Run by the DJ's Le Hammond Inferno out of Berlin, Bungalow records' release of Sushi 3003 and the new Sushi 4004 marked the first time a western indie label delved into the cutting edge Japanese club-pop scene. Most of the music featured on this release and others comes from an area of Tokyo called Shibuya, which is "a music paradise" full of music shops, DJ accessories, and thousands and thousands of young people.

Bungalow records has been the principal exporter of Shibuya music, a term that encompasses many styles, but principally relies on a fusion of drum n bass, swinging bachelor sounds, space rock, French and American kitsch, krautrock, and samba.

This is Le internacional underground in its most purely pop form, and there really isn't (as the Sushi 4004 claims in the liner notes) anywhere else in the world where this music is being made. There are others (Adventures in Stereo comes to mind) doing similar things, but there is really something special and unique about this music-- maybe its the sheer exuberance that the music exudes.

A peculiar kind of joy is hiding behind each song-- I think it's the love of music in all its forms and variations, a realization that the world is beautiful for both its complexity and for the simple moments that electrify the happy parts of the mind. The joy is packaged with incredible pop style, without irony. This is music for music lovers, sound for sound addicts, and as far as I am concerned, an integral part of the greatest and most varied period in music history, the late 1990's.

Sushi4004 is an update on last year's Sushi3003, and showcases the best in Japanese club-pop. The artists on this CD are varied in their approach, but all of them understand the fundamental concepts of a good beat, catchy lyrics (or synth hooks) and an intricate mix of too many music styles to name.

  The songs range from samba-tinged 60's cheese-funk ("Si Vous Plait", Fantastic Plastic Machine) to 80's/90's decade bending Japano-pop ("You are My Music"   by Hi Posi, "Fantastic Cat", by Takako Minekawa) and includes  tracks from relatively well-known Japanese artists Pizzicato Five and Yukari Fresh. Neil and Irazia have a track called "Tragedy of the Softrocker" which gets my vote for song title of the year. Like about 80% of Sushi4004, it's also a marvelous song.

Fantastic Plastic Machine, AKA Tomoyuki Tanaka, has decided that the Samba beat is the salvation for international ultra-pop. The veneer on these recordings is so slick that not even bubble-gum can stick for long... Inside the song lies musical invention by the truck-load, as Tanaka, a sampling and turntable wizard, moves seamlessly through a world populated Le 60's French sexkittens to the kitschiest kitsch America has ever produced. Occasionally the latter becomes a little annoying, although I'm sure it's a lot funnier in Japan.

     This is the kind of album that transports you to another place, a place called "the fantastic plastic world" where drum'n'bass clubs serve shiny cocktails and nymphs croon simple words over changing rhythmic patters. The fantastic plastic world was first imagined in America's booming '50s, but it took decades for someone to create the perfect soundtrack for it, which Tanaka has done with splendor and the right touch of high and low comedy.