Cibo Matto / Hotel Valentine
Artist Cibo Matto
Album Title: Hotel Valentine
Album Cover:
Primary Genre Electronica/Dance: Trip Hop
Format CD
Released 02/14/2014
Label Chimera Music
Catalog No CHIM24
Bar Code No 6 16892 17774 6
Packaging Cardboard Gatefold
Tracks
1. Check In (3:14)
2. Déjà Vu (4:19)
3. 10th Floor Ghost Girl (3:33)
4. Emerald Tuesday (3:20)
5. MFN (3:29)
6. Hotel Valentine (3:42)
7. Empty Pool (4:12)
8. Lobby (3:59)
9. Housekeeping (4:02)
10. Check Out (3:18)
Date Acquired 04/08/2016
Personal Rating
Acquired from Electric Fetus - Minneapolis
Purchase Price 10.79

Web Links

All Music Guide Entry:
Discogs Entry:
Music Brainz Entry:

Notes

Album came with a hand-written Valentine's Day card from Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda if pre-ordered before the end of 2013.

Recorded At – Library
Recorded At – Miho's pad
Recorded At – Mauro's pad
Recorded At – Patrick Dillet's studio
Recorded At – 4MuLa Studio
Recorded At – Glenn's House
Mastered By – Sabino Cannone
Mixed By – Michael Brauer
Mixed By [Engineer] – Ryan Gilligan
Producer – Cibo Matto
Recorded By – Jon Silverman, Julio Cann, Kenji Shimoda, Patrick Barns, Patrick Dillet, Simone Giuliani, Yuka C. Honda
Recorded By, Written-By – Miho Hatori
Written-By – Yuka Honda

foobar2000 1.3.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-04-11 01:07:47
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Cibo Matto / Hotel Valentine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR5       -0.06 dB    -6.22 dB      3:14 01-Check In
DR6       -0.20 dB    -6.53 dB      4:19 02-Déjà Vu
DR5       -0.20 dB    -6.43 dB      3:33 03-10th Floor Ghost Girl
DR5       -0.20 dB    -7.07 dB      3:20 04-Emerald Tuesday
DR5       -0.20 dB    -6.36 dB      3:29 05-MFN
DR5       -0.20 dB    -5.87 dB      3:42 06-Hotel Valentine
DR5       -0.20 dB    -6.33 dB      4:12 07-Empty Pool
DR5       -0.20 dB    -7.84 dB      3:59 08-Lobby
DR5       -0.20 dB    -6.15 dB      4:02 09-Housekeeping
DR5       -0.20 dB    -7.11 dB      3:18 10-Check Out
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of tracks:  10
Official DR value: DR5
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 880 kbps
Codec: FLAC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reviews
AllMusic Review by Heather Phares:

Cibo Matto's 2014 return with Hotel Valentine -- their first album in 15 years -- was one of the more unexpected reunions of '90s acts. After all, both Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori had busy schedules throughout the 2000s and 2010s: Honda worked as a solo artist and with the Plastic Ono Band, while Hatori collaborated with Beck, Gorillaz, the Beastie Boys, and a host of other well-known artists. On their third album as a duo, it's clear that they reunited not out of a need for attention, but because they enjoy making music together. The pair had the mixed blessing of releasing one of the definitive albums of the '90s, Viva! La Woman, as their debut; their follow-up, Stereo Type A, suffered by comparison largely because it wasn't a repeat of their first album. By the time Hotel Valentine appeared, the duo's eclectic sound wasn't as revolutionary as it had been nearly two decades before, but it wasn't dated enough to seem nostalgic. Fortunately, Hatori and Honda use this to their benefit, resulting in songs that feel connected to their earlier work, yet not overtly retro. It helps that this is a concept album revolving around a hotel haunted by a female ghost; it's a quirky conceit, but also one that allows Cibo Matto to use the contrast of brash and ethereal moods at the heart of their music to the fullest. Hotel Valentine is by turns funky and elegant, making a stomping entrance with "Check In" and a serene exit with "Check Out." In between, Honda and Hatori spend equal time with the different sides of their music, with half the album representing the bustling, kinetic real world and the other reflecting the afterlife of the hotel's spectral guest. Both approaches deliver entertaining results: the pretty, mercurial pop of "Déjà Vu," which features some extra-playful rapping from Hatori, is a standout from the album's louder first half, along with the grooving "10th Floor Ghost Girl" and the irresistibly bouncy "MFN," which spotlights Cibo Matto's famed love of food with its room service order of lobsters, oysters, and chocolate milk. Meanwhile, the album's trip-hop-tinged title track and "Empty Pool" showcase the duo's undimmed flair for seductive yet approachable atmospheres; more intriguingly, "Lobby" casts the hotel's waiting area as a kind of purgatory, where the ghost misses shopping and watches the living come and go with a mix of poignancy and whimsy. Indeed, Hotel Valentine might be Cibo Matto's most whimsical album yet, with a sense of fun that's contagious, particularly on the mischievous class warfare of "Housekeeping." To say that the album sounds like Hatori and Honda picked up right where they left off downplays its specialness, but there's no denying it sounds like Cibo Matto had never stopped playing together.
Cover 1
Cover 2
Cover 3
Cover 4
Cover 5
Cover 6
Cover 7