THEY HAD ME AT "SHUT UP AND EAT"

For whatever reason, last night was spent revisiting Japanese bands, starting with Takeshi Terauchi, then the Mops, Melt Banana, Cornielius, and so on. But with Buffalo Daughter, Guitar Wolf and the 5678s waiting in the wings, Cibo Matto derailed everything. It seemed like just a couple years ago that Cibo Matto were all the rage, but it was actually the late nineties (jeez, that went by fast), They were on the top of the college charts and in the front racks of independent record stores. After a couple LPs and a handful of singles they fizzled went their separate ways, going out if not on the top, close enough that they had built up a decent following. As someone that has developed skepticism towards new releases, I generally don't read up on much of anything current, figuring that if a band is good enough, word will trickle through soon enough. So, I had no idea that Cibo Matto reunited a few years ago, was playing live again, and had newer records out. Last night was catch up time.

Back when their first LP, Viva! La Women, was released in 1996, they got my attention right away for their music, a mix of keyboard driven synth heavy hip hop and pop (heavier than it sounds), and somewhat abstract lyrical content. How are you going to ignore a chorus that starts with "Shut up and eat"? Plus, dropping a few F-bombs here and there; that always wins bonus points in these parts. And all of the songs were food related, some more metaphorically than others. So, yeah, despite not really being the type of music that gets regular plays over here, I got sucked in like everybody else. Their followup LP, Stereo ★ Type A, was just as engaging as the first, if not more so. So when they went kaput, they left a lot of people hanging. 

I still haven't heard much of the new stuff, but that way with words seems to be intact. To wit, "MFN" off their latest, Hotel Valentine: "MFN" is short for "mother fucking nature". Dang me, I love candy mouths. And lines like "Don't tell me "what the hell?" I'm a ghost. Don't throw the fucking oyster shell at me."? You could put that over Mantovani and I'd still eat it up.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Cibo Matto - Birthday Cake mp3 at The Sound of Indie
Cibo Matto - Beef Jerky mp3 at The Sound of Indie
Cibo Matto - Sugar Water mp3 at Frowl
Cibo Matto - Sci-Fi Wasabi mp3 at House o' Excess
Cibo Matto - King of Silence mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Cibo Matto - About a Girl mp3 at Super Zombie Nirvana Cover
Video:
Cibo Matto with Yoko Ono - Know Your Chicken (live) at YouTube
Cibo Matto - Live at Yoko Ono's Meltdown at YouTube Full hour long set
Cibo Matto - Deja Vu mp3 at YouTube
Visit:
Cibo Matto at Wikipedia