Sound Concierge #403 "Air-conditioning" for your long hot summer
Selected and Mixed by Tomoyuki Tanaka a.k.a.Fantastic Plastic Machine

01. Mario Castro-Neves - Summersoft
02. Mathilde Santing - Dream Goes on Forever
03. The Copeland Davis Group - Morning Spring
04. Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Sunshower
05. Harmony Grass - I Think of You
06. Specials - I Can't Stand It
07. Triste Janero - Rene de Marie
08. New Original Love - You Make Me Feel Brand New
09. Jay & The Americans - No, I Don't Know Her
10. Jon Lucien - Satan
11. Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson & Sam Jones - I Fall in Love Too Easily
12. Everything But the Girl - Night and Day
13. Emilio Santiago - Quero Alegria
14. Piero Umiliani - Dawn
15. Gerry Mulligan & Astor Piazzolla - Close Your Eyes and Listen
16. Brigitte Fontaine & Areski Belkacem - Maison du Cafe
17. Chungking - Full on Lady
18. Heavy Shift - The Last Picture Show (Shifty Revamp Y2K+4)
19. Markus Nikolai - Bushes (Zero Vault Version)

403 is one of my favorites from Fantastic Plastic Machine's Sound Concierge series. Although I'm not going to be translating the album notes anytime soon, it seems that the 40Xs are downtempo/lounge mixes, while the 70Xs are more dance/club oriented.

Tomoyuki Tanaka makes some great music, but he's also a great DJ. The track selection is top notch, if you like that retro lounge feel that seems to be a defining characteristic of the shibuya-kei movement. It borders on kitsch, but it's too intelligent and self-conscious to be true kitsch. What you're left with is all the fun and none of the cheese.

Given the inflated import price and relative difficulty of acquiring this album, I'd recommend it mostly to die hard fans can't get enough of Tanaka's work. If you're looking to get into the Sound Concierge series, I would recommend this as a place to start. The other volumes are decent as well, but this is a particularly inspired mix. Buy it if you can find it.

A very different compilation. "Night & Day" by Everything But The Girl - hauntingly cool. "A Dream Goes On Forever" - resurrected decently. Give 'er a listen, it's not for everybody, but if you "get it" it's relatively unique.