An irresistible stew of funk, hip hop, hardcore, melody and fractured pop, Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto slice and dice samples and rhythms like master sound chefs. The two Japanese-born women met up in New York when they played in a punk band called Leitoh Lychee, which translates to “frozen lychee nut.” In 1994, they formed Cibo Matto — an Italian phrase meaning “food madness” — and continued in the food-obsessed vein with the Warner Bros. release of Viva! La Woman, featuring songs such as “Birthday Cake,” “Know Your Chicken” and “Beef Jerky.” They hooked up with Sean Lennon, percussionist Duma Love and drummer Timo Ellis for 1999’s Stereotype A., a layered, undulating, funk-fire odyssey. Since then, Hatori and Honda been involved in countless cool projects, including a hip-hop version of John Zorn’s game piece, Cobra. Through Sept. 10, they’re featured in Volume: Bed of Sound, an installation curated by Elliot Sharp and Alanna Heiss where 60 sound artists — including Sonic Youth, Laurie Anderson, Arto Lindsay and Ornette Coleman — are experienced through headphones on a large futon bed at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. They’ll spice up the Concert of Colors with a melting pot of tantalizing, danceable, sample-delic sci-fi sound scapes.
Cibo Matto performs Sunday, July 15, at 5 p.m. on the Main Stage at Chene Park in downtown Detroit (at Atwater and Chene, on the Detroit River). The official concert schedule can be found at www.concertofcolors.org.
Be sure to check out the rest of MT's special features in celebration of the Concert of Colors:
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