Hang on Little Tomato

Hang on Little Tomato, Pink Martini's long-awaited second album, features mostly original songs written by the band and its extended family. Drawing on themes articulated in its first album, Hang on Little Tomato is the result of the group's diverse collaborations and inspirations. From an advertisement for Hunt's Ketchup from a 1964 issue of LIFE magazine to a dance sequence in the 1950 Italian film Anna, Hang on Little Tomato includes songs in French, Italian, Japanese, Croatian, Spanish and English.

Pink Martini follow the around-the-world-in-a-dozen-songs thrills of Hey Eugene! with Splendor in the Grass, a mellower, simpler set of small pleasures. These are relative terms, however; the group's music is still well-traveled, with China Forbes singing in five languages (English, Spanish, Neapolitan, French, and Italian) instead of the six or so on Eugene!. However, Pink Martini opt for a more unified sound here, one that draws on the more straightforward lounge-pop of their debut, Sympathique, and the mellowness of '60s and '70s pop.

One of Stereolab's many spin-offs and side projects, Monade (pronounced mon-ard) originally featured Laetitia Sadier and Pram's Rosie Cuckston. The duo began collaborating in the mid-'90s, and Sadier recorded the first Monade tracks in 1996 at Pram's studio, with Cuckston playing and also helping to engineer the session. Some of these tracks were released by Duophonic as the Sunrise Telling and Witch Hazel/Ode to a Keyring singles. Sadier continued to record at Stereolab's own studio without Cuckston, and one of these tracks, "Cache Cache," ended up as a B-side on Stereolab's Calimero single. In between her Stereolab duties, Sadier completed enough material for Monade's debut album, Socialisme Ou Barbarie: The Bedroom Recordings, which was released by Duophonic in Europe and by Drag City in the U.S. in spring 2003.