Get the four-song This Song/That Song EP on iTunes!!! Or buy the limited-edition 7" plus CD over at the RiYL Records Online Store!
A review from Foxy Digitalis (please ignore the reviewer's opinion of Casey's songs because they are obviously COMPLETELY chewy and wonderful, duh):
" 'This Song/That Song' is a schizophrenic EP that is saved by one half of the collaboration. The playful vocals and impressionistic lyrics of Yoko Kikuchi provide a sharp contrast to the contributions of Casey Holford. Whereas Kikuchi’s 'This Song,' and 'The Morning Dumb' are evocative and brooding, Holford’s 'Slide on a Screen' and 'That Song' are mostly math-pop with no chewy center. They are fun, but you are still hungry later; there’s not as much 'there' there. Yet both members of Dream Bitches have their moments in this breezy pop postcard.
Mostly accompanying themselves on guitar, with some bass and atmospherics drifting through the arrangements, each bring a sense of fun and confidence to the set. While it seems that Yoko Kikuchi has more to bring lyrically, all of the tracks on 'This Song/That Song,' hers and Holford’s, have tasty moments that ought to satisfy."
-- Mike Wood, Foxy Digitalis (11 March, 2008)
"NYC Antifolksters Yoko Kikuchi & Casey Holford join forces with drummer Daoud Tyler-Ameen to contribute 2 songs apiece to this engaging little gem of a 4-track split 45 on New York’s perennially quirky RiYL Records. All four songs are excellent, the instrumentation minimalist yet solid, whilst Kikuchi & Holford both own the kind of expressive & captivating voices that have generated sustained interest in the Antifolk scene over the last 5 years or so."
To answer your question, Yoko Kikuchi was not named after Yoko Ono. She's not the Yoko Kikuchi who plays the piano, either. Yoko grew up in Lower Manhattan and at age 17 left to pursue a degree in photography, returning four years later to pursue a life of hanging out and playing music. She worked as a fashion studio temp and a freelance website designer during the period of time when her band, Dream Bitches, formed and began playing shows.
Yoko writes songs to play solo, as well as being the main songwriter for Dream Bitches. She has one cd from 2003 called Songs I Wrote For You, and is working on a 2-disc retrospective solo release entitled How To Stay Amazed / Lilly Lafayette. In addition to their 2005 debut Sanfransisters, Dream Bitches have a second LP entitled Coke-and-Spiriters which will be released by Recommended If You Like Records this coming April.
From a musical standpoint the songs have been described as "melodic, dreamy", "punky", and "folksy and feminine", whereas the lyrics have been called by some "caustically biting", "bitchy" as well as "sweet", and by others "complex" and "well-thought-out". Yoko finds these adjectives to be acceptable and possibly true.
As well as recording her own projects, Yoko appears as a backing vocalist/harmony composer on a number of recordings by talented artists such as Dan Fishback, Phoebe Kreutz, Casey Holford, Josh Malamy, Dibs, Brook Pridemore, and Andrew Phillip Tipton. She also performs/guest stars in a number of groups, most notably the Kreutzenjammer Kids, Piaf the Eiffel Tower, Dan Fishback's Faguettes, and the Leader.
thanks yoko! yeah, that picture is from hawaii. i was in a little brackish pond that you couldn't see very far down into. i was sure that i was going to get bitten. it was terrifying!
I want to invite you to my MySpacefriends group. Can you join my group "HIROHO music friends"? Do you have any informations or news? If you join to the group, please post it at the group BBS please!! And then we can share the informations or news of group members!!
there are a few people that keep me on myspace and you are one of them. Send me your address and I will send you an endless stream of weird vintage postcards! xoxoxox
ahhh! and now i've been listening to yr new (new?) myspace songs all day! i haven't heard onetwothree in such a long time! and union square! those were always my favorite unrecorded yoko songs. omg. can we please stay home together sometime? projects please? dude, send me emails, letz schedule in priiiivacy. yokodan-frenaissance yes now.
Thanks for adding me to your friends!! What a cool sounds and beats you have!! I like "The Morning Dumb" very much!! The song is really cool!!
By the way, I have some questions. Are you Japanese? Or have japanese parents? Can you use Japanese words?
Which is important for you in American spirits and Japanese spirits?
So I have some Myspace page. For non-japanese artists page is HIROHO/artist. And for Japanese artists page is HIROHO/JPN. I want to re-add you to the page of either.