Cibo Matto, Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band, Bat for Lashes
I don’t know how much I am going to be focusing on just new music anymore. This will probably become a highlight list of what I have been listening to lately. Some will be new, some old, and some just new to me.
Cibo Matto is just a shitload of fun. Nothing seems to fit any sort of mold. There is a jazzy funk music in the background with a Japanese girl doing a mixture of singing, talking, and rapping about food for the most part. I can’t come up with a better soundtrack to a musically schizophrenic evening. If I can’t think of what I want to listen to, this is what will be playing. It is fun, funky, cool, ridiculous, and amazing all at the same time. If the vocals remind you of something but you can’t exactly put your finger on it, that would be because Miho Hatori did some work with the Gorillaz, assuming she was the fleshy equivalent of Noodle. This music is a blast.
Cibo Matto – Sci-Fi Wasabi
Cibo Matto – Spoon
Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band is a new band out of my neck of the woods in Seattle. This quintet is producing music that spans across a vast sea of genres, and is obviously influenced by just as vast a record collection. I have been ridiculed for my description of the band but while I am listening I hear an awesome amalgamation of Sparta, Queens of the Stoneage, Modest Mouse, Tokyo Police Club, and Fleet Foxes. I have been finding this music hitting the spot very well lately. It is fun and upbeat while occasionally having pleasant melancholic tone to it. A single song changes pace at a moments notice keeping you on your toes and questioning if it is the same song. I am enjoying this debut a great deal.
Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band – Who’s Asking
Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band – Albatross, Albatross, Albatross
Bat for Lashes blew me away with her debut, “Fur and Gold”, from 2006. I didn’t come across that album until last year so I was late on the bandwagon but couldn’t be happier to just be a part of the party. She makes haunting music that grow with length, constantly adding a new layer, creating gigantic and sprawling tracks that have a lasting effect. She also has tracks that have a steady rolling beat that pushes itself forward as if the song is walking right along with you. Rarely does music give me goosebumps like this does. It is hard not to be moved. She just released her second album, “Two Suns”, last week. It doesn’t have quite the overall presence that “Fur and Gold” did, but it is a great album none the less.
Bat for Lashes – Glass
Bat for Lashes – Sleep Alone
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