Smokey & Miho

Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Smokey Hormel is most known for his session work with <a href="spotify:artist:7x83XhcMbOTl1UdYsPTuZM">Tom Waits</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3vbKDsSS70ZX9D2OcvbZmS">Beck</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6kACVPfCOnqzgfEF5ryl0x">Johnny Cash</a>. He's also had his hand in films. Hormel created music for <a href="spotify:artist:2Gu6Q05ExIGwHTF43kqLBI">David Lynch</a>'s The Cowboy and the Frenchmen (1987) and The Straight Story (1999), as well as music for the PBS television series The World of Art: Works in Progress. <a href="spotify:artist:21StrITbN3uLjv5OdsLAja">Miho Hatori</a> is the other half of the indie pop duo <a href="spotify:artist:2te8VJxgUxcElC8Uq6eJs6">Cibo Matto</a>. She's collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:03r4iKL2g2442PT9n2UKsx">the Beastie Boys</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3pkmfqaBNsMqnXus05PNfP">Handsome Boy Modeling School</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2Hg4SUNDuIn8xIidz9GxFw">Medeski, Martin & Wood</a>. In 2001, <a href="spotify:artist:21StrITbN3uLjv5OdsLAja">Hatori</a> lended vocals to the <a href="spotify:artist:3AA28KZvwAUcZuOKwyblJQ">Gorillaz</a> hit "19-2000." Individually, Hormel and <a href="spotify:artist:21StrITbN3uLjv5OdsLAja">Hatori</a> are master artists. Together they are Smokey & Miho, an indie pop dream celebrating world music.

Smokey & Miho joined forces in late 2000 to pay tribute to famed Brazilian guitarist/composer <a href="spotify:artist:0VSgciOd32tP2Yna1w4vDr">Baden Powell</a>. Hormel was already a massive fan of <a href="spotify:artist:0VSgciOd32tP2Yna1w4vDr">Powell</a>'s work and met the musician earlier that summer before his death. When he and <a href="spotify:artist:21StrITbN3uLjv5OdsLAja">Hatori</a> got together to play a show based on <a href="spotify:artist:0VSgciOd32tP2Yna1w4vDr">Powell</a>'s 1966 recording Os Afros Sambas, magic was in the works. In 2002, the Tempo de Amor EP captured Smokey & Miho's interpretations of <a href="spotify:artist:0VSgciOd32tP2Yna1w4vDr">Powell</a>. That same year, the duo's self-titled EP was released. It featured "Ocean in Your Eyes" from the tantalizing thriller Y Tu Mama Tambien. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi