Katharine Hamer
Contributing Writer

AMONGST the paim trees, sunshine, arid silicone of
LA. nestles a hip little record label called Emperor
Norton.

Bankrolled by Peter Getty (of the J-Paul Gerty clan),
Emperor Norton tums the tables on the invasion of Norts
American culture by bringing the world to us.

Loopy Japanese lounge lizards meet Euro knob widdlers
in the international colicctions licensed by the label.

Their roster includes Amsterdam-based Arting and
Cameron — featured in the latest ads for Gap Raids -— and
Fantastic Plastic Machine, whose quirky retro bediam is part
of the soundersck for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagied
Me.

“Llove this piusic.” says label manager Steve Pross, on the
phone from LA. “Pm a music nut, and when we setup the
label (in 1997), T realized chat people all over the world were
listening to it. It has a real cult following.”

Pross trawls record stores and music magazines from
around the globe in search of new material -—— most of which
is “60s-intluenced dance music.

Pross is on a mission to change the tired face of the
American music scene, which he says is mostly about “four
guys playing guitar, We went to push the boundaries (with
Emperor Norton). We want ro be tastemakers and create
trends that people will follow.”

He says it takes a long
time for any musical move-
ment to filter through to the
States. “Punk took 16 years
to hit here,” he says, “Year
zero for dance music was
1988, and it’s only just tak-
ing off here now.”

Part of the problem,

Pross says, is the sheer size

of the country, and the fact

that the music industry tends

to be driven by the “quarter-

ly returns and quick x men-

tality” of big labels, rather than creative impulse.

“When we started Emperor Norton,” says Pross, “we
wanted to do something that nobody else in the U. S. was
doing, so we could segregate ourselves from all the other
indie labcis.”

pstartsat t
ine at 2 2:00.

Judging by the enthusiastic response of music fans so tar
it won't be Jong, before that mission is accomplished.

Next up for the label: the debut album of EA.-based,
djmedjyou, the “post-rock minimalism” of Swiss band Velma,
and the re-release of "60s synth-legend Bruce Haack. The
label has also been commissioned to produce the soundtrack
tor Sotia Coppola’s first lm, (he Vingin Suicides.

tetek* Fantastic Plastic Machine -- Luxury (1999
Emperor Norton Records EMN 7015)

Recorded in Tokyo and mixed in London, Lrevuryis truly an
international cocktail.

Served up by Tomoyuki Tanaka (who appears on the album
cover clad in a white suit and bolero tie, smoking a fat cigar), the
album is all velvet wousers and flipped hair, with a tongue-in-
cheek approach.

The Eurythmics’ “There Muse Be An Angel” gets the lounge
treatment and ends up as a playful cross benveen ABBA and the
Cocteau Twins.

Ably assisted by backing singers TV Jesus and the Gente
People, Tanaka turns the lo-fi bongo sound of “He Became a
Beamnik” into a dance classic, switching gears for mellower num-

Tomato games for
childsen of all ages
1:30 - 3:30 (proceeds
to benefit the

Friday, September 10, 1999 — North Shore News — 21

bers like “Bossa for Jackie (Dedicated to Mrs. Kennedy).”

A throwback to the days when airplane stew; ardesses wore
those litle peaked hats and served martinis straight up. If Peter
Sellers was alive, this would be on his CD player.

Fantastic Plastic Machine will perform at Vancouver's
Chameleon Urban Lounge (801 West Georgia St.) on Sunday,
Oct. 3 with guest Todd Tomorrow.

tke & Pop Romantigne: French Pop Clasics (1999 Emperor
Norton Records EMN 7011-2 )

The French never had Woodstock, but they had Serge
Gainsbourg — once sneered at, dong with longtime chart-topper
Johany Halliday, by the English-speaking world.

In the wake of Air and Dmitri Front Pans, Gainsbourg makes
A comeback. Four cover versions Of his savigs appear on Pop
Romantique, dongside Air's latest, “Teanne” (composed with
Francoise Hardy).

Djura Barnes is quoted in the liner notes as saving, “There are
moments inthe lives of all of us thar must be lived in French,”
and a number of Anglo singers switch languages for this venture,
including long-lost "SOs crooner Loyd Coie, reworking Bol
Dylan on “Sita dois partir.”

The spint or the °60s abounds on the album, with Luna's “La
Poupee Qui Fait Non™ reminiscent of carly Kinks material and
Godvuki's “Contact” bringing to mind the silver moon boots of
JU: A Space Ontvory.

Gently optimise, Pop
Rommantique wansports listeners
to the City of Lights in a time
when the world was voung and
tull of love and everything
seemed possible.

Bow xe we Arling and
Cameron — All In (1999
Emperor Norton Records
EMN 7017-2)
Dutch duo Gerry Ariing
and Richard Cameron describe
their music as “reevelo-kitsch
Esperanto club-pop.”
All Ii is.a veritable kitchen sink of musical styles, but some-
how Arling and Cameron manage to run it together seamlessly,
Book-ended by excitable announcements introducing the band
and bidding them adieu, the album kicks off with the infectious
“We Love Dancing” — a bubbly confection overlaid with a pair
of giggling Japanese women shouting “Yay! We Love Dancing!”
like five year olds ax a birthday party.
Moving in and out of high gear, the collection swerves from
the energetic “Here We Go!” and “We Love to Rock” to the
piano- bar ambiance of “Gershwin.”

See Xirer page 2B