Cibo Matto in the Sun Again
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| Cibo Matto |
Groundbreaking duo Cibo Matto return with 'Stereotype A'
Spider web posted on: Monday, Apr 05, 1999 ii:00:37 PM EDT
Past Donna Freydkin
Special To CNN Interactive
(CNN) -- It's hard to know what to brand of a ring like Cibo Matto.
Subsequently all, it'south not every mean solar day that you see two Japanese girls from New York's Lower East Side who fiddle in delectable, utterly unique, loopy broken-English hip-hop that has blown critics away.
The duo's 1996 debut "Viva! La Woman" was a gem of renegade sampling and punked-out rap, with songs such every bit "Know Your Chicken" and "Artichoke" paying tribute to their love of food. And their music was so fresh, and so curious, and so skilful, that both Spin and Fourth dimension magazines singled out the duo as one of the best hip-hop acts out in that location today.
The album was a critical smash, but Cibo Matto --- meaning "crazy food" in Italian -- establish out that about people just didn't become it.
Arraign it on the deceptively elementary and playful musical concoctions, or the seeming frivolity of their songs, but bottom line --- few figured out that behind the nonsensical odes to nutrient lurked earnest, thoughtful themes.
And not everyone really believed that 2 cute girls could actually operate studio equipment or had any staying power. So rather than fight a losing battle, Cibo Matto took their sweetness time --- three years, to be verbal --- and released an album they say should eradicate any doubts near their credibility.
Yuka Honda, one half of the duo, says that for their sophomore anthology "Stereotype A," Cibo Matto decided to be more direct. And so some.
"On this album, we wanted to make everything a trivial more clear and obvious," says Honda. "The concluding album was subtle and people were unsure about us."
"Stereotype A" is a circuitous pop album crammed with samples, stereo drums, five-role harmonies and rhythm sequences. And for those who simply couldn't bite by "Viva! La Woman"'s comical exterior, Cibo Matto has released an anthology that should make it easier to go through to the serious core.
"This album is more user-friendly and easier for people to meet it," says Honda. "We fabricated the flick simpler and clearer."
Crazy food
On "Viva! La Adult female," Cibo Matto made a name for themselves with playful, smart songs, such as the dreamy popular vocal "Sugar Water," the punk "Beef Hasty," the funked out "Know Your Chicken" and zesty "White Pepper Ice Foam."
Information technology probably wouldn't exist a stretch to say that the duo, most similar to Japanese trio Shonen Knife, could help reinvigorate your organized religion in music, chipped away past the lackluster, faceless bands filling the mail service-grunge vacuum.
Vocalist Miho Hatori and keyboard/sampler thespian Honda, both Japanese natives from New York Urban center's Lower East Side, offset started out in a punk band chosen Leitoh Lychee (translation: "frozen lychee nut") in 1994. That aforementioned yr, they formed Cibo Matto and began playing guild gigs.
The duo played local events and openings, and fizz surrounding them slowly escalated. Afterward beingness voted the all-time unsigned band in the CMJ readers' poll, Cibo Matto duly signed with Warner Brothers and started recording "Viva! La Woman" with producers and co-Latin Playboys Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello) and Tchad Blake (Continental Drifters).
"Viva! La Woman" debuted in 1996, and spent six weeks at the top of the CMJ radio charts. None other than the Beastie Boys, Russell Simins and Beck applauded the album.
The duo'due south debut was a rambunctious, delectable and utterly peerless mix of bossa nova, '40s swing and steel drums melded into sugary bilingual pop melodies, absurd lyrics and occasional milk-curdling screams.
'An element of non being taken seriously'
But the apparent goofiness of the songs belied the complexity of the album and the musical dexterity of Hatori and Honda.
"There was an element of not being taken seriously. When something new is coming into the world, people are skeptical," recalls Honda. "To some people, it was just a Japanese girl singing virtually food, and we could tell that some people doubted us."
"Information technology was a really interesting experience to learn that things that were so articulate to us could be so vague to others," she adds.
Few people grasped, for instance that "Artichoke" was about identity and self-loathing, while "Birthday Cake" dealt with the Vietnam State of war.
Nevertheless, in 1996, "Viva! La Adult female" was voted i of the top ten best albums of the year past Spin, and in 1998, Time Magazine selected it as one of its 10 all-time greatest hip-hop albums. Cibo Matto, meanwhile, went on to open up for Porno for Pyros, and then headlined their own tour.
But although their music had made a huge encroachment with critics and music aficionados, the unwashed masses had withal to hear of them.
"For the last tape, the primary people who got information technology were either musicians or people who were into music," says Honda. "This time I wanted to brand a record that my mom could listen to when she cleans house."
So Cibo Matto decided to spell it out loud and articulate on their follow-up album.
Viva la Cibo
On "Stereotype A," in stores June 8, Cibo Matto replace their comical ambiguity with clarity. The album once more blends hip-hop, jazz and pop, anchored by a slew of samples and Hatori's shrill vox.
The album isn't as overtly amusing every bit "Viva! La Adult female," but equally as mannerly and facetious.
"Nosotros're however pretty funny simply we realized that when things are too funny out forepart, people don't get through to the serious core," says Honda, who produced the unabridged album, and worked the sampler to alloy, loop and fuse music. "We wanted to show the other side."
From the gleeful "Working for Vacation" to the R&B throb of "Moonchild" and the jazzy "The Lint of Dearest," Cibo Matto once more produce an album impossible to categorize.
And of course, the fact that music's prodigal son Sean Lennon has become a de facto third fellow member of Cibo Matto hasn't hurt their recognition cistron either. In the downtime between "Viva! La Woman" and "Stereotype A," Honda produced boyfriend Lennon'southward debut "Into the Sun" in 1998.
"He'southward a third member, and has been playing with us for a long time, since 'Viva! La Woman,'" says Honda of Lennon. "He's been driving us beyond America in a van, pushing amps with united states of america and conveying everything that nosotros can't. We're actually grateful to him."
But now, it'south Cibo Matto'south turn to hopefully bedazzle the industry all over again. While Cibo Matto go their own way, without paying detail attention to trends or opinions, Honda acknowledges that mainstream success is important.
"Information technology'due south simply really squeamish when more than people mind to your music and like you, and there'south nothing greater than playing a prove and having the audience know your songs," says Honda. "And for practical reasons, I want to play our stuff more and provide improve conditions for my band and usa, and buy more instruments."
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Source: http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9904/05/cibo.matto/
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