Additional personnel includes: Duma Love (vocals, percussion, beat box, scratches); Marc Ribot (acoustic & electric guitars); Smokey Hormel (acoustic guitar); Dave Douglas (trumpet); Josh Roseman, Curtis Fowlkes (trombone); John Medeski (Clavinet); Yumiko Ohono (Moog synthesizer, background vocals); Sebastian Steinberg (bass); Dougie Bowne (hi-hat, cymbals); Billy Martin (percussion).

Engineers include: Chris Shaw, Tom Schick, Martin Bisi.

Recording information: Magic Shop; Sear Sound Studios, New York, NY; Studio 4.

Cibo Matto's eagerly anticipated second album, Stereo Type A, reflects growth and change in the band's lineup and sound. Joining the core duo of Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori are new band member Sean Lennon and guests like Arto Lindsay, Caetano Veloso, Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing, and John Medeski and Billy Martin of Medeski, Martin & Wood. The new additions reflect the changing sound of Cibo Matto: Relying less on samples and more on their latent funk and jazz elements, Stereotype A sounds like summer in New York -- eclectic, hot, and funky. Hatori's vocals are her most fluid and assured yet, and Honda's harmonies, particularly on "Moonchild," add a dreamy undercurrent to the sound. Though the hip-hop of "Sci-Fi Wasabi" and filmic quality of "Spoon" (which originally appeared on the Super Relax EP) hearken back to old-school Cibo Matto, Stereotype A's overall sound is more direct and less fanciful than of their debut album Viva! La Woman. Tracks like "Clouds" and "Morning" reflect a nice fusion of the group's old and new sounds, while the brassy "Speechless" and thrash metal of "Blue Train" round out a delightfully sunny collection from this diverse group. ~ Heather Phares

The giddy ball of fun known as Cibo Matto grooves harder than ever on STEREOTYPE A. It seems as if girl-doll frontwomen Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori want to offer something a little grittier than the sugary sweets of albums past, and it shows--Japanese bubble gum this is not. Instead, the band offers a thoughtful, texturally rich urban soundtrack for the pre-millennium, with rough beats raining down harmoniously alongside staccato horn lines and slow 'n easy dreamscapes.

Whimsical weirdness hasn't been entirely forsaken, however. "Sci-Fi Wasabi" knocks along to Star Wars samples with the girls dropping rhymes about potholes, Obi Wan and NYC avenues. Miho is found squawking out lines like "Pass the Volvic!" "Lint Of Love" sports perhaps the nastiest beats of the lot, with spacey organ and bandmember Sean Lennon offering his boyish pipes and scurfy guitar fills. "Moonchild" and "Sunday Part II" are sweetness itself with their lovely vocal harmonies and simple, childlike lyrics.