Cibo Matto "Viva! La Woman" RE LP (2021)

Details: Cibo Matto "Viva! La Woman" RE LP (2021, Music On Vinyl reissue). New stock, black 180g vinyl, comes in a resealable clear poly sleeve.

Description: "Viva! La Woman combined the talents and inspirations of Honda and Hatori into a wildly eclectic blend of hip-hop breakbeats, Brazilian rhythms, Beat Generation poetry, and diverse samples, off the television, from old albums, or noises around the city. From the eerie meditative trip-hop of their first single "Sugar Water" (a hit on college radio charts, propelled by an innovative split-screen music video directed by Michel Gondry) to the funky groove of "Know Your Chicken" (Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic is a guest musician on the album), you never knew what Cibo Matto was gonna serve up next. (Foreshadowing!) 

Often, when someone immigrates to the United States and is just learning how to speak English, they'll clam up in public, worried they'll use the wrong word, scared to look foolish in front of others. But, not Cibo Matto.

Viva! La Woman is a sonic buffet of songs revolving around food, with tracks titled "Apple," "Beef Jerky," "Artichoke," and "White Pepper Ice Cream," to name a few. In fact, the band name itself translates from Italian to "food madness," a play on the title of a '70s B-movie erotic comedy titled Sesso Matto (or "Sex Madness"). The entree obsession may have eventually backfired, as the press fixated on the so-called "gimmick" as opposed to the music, but it actually served a purpose at the time. 

“When I wrote the songs on [the album], my vocabulary was limited, and [using] food is the easiest way to tell a story,” Hatori told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. “We learned a little bit of English grammar in school in Japan, but it’s English that nobody uses. Like, ‘This is a pen.’ Stuff like that.”

Honda continued, "A lot of people don’t realize in what ways food is used in our music. The songs aren’t all about food. There’s no song about, like, how Brussels sprouts are structured, you know? But I think that food is a great metaphor because everybody eats. Everybody knows the feeling when you’re hungry for five hours and you have some kind of junk food and it tastes so amazing. It’s a common experience.”

No matter what race, gender, or generation you are, you get hungry and food unifies us. Genius. As Hatori told the Iowa State Daily in 1999, "We want to share music with your mom, you know?" --Janice Headley, KEXP

Grade: M (new stock)

TRACK LISTING SIDE A:

A1. Apple
A2. Beef Jerky
A3. Sugar Water
A4. White Pepper Ice Cream
A5. Theme

TRACK LISTING SIDE B:

B1. Birthday Cake
B2. Know Your Chicken
B3. The Candy Man
B4. Le Pain Perdu
B5. Artichoke