Cibo Matto - Stereo ★ Type A 8 June 1999
I’ve seen people argue over whether or not Cibo Matto’s work qualifies as Japanese music, and personally I think it raises an interesting issue. What is the criteria for what constitutes Japanese music? Is the ethnicity of the musicians? If so, then Cibo Matto qualifies, beginning in 1994 as the pairing of Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda.What about albums recorded outside of Japan? Are they Japanese music? Cibo Matto recorded Stereo ★ Type A, and all of their music, in the United States. On top of that, they were always more successful outside of Japan than they were in the native country of the two formative musicians; despite releasing in my opinion a solid Shibuya-kei album during the height of the genre’s popularity. But if we are going to not count albums recorded outside of Japan then we would have to throw out great albums like Bonnie Pink’s Evil and Flowers,, recorded in Sweden, Yoko Kanno’s terrific soundtrack for the anime Macross Plus, recorded in Israel and the Czech Republic, and big chunks of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s discography.What about albums they don’t use the Japanese language? If they do not count as Japanese music then there is a long list of albums recorded in Japan that we have to toss out the window.NyaaTorrent’s rules on uploaded content are clear: “This site is for content that originates from and/or is specific to China, Japan, and/or Korea. Other content is not allowed without exceptions.” The fact that I am uploading the album indicates my personal opinion about Stereo ★ Type A. Not only are the founding artists from Japan, but the music leans heavily on the synth-pop-rock and Shibuya-kei styles of late 90’s Japan.I leave it to everyone else to judge for themselves. And most importantly, I hope you enjoy the album!