Cibo Matto: Sean Lennon (vocals, acoustic, 12-string & electric guitars, synthesizer, bass, drums, percussion, sound effects); Timo Ellis (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, 4- & 8-string bass, drums, cymbals, sound effects); Miho Hatori (vocals, acoustic guitar, shaker); Yuka Honda (vocals, acoustic & electric pianos, organ, harpsichord, synthesizer, vocoder, sequencer).

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.

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.

Rolling Stone (6/24/99, p.68) - 3 1/2 out of 5 - "...this busy, funky, self-assured second full-length album is nobody's exotic joke....many of the songs [are] built on shimmering, suspended chords and off-kilter space beats..."

Entertainment Weekly (6/11/99, p.69) - "The cheeky gals of Cibo Matto achieve charm by being out of their time and culture....It's now, it's then, it's here, it's there. It's good." - Rating: B+

The Wire (8/99, p.49) - "...a smoothly blended musical stew....[Yuka] Honda's constantly inventive sampler structures and arrangements...really dazzle. It's an almost perfect pop record...proving that globalisation needn't mean empty platitudes and overly glossed beats..."

CMJ (1/10/00, pp.6-7) - Ranked #27 in CMJ's "Top 30 Editorial Picks [for 1999]."

CMJ (6/7/99, p.5) - "...a wildly diverse collection that clubhops all over New York's musical landscape....this eclectic album [is] one B-girl bouillabaisse impossible to pass up."

Vibe (6,7/99, p.184) - "...a punchy, danceable collection of original instrumentation and sampling with flashes of '80s electro pop....The cute, quirky pair...[tackle] issues close to home: love affairs, friendships, public image and-get this-kitchen utensils....Pleasant."