Section A·Page 16
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, September 16, 1999
Entertainment
Odd couple Cibo Matto breaks pop music stereotypes
By Bryan Anderson Kansan music critic
Milo Hatori and Yuka Honda, members of the duo Cibo Matto, are odd, and they have no problem with it. Their debut CD, the ambitious Viva La Woman, is a cornucopia of pop, hardcore, funk and samples, with songs about knowing your chicken and a lyrical preoccupation with food.
Their latest release, Stereo Type A is no less ambitious and no less odd, but the CD's quirkiness shows that the duo has improved its songwriting skills. Hatori and Honda have added their touring band to the recording process. The band includes Timo Ellis and Sean Lennon. This album, when compared to their debut, sounds well rounded and more mature. Other members include John
Medeski and Bill Martin of Medeski,
Martin and Wood.
Stereo Type A is basically an eclectic pop album, with an emphasis on eclectic. This album sounds nothing like the
bubble gum, boy band, Latin invasion, teenybopper pop clogging the radio.
"Working For Vacation," "Spoon" and Lint of Love" can be loosely categorized as funk, with
"Working For Vacation" containing some nifty samples, and "Lint of Love" rocking on with some heavy guitars. "Spoon" is straight ahead funk with a get-your-booty-on the-dance-floor
groove, and a strangely good acoustic guitar solo.
Switching styles, Cibo Matto swanks it up a bit with the samba-esque "Flowers," and then again with "Moonchild," which is the closest thing to a ballad on this album. While Hatori and Honda show their studio skills with samples and keyboards and such on the rest of the album, "Moonchild" is the showcase for Hatori's honey-sweet vocals and tight vocal harmonies.
The oddity is in full effect in the synthesizer-laden "Sci Fi Wasabi." Honda and Hatori rap about diverse subjects such as purgatory and being "smooth like butter," while giving shout-outs to Moby and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Cibo Matto enters a completely different musical sphere with "Stone," which could almost pass for a jazz standard.
although the highlight of this album is "Clouds." It is a funky little pop tune that sounds like the soundtrack to a cool video game with beat-boxing and mellow vocals added on top. All that, and it turns out that this is a love song with a chorus that says, "We've never ever moved together yet so beautiful."
For Cibo Matto there is no chance for the sophomore slump, because Stereo Type A is a superbly-crafted pop album. For those of you who saw Cibo Matto at the Bottleneck this summer, consider yourselves lucky.
Those of you who have a chance to see them Tuesday night at the Granada would be well advised to do so. If Stereo Type A is any indication, Cibo Matto will provide a quirky and entertaining show.
Edited by Kelly Clasen
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