Xploding Plastix - Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents (2001)

This, the debut album of Xploding Plastix, is one of my alltime favorite albums. The duo (Erik Velldal and Espen Blystad) play some marvellous electrofunk/big beat/acid jazz here. Every song is an absolute masterpiece, and when they're all put together in one album, it makes it even better. Amateur Girlfriends... is energetic, powerful, intrusive, unashamed, trippy, and chill... all in one convenient little package. I know that's a kind of conflicting description, but listen to it and you'll understand. I gaurantee. The speedy drum beats on most of the tracks keep you feeling the energy throughout most of the album, even when the melody might not be quite so upbeat. But the melodies are always beautifully crafted, winding, slices of acid jazz/electrofunk that suck in the listener, giving the album a slightly dark, futuristic sound with roots in 20's and 30's big band. For example, I can imagine listening to Far Flung Tonic in speakeasies in gangster era-Chicago placed in a 2020 setting. As strange as that is, I think that may be one of the best ways to describe the sound here. It's an album that could easily have been a soundtrack to a James Bond film, except better than anything I've ever heard on any movie. My favorite album of 2001.