(SPECIAL EXTRA LONG MY-FAVORITE-JAPANESE-CHICK-BANDS EPISODE!) First up Tokyo's trend-setting wonder-act
Pizzicato Five did two songs: "Happy Ending" from their 1997 record
Happy End of the World (
iTunes,
Amazon,
Other Music) and "Baby Love Child" from their 1994 album
Made in USA (
iTunes,
Amazon,
Other Music). Then we heard New York's amazi-crazy-fun faux-Japanese band
Gaijin a Go Go with their song "1-2-3 (Un-Deux-Trois)" from their 2003 record
Happy-55-Lucky (
Amazon). After that, New York's defunct
Cibo Matto (which is Italian for "food madness") had three songs to show off all their awesomeness: "Spoon" from their 1997
Super Relax EP (
Amazon); "About a Girl" (a Nirvana Cover) which was never released; and "Flowers" from their mega-great final album
Stereo Type A (
iTunes,
Amazon,
Other Music) from 1999. After a go-go break, we returned to
Gaijin a Go Go for "1-2-3 (Un-deux-trois) the Konishi Remix" (a remix of the song we heard before) that can be found on their 2003
Merry-55-Round (
Amazon). Apparently "55" is Japanese for "Go" which makes their album titles clever. And finally we finish with one of my favorite
Shonen Knife song's, the Osaka band's cover of
The Carpenters "Top of the World", most easily obtained on their 1996
Birds & the B-Sides release (
iTunes,
Amazon).