Viva! La Woman [Vinyl LP]

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Includes insert. Cibo Matto was a Japanese-American band formed by Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori in New York in 1994. Their debut album Viva! La Woman is the only album to be released by them as a duo, before Sean Lennon, Timo Ellis and Duma Love joined the band.

And this female duo of food-obsessed, Japanese expatriates turned Lower East Side art-punk-trip-hoppers has cooked up an eclectic 10-song aural banquet, carefully prepared with a variety of samples, instruments, loops and beats to satiate even the most discriminating palate. Cibo Matto's name is based on an Italian b-movie, and roughly translates as "food crazy." Accordingly, every song on VIVA! LA WOMAN has a food reference at its core. Flavored with a heavy Japanese accent, Miho Hatori's vocals range from sensual ("White Pepper Ice Cream") to punk rantings ("Birthday Cake") to rap ("Le Pain Perdu"). Meanwhile, the wasabe-like spiciness of Yuka Honda's sampler provides the tasty, sonic morsels that make this meal sumptuous. Samples as diverse as Duke Ellington's "Caravan" and Paul Weller's "Hung Up" are interspersed throughout. Add to these ingredients the talents of master chefs/producers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, virtuoso guest stars like Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell and members of the Lounge Lizards and Masada, and you have one superlative, five-star feast