Downtown still sends me up in the sky

This takes me back.  I'm not a gamer and it's more of a self-defense thing than anything else:  if I had a Wii in my house I would probably never leave the house.  But back in my adolescent years I sunk a lot of time into mastering Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda on my Nintendo.  It's a wonder Mom didn't throw the damn thing out the window because she got really sick of hearing the music over and over again.

This is the music video for Cibo Matto's "Sci Fi Wasabi" off their 1999 Stereo Type A album, which a fellow JET introduced me to while we were both living in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture.  I used to stroll the streets of Shizuoka City and Hamamatsu listening to this album.  It was so atmospheric, left-field and original with sweet tones of samba that it really stuck with me.  Just like Björk and Beck, I think Cibo Matto kind of need their own genre with their name on it. 

I was thinking about their music earlier tonight because I just downloaded Miho Hatori's Ecydisis album from iTunes and have been really enjoying it since then.  It provided me with a few transcendent city-walking moments today that were reminiscent of the pleasant strolls in Japan listening to Stereo Type A (on a MiniDisc player at the time - this was before the iPod).  This morning the trains were all screwed up so I ended up walking over to the elevated train and putting this album on.  I watched our train snake and wind through Western Queens on its way towards Manhattan while listening to "Barracuda" and it was pretty cool.  Tonight I accidentally took the wrong train back again and ended up on that elevated line listening to some more Hatori tracks.  I really got into "Sweet Samsara Pt I" and "Sweet Samsara Pt II" as I ambled home slowly and aimlessly from the grocery store.  Time seemed to slow down and I could really sense the autumn climate around me.  Usually I just truck it when I'm running errands after work but not tonight... I took it easy. 

I actually met Miho Hatori a couple of years ago at Japan Society.  I was volunteering at the ticket desk the night of a lecture associated with their exhibition on Superflat.  A nice young Japanese woman came up to me and quietly said she had reserved a ticket, then gave the name Miho Hatori.  I didn't make the association right away but when I did, I smiled back at her and said "I love your music!"  She smiled somewhat tentatively, perhaps concerned that I would alert everyone else that she was there.  Of course I didn't -- I just wanted to let her know I appreciated her contribution to music.  She waved and smiled again on the way out after the lecture that night.  I thought to myself that it figured she'd be interested in superflat.  Her music is replete with that sensibility.  And it extends to her videos too:  there are elements of superflat in her "Barracuda" video.

And yes I'm aware that this is very trippy.  Mushrooms anyone?

Comments

[elady]

Awesome! Let me know how you like it.

[jon deal]

Thanks to this post, I now have a metric ton of Cibo Matto rolling around my iTunes Library.

Thanks!

[jon deal]

Thanks to this post, I now have a metric ton of Cibo Matto rolling around my iTunes Library.

Thanks!