Cibo Matto

Released three years after their cult-making debut, Stereo Type A served up a very different Cibo Matto than its quirkily culinary predecessor. Gone is (most of) the gastronomic whimsy; in its place is a more sedate sound that coolly genre-hops from downtempo to rage rock, from easy-as-Sunday-morning bossa nova to bizarro, futuristic robot-hop. If a bit of Viva! La Woman's addictive eccentricity seems to be missing from the eclectic shuffle, it doesn't feel like a loss -- or even an evolution -- so much as an expansion, an already charming band spreading its wings a little.

Japanese girl groups like Shonen Knife and Pizzicato Five are usually rock's novelty toys --
harmless, musically simplistic, campily naive. But Cibo Matto have always been more
levelheaded and masterful than their musical sisters, and this busy, funky, self-assured
second full-length album is nobody's exotic joke. The ironic ghost of ambient faux lounge
(as found all over their debut, Viva! La Woman) lingers only in the sparkling mari... More >