The title here pretty much says it all: this is the soundtrack to the next "Austin Powers" movie-- the one that takes place inside a volcano on Okinawa. It's all about strutting down the street in a pair of knee- high boots twirling a mink- lined leopard- skin purse. False eyelashes and fake nostalgia. Love that groovy Tokyo.

We all know that Playboy and Playgirl sounds like an early '60s Breakfast At Toshi's banquet of kitschy song structure, gooey melodicism, and shamelessly retro orchestrated pop arrangements. This is, after all, Pizzicato Five. But is it good? Frankly, yes. Though indie popsters throughout the land have taken it upon themselves to be the next Jack Nitzsche, P5 mastermind Yasuharu Konishi's has the arrangement chops to put those pretenders to shame. All the musical pieces fall in to place and these songs gleam like the grill of a factory- fresh Aston Martin, with flawless production that is nothing short of amazing.

Take the fat- ass drums in "A New Song;" more than just capturing the percussive tone of the '60s masters, Pizzicato Five actually improve on it, pushing those tube- warm snare hits into kinetic realms too hectic for the flower- power era. Konishi never forgets that fun, backward- glancing music has to have a groove to move to, and it's uncanny how he gives that ancient percussion sound a contemporary edge. The beats on "Rolls Royce," for example, sound like a robotic Hal Blaine programmed by Photek. Yeah, Playboy and Playgirl definitely swings.

But funky beats notwithstanding, this level of winky lounge campiness can only go so far, and ultimately, this isn't a record you'll probably pull out very often. A band like Stereolab constantly interprets their influences with an eye trained on the future; Pizzicato Five, like the bedroom of a dead relative that hasn't been touched since the funeral, simply gathers some rather elegant dust.

-Mark Richard-San