Cibo Matto

A Japanese-born pair moved to New York and adopted the Italian moniker Cibo Matto, crafting music that reflected their hybrid roots through an eclectic mix of funk samples, hip-hop beats, tape loops, and splintered pop tunes, all voiced in surreal tales delivered partly in French and partly in fractured English. The lineup consisted of vocalist Miho Hatori and keyboardist/sampler Yuka Honda, two Japanese women who reached the United States on separate paths. Honda, previously a member of Brooklyn Funk Essentials, established herself in New York in 1987, while Hatori, who had performed with the Tokyo rap group Kimidori and worked as a club DJ, arrived in 1993. They connected in 1994 and initially played together in the noise group Leitoh Lychee, inspired by the Boredoms and whose name meant “frozen lychee nut”; following its dissolution, the pair launched Cibo Matto, Italian for “food madness,” a reference that soon became legendary given their well-known passion for cuisine.

The duo quickly attracted attention within downtown Manhattan’s hipster circles, renowned for explosive performances that featured guest musicians such as the Lounge Lizards’ Dougie Bowne, Honda’s former husband, along with Bernie Worrell, Masada’s Dave Douglas, and Skeleton Key’s Rick Lee. Following two well-received independent 1995 singles, “Birthday Cake” and “Know Your Chicken,” they secured a deal with Warner Bros. and issued the Mitchell Froom/Tchad Blake-produced Viva! La Woman in 1996, an audacious and inventive album devoted to love, food, and the love of food. After road work alongside bassist Sean Lennon and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins, they released the EP Super Relax in 1997. Lennon, percussionist Duma Love, and drummer Timo Ellis joined as permanent members for the 1999 follow-up Stereo Type A. Several years afterward the group split, after which Hatori worked with Smokey Hormel and Gorillaz, while Honda produced Sean Lennon’s Into the Sun and teamed with the Boredoms’ Yoshimi on Flower with No Color.

During the break that stretched from 2002 to 2011, Honda issued four solo albums; in late 2009 she also entered a reconstituted version of Plastic Ono Band and later produced Martha Wainwright’s 2012 album Come Home to Mama. Honda and Hatori resumed songwriting together in 2011, and after some postponements their first record in fifteen years, Hotel Valentine, appeared during Valentine’s week in 2014.