Cibo Matto is a trip hop/alternative/art pop/etc. band; I'm listing it under "alternative" because that's kind of a catch-all term, I think. The band's name means "crazy food" in Italian, and the songs contain lots of food references. Cibo Matto was formed by Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori in 1994, in NYC (though they were both born in Tokyo). I believe I first saw them on an episode of Squirt TV on MTV. Honda and Hatori were also members of the band Butter 08.

tek's rating:

Viva! La Woman
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This is the band's first full-length album, released in 1996. The liner notes contain lyrics for most of the songs.

1. "apple": I can't make out most of the lyrics, but it's trippy and soft. I like it.

2. "beef jerky": Can't make out all the lyrics, but it alternates between a soft sound and slightly louder sound and even louder sound. It's weird, but I like it.

3. "sugar water": This is, I would say, the prettiest song on the album, and one of my favorite of the band's songs.

4. "white pepper ice cream": This is probably the softest, quietest song on the album. It's nice.

5. "birthday cake": This is one of the songs I remember best from the album, I mean I remember the lyrics "Shut up and eat, too bad no bon appetit!" among other bits, but I tend to forget the song's title. It's one of the shoutier songs on the album, and I like it a lot.

6. "know your chicken": This is what I saw them play on "Squirt TV", and it's the song I usually think of when I think about the band. On an album full of weird songs, this might be the weirdest, but it's one of my favorites.

7. "theme": This is by far the longest track, at 10:49. It's sung in like four languages, but I can't even make out all the English lyrics. It's relatively soft and quiet, though. Parts of it give me a 1940s vibe, kind of, while other parts I don't know what to think about. It's nice, but I find it one of the least memorable songs on the album, so I kind of wish it weren't so long. But only kind of. I basically like it.

8. "the candy man": This is a remake of the song from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, with some words changed. It has some moaning sounds in the background that I find a bit uncomfortable. The song itself is kinda trippy, but I don't know how I feel about it.

9. "le pain perdu": The title is French for "French toast". The song is um... interesting. Kind of swingy. Or something.

10. "artichoke": I don't really know what to think or say about this. It's not bad, but probably my least favorite track. But it's got some interesting lyrics. I think it's probably some kind of sexual metaphor, which is something I'm not entirely comfortable with.

11. "jive": This is a hidden track that's only 18 seconds long, and it's not even a song, just thigh-slapping.

So, overall it's just a really weird album, and the songs definitely won't be to everyone's taste. But I kinda love it.

tek's rating: ¾

Stereo Type A
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This is the band's second full-length album, released in 1999. The liner notes contain song lyrics.

1. "Working for Vacation": Apparently this was the first single from the album, but I have no memory of it, even while listening to it (which I expect will be true of most of the songs on the album). It's nice, though.

2. "Spoon": It's got a good beat.

3. "Flowers": The sounds like lounge music, or something. I like it.

4. "Lint of Love": I have no idea what the title means. But it's funky. It's also got a bit of hip-hop and a bit of metal.

5. "Moonchild": This is one of the songs I actually kind of remembered. It's kinda dreamy.

6. "Sci-Fi Wasabi": This is the one song I really remembered from the album. It's kind of hip-hop. And it's easily my favorite song on the album.

7. "Clouds": The lyrics are mostly vocoded, so it has a sort of robotic electronica vibe. Which is cool, in its way, and I mean I do like it, but maybe less than the other songs.

8. "Speechless": This is mostly hip-hop, I guess. Maybe a bit jazzy. It's cool.

9. "King of Silence": I think I'd sort of call the sound a cross between big band and lounge music. It's fairly chill, but in an up tempo way.

10. "Blue Train": This is heavy metal. Which is, you know, fine. The vocals in some parts get shoutier than the other songs on this album, but not as much as on their first album. In other parts the vocals are more breathy.

11. "Sunday Part I": More hip-hop, including a bit of record-scratching in the beginning. It's got a good beat. It ends with some like organ music that segues directly into the next track.

12. "Sunday Part II": This has a much lighter sound, and kinda strikes me as like early 60s music.

13. "Stone": This is just nice, I don't know what else to say.

14. "Mortming": The title sounds to me like something Dethklok would call one of their songs. I have no idea what it means. But the song itself sounds nothing like Dethklok. It's very Auto-Tuned and spacey. It's kind of weird and trippy, which I like. The end is just repeating the title of the album, which wears a bit thin, but it's not bad.

Well, I don't love this album like I do the first one, but it's still pretty cool. And I think it sounds good in a bit more of a mainstream way than the first album, though it's still hella quirky and very uniquely Cibo Matto.