bouncy, colourful, neo-disco fun, comes off as more thoughtful and restrained than his first two. For starters, he's taken on two partners in the FPM venture (though he's still the big boss man), and furthermore he's gone out of his way (like, right across the globe) to enlist a truly respectable gallery of guests. The big guns come out, though, with material recorded at Sigma Sound, the home of the lustrous Philadelphia soul sound--with original players, no less. The Mirror reached Tanaka en route from Osaka to Seattle, to chat about all things coolest of the coolest of the coolest.

Mirror: I really like your quote comparing "cute" and "beautiful" girls, an analogy for the more mature overall feel of Beautiful. Did you set out to create a more mature, dignified sound, or did you only realize the direction you had taken when the work was already underway?

TT: The key word "beautiful" just came to me naturally when I started recording--though I might have had this concept of something a little bit more adult than the first and second albums from the very beginning.

M: Tell me about Dan Miyakawa and Masayuki Kumahara, two partners who helped make this album.

TT: Dan is young, but he is the most notable studio arranger now. As for Masayuki, I've used this "super" manipulator most of the time after my second album. On this album, I can say those guys were the members of FPM. We are spending so much time together remixing stuff these days. Oh, we did an Ennio Morricone remix together, too.

M: Concerning the use of Philly soul orchestration on Beautiful--why did this sound appeal so much to you? Was the Sigma Sound Studio what you expected it to be, when you got there?

TT: Philly soul orchestration is very sentimental and touching, like strings from a soundtrack. I was kind of surprised, because Sigma Sound Studio's ceiling was low and the studio was tiny. But the sound itself was just awesome and I felt "real" sound.

M: How did the wild story that Tyrone Francis recites in "Love is Psychedelic" come to you? Did you just write it down in one sitting?

TT: Yes, I did in one sitting! I was at a hotel in New York City during the recording. I had this idea to make a track like Barry White's or Isaac Hayes's.

M: I understand you're not working on magazines or radio right now. If that's true, I would guess it's because making music and DJing take up more time than before. Do you still have any non-music projects, to take your mind off the music-making process occasionally?

TT: I do, I do all the time. Recently, I presented the coolest visual page with the coolest Japanese artists in the coolest Japanese magazine, Dish. I do some non-stop DJ kind of radio shows, too. I just do what ever I want to, so far as time permits.

M: In previous interviews, you and I have talked about all the cool art, fashion and design you enjoy. Any exciting discoveries in the art world lately?

TT: Hipgnosis, who are known for Pink Floyd's artwork, are having an exhibition in Tokyo currently. I went and talked to the Hipgnosis guys. Their sense is just awesome.

With Wig, Luv and Alex Robbins at Club Soda on Thursday, June 14, 9pm, $16.25