http://www.wdirewolff.com/JapCibo.htm Although initially, some people latched on to the lyrics of some of their songs, there is much more to the band, "Cibo Matto", than meets the media coverage. This band's music contains some really tasty bits of Jazz, Hip-Hop, Brazilian music, African Drumming, and Disco samples shimmered together in a big melting pot. The music crosses over the usual boundaries and creates an international musical experience that is unique unto itself. At times the listener is challenged to accept such a variety of musical influences in a short period of time. But their music is mixed with a high level of quality, good humor, and fun. Cibo Matto is composed of five main members, Yuka Honda, Miho, Timo Ellis, Sean Lennon, and Duma Love; with special guest appearances by their network of musical associates and friends. This is a lively group of people with far reaching conceptual ideas that are reflected in lyric, mixing, production, and performance of their music. Cibo Matto can not be easily defined or explained, instead their music must be experienced to be appreciated. Yuka Honda came from Japan to America's Big Apple in the mid 1980's. She began her career in the American music industry soon thereafter. Yuka came to America by an invitation from her friend Dougie Bowne of the "Lounge Lizards". When Dougie had come to Tokyo while the Lounge Lizards were touring, he and Yuka met. Once in America, Yuka began cutting her teeth in the New York City music scene by playing in a broad range of bands. Her musical bio makes up a small volume of "Who's Who" in the New York underground. She has jammed with Dave Douglas of Masada to develop a feel for avant garde jazz. To name just a few other bands she worked with, Yuka played hip hop with Sha Key, jammed with John Zorn, and played acid jazz with the Brooklyn Funk Essential. She developed her style and musical skills on keyboards and then created more advanced musical ideas using the sampler. From the start, Yuka wasn't afraid to try something new, and she has always been open minded to experimenting with different musical styles. Through use of conceptual sampling, Yuka began to create her own interpretation of music that blended her diverse musical background into a sound she can call her own. By the time Miho came to America in the early 1990's, Yuka had already started digging a small nitch in the New York music scene. Miho had met some minor success in Tokyo while singing Hip Hop in a Japanese band named "Kimidori". She developed her ability to get the dance floor grooving, while working as a club DJ in Tokyo. In addition, she learned about different styles of music while working in a record shop in Tokyo. She left Tokyo to study at an English school in the United States. Like Yuka, Miho has eclectic tastes in music. Miho wasn't viewing music as having to be one way or another, and was searching for something she could call "Cool!" Although they grew up in the same area of Tokyo, Miho and Yuka's paths did not actually cross until Miho had already been in the United States for about one and a half years. They started their musical careers together by doing informal improvisational musical presentations at a small club in New York. They were not an instance success, but the people around them encouraged them to continue with their music. They lived a modest lifestyle, and they shared each other's interest in musical exploration. This love for music probably was what gave them the staying power to survive their early years together. Whatever dreams of grandeur that may have been deep inside their hearts, it was secondary to their desire to have fun and play music. They were open to other musicians and took every opportunity to make new friends and join in improvised jam sessions. They're fun loving personalities helped them to develop their names in Big Apple's network of underground artists. After meeting, Miho and Yuka began getting together to develop informal musical arrangements, in the comfort of their living rooms. Cibo Matto didn't spring out of nowhere, it evolved over time as the two friends continued their musical careers together. Before settling into the current forum of music collaboration, Yuka and Miho formed a loose punk jam band know as "Leitoh Lychee". In Leitoh Lychee, Miho sang and played a violin through a distortion pedal and Yuka played the guitar. While hanging out writing music or after a night's gig, they often wandered over to one of the many great New York restaurants to relax, talk, and enjoy the food. New York is a place where any time, day or night, food from a diverse set of cultures can be found. Like their eclectic tastes in music, they shared the same eclectic taste in food. Slowly there developed a fusion between Yuka and Miho's friendship, their shared love for food, and their desire to make music. Out of this fusion, the band Cibo Matto was born ("Cibo Matto" can be roughly translated to mean "Crazy Food" in Italian). As the "Leitoh Lychee" project fell by the wayside, Cibo Matto was born. Although they spent a lot of time making avante garde arrangements of other composers songs, Miho and Yuka began writing their own songs as well. Their creative process evolved from musical passages and samplings that Yuka would piece together on her keyboards and sampler. Miho would listen to Yuka's musical ideas and she would begin constructing lyrics and vocals. They listened to each others ideas, and exchanged opinions on where the song should go. Cibo Matto does not reach a final version of a musical composition, instead their songs are living organisms that continue to change and evolve with every performance of the piece. Since they shared an interest in food, Yuka and Miho initially took pleasure in creating a smorgasbord of musical arrangements that contained lyrical symbolized associations with culinary delights. With only a short time in the United States, Miho found herself struggling to express herself lyrically in English. Through the use of food as symbolic metaphors, she found a way to communicate more complex emotions and ideas in a vocabuary that she had already encountered. The younger people in Japan's larger cities have a wide variety of restaurants and tea houses to choose from. In particular, the boom of the Japanese economy during the late 1900's provided a wide array of choices of international cuisine to explore. Little restaurants spring up and people rush to find out what new recipes they will encounter there. The little cafes often are very short lived, and a new place opens where the old business was before. The wide variety of food available in Tokyo offers all the finest treats that Asia, Europe, and the Americas have to offer. The Japanese people place a great deal of importance on the presentation and visual arrangement of food dishes. Miho's cultural background provided her with a vivid representation of food that she translated into musical themes and lyrics in her singing. Yuka is responsible for the musical composition of the songs that Cibo Matto writes and/or arranges. Using the keyboards and sampler, she works on a song for weeks to bring together a variety of ideas on melody, beat, and movement. Yuka blends the ideas of melody that she performs on keyboards and tinkers with the various ideas and passages. As the idea becomes more defined, she reduces her reliance on the technology of the sampler and turns the concept into a more pure performance piece. Yuka prefers to not use a sequencer in developing her music, and plays the sampler more like a live instrument. She views sampling as an art and uses an unwritten code of ethics in her selection of borrowed works. Along with Miho's input, Yuka builds a musical idea over time into a song. When Yuka and Miho fell into the inevitable periods of dry creativity, they recorded samples from TV programs they were watching, old albums, or whatever sounds might float into the room. After a long incubation period, Yuka and Miho bring a variety of musical ideas into one song. When first starting out, Cibo Matto played anywhere they could find a gig. They paid their dues in tiny New York clubs, small art galleries, and any place that would let them set up and jam. Slowly they began to build a small following and an ever increasing repertoire of songs. The idea of the band was started as something just for fun, but as their following started to grow they became more earnest in their song writing. Miho and Yuka enjoy taking material from already popular songs and completely rearranging them into new musical ideas. They sing the songs that they perform in languages that include English, Japanese, French, and Spanish. Like their love for gourmet food, their musical styles take on a very cool international flavor. One of their first singles included an arrangement of the grunge band Soundgarden's hit song "Black Hole Sun". Miho sang the arrangement of the song in French. Cibo Matto enjoys doing covers of top 10 hits, this provided a recognizable theme for audiences that were seeing and hearing the band for the first time. They released the songs, "Birthday Cake" (an original) and "Black Hole Sun" on their first 7-inch single. Slowly they received some bits of airplay on small radio stations and began to receive some wider recognition in the New York area. Talk of Cibo Matto had spread outside of the New York area, thus Cibo Matto recorded their first mini CD on the Japanese recording label known as "Error Records". The self named mini album "Cibo Matto", was released in Japan by the Error label. This CD was released in 1995. The CD included material already prepared in the United States for demos and their two independent 7" singles. The mini CD included performances by such guests as Sebastian Steinberg of "Soul Coughing", Russel Simins of "The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion", and Dougie Bowne of the Lounge Lizards. Included on the Japanese release of the CD were 5 songs. "Birthday Cake" and "Black Hole Sun" are songs that had been previously released on their first 7-inch single. "Know Your Chicken" was a live version of a song that would grow to be an early Cibo Matto signature piece. The mini CD included a version of their song "Beef Jerky" that was initially recorded as a demo. Finally a abstract art piece with a far east sound titled "Crumbs" closed the mini CD. From the publicity of their recording ventures and their growing fan base, Cibo Matto managed to sign a record contract with "Warner Brothers' Records". Yuka Honda and Miho had started playing the improv nights and small clubs in New York City for fun. In preparation for their first "Cibo Matto" release on Warner Brother Records, they realized that they needed to get more serious about their musical production. More energy went into working out their musical arrangements and they struggled to write some fresh new songs. They had gained some experience in the studio, but they both realized that their release on Warner Brothers was going to have to be something special. For although the lure of the bright lights was not their main motivation, the knowledge that they had a chance to perform on a new level drove them to work earnestly at preparing their first major CD. They brought in two top recording producers, Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, to assist them on their project. Mitchell and Blake had already attained a bit of notoriety in the recording industry. Mitchell is a famous producer that has done work for Paul McCartney, Tom Waits, Suzanne Vega, Elvis Costello, and Los Lobos, among others. Meanwhile, Tchad had some more minor success with his production of a album for a band called Soul Coughing in 1994. Miho and Yuka had to lie all their cards on the table and head into the Warners Brothers studio to either "Boom or Bust." When Cibo Matto went into the studio to record their first major release, "Viva! La Woman", they pulled in all their markers. They relied on the network of friends they had made to back them up in the studio. The guest list at the sessions included Bernie Worrell of "Parliament" and "Funkadelic" fame, Rick Lee of "Skeleton Key", Dougie Bowne of the Lounge Lizards, members of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and several other noteworthy musicians were also included in the recording sessions. The production team of Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake masterful guided Cibo Matto and the backing musicians through the course of the sessions. Yuka and Miho made all the artistic choices on the album's production, but they also realized the importance of listening to new ideas and approaches that the producers brought to the table. Having the experience of the mini album behind them, they had already done a dry run on producing an album. Now they pulled all of the loose ends together to create one of the most imaginative albums of the mid 1990's, "Viva! La Woman". "Then I met a lover. One night, she made me dinner. Licking finger, I wondered where she got the chicken." "I know my Chicken! You got to know your Chicken."- CIBO MATTO(Copyright © 1995 Soul Urchin Song) The hard work that Yuka and Miho had put in over the years came together in the release of the CD, "Viva! La Woman", in early 1996. With the distribution resources of Warner Brothers behind them, Cibo Matto found a great deal of new success and popularity. Material from the album found radio airplay on the FM and College airwaves in America. A small tour of Europe also helped to establish the band's foothold abroad. And of course they had also found a following in their homeland of Japan. Via! La Woman was composed of an eclectic musical collection that ranged from a cover of Sammy Davis Jr.'s "The Candy Man" to the stormy bleating rap explosions of Cibo Matto's "Birthday Cake". The production included deep grooves, techno samples, guitar riffs, and a complete assortment of musical dialogues. Cibo Matto demonstrated their ability to weld their off course sense of humor with the art of creating catchy tunes and off beat lyrics. Sometimes the music of Cibo Matto is spacey and ethereal, while other times it is spastic and manic. Food was the theme of the album and the songs titles included such like as "White Pepper Ice Cream", "Beef Jerky", and "Artichoke". The successful release of "Viva! La Woman" launched Cibo Matto into the public eye. While the music critics tried to pigeon hole the band into the same class as the already successful Japanese girl band, "Shonen Knife", Miho and Yuka just shrugged off the comparisons. Although they have some fun by playing into their crazy Japanese girl image, there is little musical comparison to the peppy punk sound of "Shonen Knife". Of course, as Miho continued to struggle with her mastery of the English language, her singing often came out in broken particles and a thick accent. This seemed to be more of an advantage than a disadvantage to Cibo Matto, as it further defined a very unique quality and sound for the band's musical presentation. The women's musical presentation could be viewed as sexy, but Yuka and Miho consider themselves feminist oriented musicians, as opposed to cute, sex symbols from Japan. Miho and Yuka had made friends with one their idols, a Japanese expatriate of avant garde art music fame, "Yoko Ono". They met Yoko after Capitol records invited Cibo Matto to perform a remix of the song "Talking To The Universe", on Yoko's "Rising Remixes" EP. After hearing Miho and Yuka perform, Yoko invited them over to visit her at the Dakota. Through this interaction, Miho and Yuka met Yoko's son, Sean Lennon. After a short time, Yuka asked Sean to come play bass with them at a Cibo Matto concert. Following that performance, they asked Sean to go on tour with them as their bass player. As they began work on their next studio experiment, they brought Sean farther into the Cibo Matto fold. As they rode the wave of their now more widespread fame, they began work on their next CD release, "Super Relax". Cibo Matto relied on the same successful formula that had created the Via! La Woman CD to produce their mini CD, "Super Relax". This CD was released in 1997. Sean joined Miho and Yuka in the studio to provide the bass lines on most of the CD's cuts. Their second release on Warner Brother record was the mini CD titled, "Super Relax". The second CD could be considered an extended re-mix album as it contains four different versions of the song "Sugar Water" (originally released on the Viva! La Woman album). Yuka took on production of most of the material for the album. She was assisted by MarioCaldato Jr. in some of the songs production, and Mike D. of the "Beastie Boys" helped produced one of the mixes of Sugar Water. Miho went ballistic on a live version of the song "BBQ", and then sang the part of an international siren in her subtle handling of Antonio Carlos Jobim's song "Aguas de Marco." The song, Aguas de Marco, was sung in Spanish. A happy go lucky version of a Rolling Stones song, "Sing This All Together", gave the album an even greater dimension. Super Relax further defined Cibo Matto as a multi talented band with diverse musical styles. The diverse natural of Cibo Matto's styles, make them a band than can not be easily defined. They do not pander to a certain gander or trend, instead they blend the best of many different popular music cultures into the material they write. This type of experimentation makes widespread commercialism and Top 40 chart busters difficult to produce. The band is happier to have a chance to continue to have fun creating and performing music, than they are to take on a full assault on stardom. Moreover, their international smourgouboard of delights is not easily defined and marketed through normal industry channels. Their desire to create good live performances and their obvious enjoyment of playing music has created a very loyal fan base for Cibo Matto. They enjoy being spontaneous and don't believe that a song should always be performed the same way. While heading on stage they are often are still deciding the type of presentation to bring to a song's performance. While in concert, the band's songs can take on a life of their own. In this way, songs that have been written are developed over time and can remain in a constant state of evolution. After the release of Super Relax, Cibo Matto went back to what they enjoyed doing most, playing live gigs. They started taking Sean Lennon along to accompany them on bass guitar. Over time, Sean came to be recognized as a member of what had been a two person band. While touring and performing they continued to write and build on their musical repertoire. They have continued to play live gigs both as Cibo Matto and Butter 08. They joined their friends, "Buffalo Daughter", and went on tour with Luscious Jackson, Pavement, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Their concert performances in America , Japan and Europe continued to be well received by their fans. Cibo Matto joined Yoko Ono and others for the "Tibetan Freedom Concert" tours. Further concerts included opening for acts like Philip Glass, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, and Natalie Merchant. Yuka and Miho continue to perform and build a following for Cibo Matto, and still find time for numerous other projects. Cibo Matto has continued to build their network of supporting musicians by working on various side projects. They worked with their side band, "Butter 08", as time allowed. The band Butter 08 is made up of of Yuka and Miho, joined by Russell Simins of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Rick Lee of Skeleton Key on guitar, and Mike Mills on bass. They recorded a new song for the soundtrack of a film titled "Half Baked" by Tamra Davis. Sandra Bernard was working on a film, "Lover Girl", and Sugar Water found a spot on the sound track. Included on a special tribute album to the French pop star, "Serge Gainsbourg", Cibo Matto performed the song "J'Etaime". Mitchell Froom invited Miho to sing on a track for his CD. In her spare time, Miho also joined Arto Lindsay and Kat Bjelland of "Babes In Toyland" to record a song for the soundtrack of the film "Witchblade". In her off hours, Yuka continues to learn and experiment with her production talents and sampling tricks. In this way, Cibo Matto remains very visible despite the lull in time that has passed since the release of their second CD. In 1998, Sean completed working on his own solo album, "Into the Sun". He brought Yuka into the studio to produce Into the Sun. The new album is handled by Grand Royal Records. Yuka helped Sean to bring out the emotional thoughtfulness in the quality of his album. Together they painted a picture of an introspective, young man's vulnerability in a chaotic and ever changing world. Like other Cibo Matto projects, Sean choose to diversify the project, instead of following one particular musical style. During breaks from their performances, Cibo Matto began work on their third Warner Brother album that was originally scheduled for release in early 1999. Instead of rushing the album, the band decided to further incubate the material through live performance and pushed the release schedule into the summer of 1999. Yuka has become an ever increasing perfectionist, and labored endlessly on bringing together the final masters to completion. Cibo Matto has a need to remain in artistic control of their presentation, they don't leave the work to outside chance by outsourcing to third parties. Instead they prefered to take the extra time to personally oversee the application on the album's finishing touches. This included paying attention to cover artwork, design, and ensuring the proper credits are included. Like a fine wine, it improved with time. While their fans waited for the new album, they had plenty of chances to see Cibo Matto on tour in their native element. After the release of Super Relax, the band, Cibo Matto (touring members were then composed of Miho, Yuka Honda, Sean Lennon, and Timo Ellis), went back to what they enjoyed doing most, playing live gigs. During breaks from their performances, Cibo Matto began work on their third Warner Brother album that was originally scheduled for release in early 1999. Instead of rushing the album, the band decided to further incubate the material through live performance and pushed the release schedule into the summer of 1999. Yuka has become an ever increasing perfectionist, and has labored endlessly on bringing together the final masters to completion. Cibo Matto has a need to remain in artistic control of their presentation, they don't leave the work to outside chance by outsourcing to third parties. Instead they prefer to take the extra time to personally oversee the application on the album's finishing touches. This includes paying attention to cover artwork, design, and ensuring the proper credits are included. Like a fine wine, it improves with time. While their fans waited for the new album, they had plenty of chances to see Cibo Matto on tour in their native element. Cibo Matto had made a serious effort to create some well written and produced material for their first two "Cibo Matto" releases on Warner Brother Records. But their efforts became somewhat shrouded by the same stigmas that had made them successful. While the theme of food was important to induce the creative inspirations to produce Viva! La Woman, the world was expecting them to continue to write songs only about subjects like artichokes and chickens. Miho and Yuka were continually being forced to to shrug off comparisons to the other mainstay Japanese girl band, Shonen Knife, and the avant garde material of the Japanese duo know as Pizzicato 5. Furthermore, Yuka was feeling a little oppressed by chauvinist views that women could not become respected studio producers. While the band struggled for individuality, the press continued to try to cast them into conventional and oversimplified categories as musicians and as people. Their third major release and second LP (Long Playing Album) with Warner Brothers needed to be something even more focused to break out of the stereotypes they were being cast into. Miho and Yuka are not ones to hide from adversity, and their time on the streets in New York City had taught them to react just the opposite. If the world was going to cast Cibo Matto into unwanted stereotypes, then they were going to lean back into the face of the wind and turn the force back against itself. Hence, the third major Cibo Matto was created with a new theme and title, "Stereotype A". Taking a Zen approach to the situation, the band stepped to the side of the blows and let the force of the opponent propel the project forward. The title of album, "Stereotype A", represents the focus of the band during it’s creation. Not only does the album’s title reflect the band’s desire to both deflect and capitalize on the stereotypes they were being cast into, it has a deeper meaning by separating the word "Stereo" from the suffix of "type". As Yuka explains, "Stereo is also what tells you where you are located. Dolphins can see what is happening with their sense of hearing. In a philosophical way, if you listen, you can tell where you are, or more importantly, where you are at. We have to learn to listen for ourselves with both our left and right ears, not just believe everything we are told." Listening is as important of an element to the creation of Cibo Matto’s music, as is the act of creating the parts of the musical arrangements. The band listens to each other’s ideas, they listen to the work of other artists and musicians, and they continue to listen to what they have created to see how all these ideas are blending together. With the themes of "Stereotype A" floating in the background, the band created a musical odyssey that would take their music and listeners to new and previously unexplored regions. The material from their first LP had been generated from their early days of playing in tiny New York clubs, small art galleries, and any place that would let them set up and jam. After the success of their Warner Brothers’ release began to build the size of their fan base, they played in larger concert venues with new acoustic surroundings which required a different form of interaction with their audience. Of even greater consequence , Sean and Timo became a regular part of the Cibo Matto live experience. Having more musicians involved in the mix was both a necessary and desired component of performing in larger venues. Together with a changing cast of guest performers, the band’s performances at larger live shows continued to foster the need and the creative stimulus to work out new musical material. To describe the music in Cibo Matto's "Stereotype A" is a task that cannot be done by choosing one particular stereotypical category. The album is a musical collage painted by the diverse musical backgrounds and interests of all four members of Cibo Matto, as well as the contributing artists. Within a given song, the listener can be taken from Rhythm and Blues (R&B) to Heavy Metal, or from Hip Hop Rap to a New Wave Country Waltz. The songs are arranged to take the listener through a series of musical landscapes that ease the transition from one level to the next. Each of the songs stands alone as a complex arrangement of diverse musical ideas that slowly build, dissipate, and then reappear as the journey continues. While presenting colorful musical layers that may challenge the technology to use every possible track of the recording medium, the listeners are provided frequent resting points in open spaces of simple melodies and effects. "Stereotype A" creates a unique musical sound to showcase Cibo Matto’s current "Soup Du Jour", and the album takes advantage of the best of many different musical genders. To describe the music in Cibo Matto's album, "Stereotype A", is a difficult task. The album cannot be described by choosing one conventional or oversimplified category for the music to fit into. Each song is a complex and unique production effort unto itself. The nature of the mix reveals different nuances that may or not be revealed according to the stereo system being used and the acoustical setting surrounding the listener. The Cibo Matto album, "Stereotype A", is a very focused and directed effort to take the band’s music yet another step closer to their musical visions. The musical journey of "Stereotype A" begins with the easily assessable and danceable tune "Working for Vacation". The song features a lighthearted melody, futuristic effects, and happy go lucky vocal harmonies that hint of earlier works by the B-52s, although the lead vocal is more like something from the Flying Lizards. Yet the song is more complex in it’s musical arrangement than any of the B-52s’ compositions. Although the song appears very lighthearted, the actual lyrics express a more serious social commentary. The more astute listener finds there are actually two different tempos playing at the same time. Yuka also explains, "The melody in the chorus is inspired by Indian Music." Driving a convertible car with the top down on a sunny day, "Working for Vacation" plays on the stereo while the listener starts down the album’s musical highway. In a live show or a dance club, the band or DJ needs to feed the audience with some recognizable songs to peak their interest and prepare them for new and unknown material that later will be introduced. For their second track on the album, Cibo Matto reintroduces from their EP "Super Relax", a song titled, "Spoon". The new mix is more complex and refined than the previously released version. Yuka created ten different versions of the track, before settling on the version that appears on "Stereotype A". Miho commented on the mix by saying, "There are so many drum tracks…it’s an engineer killer." This is the only previously released Cibo Matto song to appear on the album. The band ventures forth in a very flunky groove with the Funkadelic style arrangement of the album’s fourth track, "The Lint of Love". Miho’s high spirited vocals are laid on top of slapping bass lines and funky soul guitar chords. The song features a sample of John Medeski on Clavinet, and Josh Redman on Trombone jamming in some very nice jazz bridge work. After the horns in the bridge slow the song down for a moment, the engine revs and a rap by Duma Love follows that echoes of Miles Davis final album, "Doo-Bop". The horns come back to segue Miho’s vocals reentry. Then as Miho explains, "This like a Parliament song where everybody gets to sing, and it’s a lot of fun." Just when the song seems to have run it’s course, some heavy metal guitar chords come thundering into the mix. The heavy metal edge was inspired by the fuzz bass that Sebastian Steinberg plays on the track. As the jazz horns come back in over the heavy metal guitar, the song returns to it’s soul music theme for the ending. The album's journey takes the listener from the dance club to comfortable quiet lounges. A beautiful Japanese woman steps up to the microphone illuminated by a single spotlight. The well heeled patrons sip their expensive, blue cocktails with little umbrellas and their dry martini's. Another woman tinkers peacefully on the ivories, while the guitar player's fingers dance up and down the neck of his instrument. The singer begins to croon to the crowd. In this way, Cibo Matto handles the quiet beauty of songs such as "Moonchild" or "Stone". Occasionally a horn player adds some subtle jazz fills in the background. Then before the audience can finish there cocktails, they realize something has gone awry. The red stage curtains have started to melt and nothing is how it seems. In this way, Cibo Matto introduces the song "Speechless" that erodes the pastoral setting with rap vocals. Songs like "King of Silence" feature the typical Cibo Matto song writing approach where Miho writes the lyrics and Yuka composes the music separately. Miho was not satisfied to continue to leave all the musical composition to Yuka. Neither was it Yuka’s intent to remain in control of the musical arrangements. Miho had demonstrated her ability to communicate her musical ideas verbally and through her talent as a singer, but she wanted to increase the scope of the context of her musical expressions. Based on this, as well as her general love for musical expression, Miho taught herself to play guitar and drums. She didn’t settle to merely learn basic blues, rock, and folk guitar or other western music that revolved around the 1,4,5 standard chord progression. Instead, Miho set out to master more complex chords and progressions found in Brazilian compositions. "Stereotype A" features compositions based on sophisticated chord arrangements that Miho was able to bring to the table. Miho’s Brazilian guitar influence can be heard on the tracks "Stone" and "Moonchild". The only bossa nova song to appear on the album, "Stone", features Miho playing guitar. The presence of acoustic guitar work on the album is blended with several musical styles. While probably not intentional, some of the guitar work and female vocal arrangements reflect the works of "Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks". Miho demonstrates on "Stereotype A" that she has been hard at work at developing her vocal range and diction, as well as helping to contribute more fully to the musical arrangements and composition of the songs. While Cibo Matto still remains under the artistic direction of mostly Yuka and Miho’s songwriting, the additional collaboration with Sean Lennon and Timo Ellis has become an essential element of the band’s sound. Sean and Timo helped compose three of the songs for the album. During the past two years of touring, Sean has become recognized as Cibo Matto’s bass player. He is also an important singer in the background vocals. Sean’s role in the music of "Stereotype A" extends to playing guitar, drums, and percussion throughout the album. Like Sean, Timo can play almost every instrument that Cibo Matto would want to use in their material, but serves larger as the band's drummer. Timo’s background vocals are an essential part of "Stereotype A" sound. The addition of these two talented musicians has allowed Cibo Matto to take their sound to yet a new level. With the release of "Stereotype A", Yuka emerges as a serious producer that is truly setting her own standard of modern sampling. She continues her upstream battle against record industry stereotypes of women and explains, "There are people who think women can’t operate studio equipment." Of course her experimentation with mixing, sampling, and production will be seen by some, as mistakes in not following the old school of how music should be done, as opposed to setting new trends of how music will evolve in the future. Throughout the music of Cibo Matto, there is a constant searching for a new blending of sounds. Skeptics may view the experimentation as lack of experience, those in the know will see that Yuka’s production of "Stereotype A" is a brilliant attempt to mold many types of music of the past century into a new musical format. Perhaps from fear of being cast into yet new stereotypes, Yuka seems hesitant in interviews to endorse a particular musician that she is currently listening to. People with a diverse interest in musical styles have trouble explaining to others their own musical tastes, because if they mention who they are currently listening to, it detracts from the other musical influences that are also important to them. Appreciation of a particular music comes from selecting the right music, at the right time, in the right order, to fit the changing moods of the audience and the setting of the physical environment. Yuka’s production of the album was influenced by a wide array of producers from many different recording formats. Little tributes to various producers seemed to have been lightly dusted on top of some of the songs. While the music of the album cannot be compared to that of the Beatles or the Beach Boys, there are traces of these bands recording techniques in the format. Moreover, the band would be inclined to shrug off comparisons to such bands. Yet, rarely do you find an album that covers such diverse musical ground that is blended so seamlessly into a single musical presentation. Cibo Matto’s technique of presenting a variety of well written songs with diverse themes, speaks to the formula of some of the most successful Beatle’s album. The album’s use of the human voice as one of the band’s instruments was pioneered by the Beach Boys many years earlier. In particular the work of the Beach Boys albums "Hollad", "Wild Honey", and "Pet Sounds", comes to mind. Although the musical presentation of the songs is unique unto itself, the tight harmonies and background vocals reflect the trademark formula used by some of Rock n’ Roll’s most successful groups. Songs such as "Backseat" (a "Bonus" track on Japanese/Australian CDs and on U.S. vinyl) , "Sunday" and "Clouds" showcase Cibo Matto’s use of multi-part harmonies and vocal choir arrangements that bear the influence of a wide variety of musical styles. "Stereotype A" continues Yuka’s personal battle to break the stereotype that sampling is not a valid form of musical creation. Music has advanced since the introduction of Hip Hop and Rap Music almost 20 years ago. Like all music, there are very original writers and others that borrow from the masters. How many guitarists have used bits of Chuck Berry’s guitar riffs in constructing their own original songs? Thousands? At what point does taking someone else’s idea to a newly defined and higher level become a valid art form? Yuka's own code of ethics and beliefs about the use of sampling in Cibo Matto’s music can be seen in comments like, "People are mistaken if they think sampling is just patching together someone else’s cool old music. I am not interested in replaying someone else’s music." Where groups such as Us3 have attempted to merge Rap and Jazz sampling into original work, Cibo Matto has sucessfully done this with their material on "Stereotype A". Yuka has taken the use of sampling to a new level on this album, the layers of live musicians and bits of samples are seamlessly intertwined and transparent to the listener. Those hardcore Cibo Matto fans that have been waiting for some "Hard Core Bad Little Japanese Girl from New York City Rap", won’t be disappointed by Miho’s handling of the song, "Sci-Fi Wasabi". The song was inspired by Miho’s encounters with bike messengers in the city. It is your basic Miho rap with a sweeping musical backdrop that can evoke images of space craft hovering through the streets of dark, futuristic cities. Cartoon characters race their bicycles on the video arcade contolled streets below. Sci-Fi Wasabi illustrates the Cibo Matto sense of humor and their ability to rap. Various other tracks on the album feature Miho shifting from heavy Rapper to an elegant, beautiful nightclub singer, through the course of a single song. Most notable on the album is the song, "Sunday" which Miho begins with a heavy duty rap and closes with her calling sweetly in song, "I’m living in the second world. I’m watching you…’ If the journey’s terrain was not varied enough for the listener up this point, then track ten’s heavy metal adventure will turn the tide. The song, "Blue Train" features heavy metal power chords that sound like the destruction of Metallica, Soundgarden, or Pearl Jam. The vocal comes in with Miho singing a barren, ghostly punk melody. Then the fire erupts as Miho screams the chorus of "Ain’t no Pain on the Blue Train", with the pain and conviction of some of the earlier works by the Plastic Ono Band. The power of the electric guitar is lightly colored by Sci-Fi effects and spacey guitar licks. It stands by itself, as an all out, heavy metal, off-road adventure. Guest appearances are an integral part of Cibo Matto’s musical presentation. In making the album someone was heard to utter, "Round up the usual suspects." In addition to some return visitors, the line up included some other good friend’s of the band. Yumiko Ohno and Zak of Buffalo Daughter worked with the band to create the song, "Clouds". The song (Clouds) features a techno world beat overlaid with wind swept Thomas Dolby style keyboards. The vocals begin with a female version of "Neil Young's" Trans style robot vocals. The "Lost in Space" robot vocal gives way to an ethereal female chourus. Yumiko plays the moog and helps out on the background vocals of the song, and Duma Love was featured as the human beat box. To create a more jazzy feeling, Cibo Matto makes use of skilled horn players such as Curtis Fowles and Dave Douglas on various tunes. Other guests on the album includes Dougie Bowne, Marc Ribot, and many others. Finally the journey has to come to an end, with an experimental piece composed by Dougie Brown. The song, "MORTMING", is made up of furturistic music and improvised vocal arrangements aided by the vocoder. The words, "Stereotype A", are repeated in stereo voice for the album's ending. The listener is left quietly waiting in the driveway for the band’s next musical journey. The Cibo Matto album, "Stereotype A" is a very focused and directed effort to take the band’s music to a new level of sophistication. The musicians took one step more in defining the depth and variety of their musical interests and backgrounds. Yuka’s determination at mastering the art of musical production along with her already advanced abilities on various keyboard instruments is evident in the high quality of the album. The music successfully spans cultural influences from around the globe, while anchoring the mix in relevant similarities that allow the material to flow from one song to the next without becoming disjointed. The vocal arrangements lead by Miho, demonstrate her range as a singer and her talent as a songwriter. The addition of Timo and Sean as full time players with the band, has further increased the band’s musical horizons. By thealbum's completion, Duma had also been picked up as a full time player with the band. With the creation of "Stereotype A", Cibo Matto has provided a complex musical presentation that virtually eliminates the possibility of placing the entire body of work into one simple category. If the World wants to stereotype this album, they will need to create a new definition or new musical genre to do so. Cibo Matto has established itself as one of the finest alternative music bands of the 1990's. Through their live performances and recorded material, they have demonstrated themselves to be serious musicians with a great sense of humor. Their Crazy Food theme was used initially to provide symbolism of complex emotional and social ideas, that might otherwise be lost within international language barriers. The world view that Cibo Matto has and the multicultural content of their music is something we can all learn from. The band has been made more successful by the friendly networking and shared experiences with other musicians they have collaborated with. Miho has demonstrated her diversity as a songwriter and singer, by performing live and on albums in several genres and languages. Meanwhile, Yuka is developing as a serious producer that is setting her own standard of modern sampling, hopefully other musicians will continue to draw ideas from her work. The addition of Sean, Timo, and Duma has further increased the musical scope and appeal of the band. As a band, Cibo Matto is in a constant state of metamorphous and their music will continue to evolve with each new performance.