The first such post was a review (and upload) of the Knife's legendarily scarce Minna Tanoshiku cassette, followed months later by a live review. Most ambitious of all was "Four Days of the Factory", both a career overview and discography review. Every one of these offerings brought grateful comments and emails from Knife Collectors worldwide; the Minna post even earned a Wikipedia link that continues to pay dividends in daily traffic.
Two fans were nice enough to send me rare Shonen tunes in return. First, I received a fantastic compilation disc featuring some hard-to-get covers, singles, and soundtrack tunes. A month and a half later, the post brought a gift that necessitated I take the work suit out of mothballs and tally-ho my ass back to the factory for another day: Shonen Knife's latest album.
Fun! Fun! Fun! (July 2007, Blues Interactions Japan)
- 重力無重力
- Barnacle（ふじつぼ）
- Flu（インフルエンザ）
- Ramones Forever
- Las Vegas
- Birthday
- ポップコーン(Popcorn)
- クッキーたべたい (I want to eat cake!)
- みなみのしま (Everyone's island)
- おやすみ(Goodnight)
The album cover reminds me of the hysterical Japanese variety show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!, which for over a decade has provided seemingly endless proof that we as Americans really settle for a safe sort of comedy, bowdlerized by politically correct finger-wagging and the rampant litigiousness of the easily aggrieved. Getting teabagged by young boys is but the least of it, friends. Come to think, why haven't the girls covered this song yet? Tomato Head needs to get them going on that, pronto.
"重力無重力"--Translation, anyone? No English words pop up on the lyrics sheet scanned for me in the package (thank you!). Whatever the subject, this first song is frizzled and frazzled punkish pop, a hearty bite of funnel cake post-Tilt-a-Whirl.
"Barnacle"--Hearkens right back to the Burning Farm days with a simple tale about an animal. Here, Naoko animates the titular crustacean with a sincere hope that it will somehow grow beyond just a free ride on a crab. However, "it couldn't escape from its fate" and ended up in the trash along with the crab post-grub. "Its hope didn't turn into reality." It's a metaphor, right? Sure. A metaphor for people who over-allegorize song lyrics.
"Flu"--Having heard this live, I knew this would be a barnstormer on record. It's in the classic vein of "Shonen Knife goes metal, bananas" tracks such as "Antonio Baka Guy", "Buddhas Face" and "Mosquitoes" but the new facts of Knife Life impact the formula profoundly. Only Naoko remains from the original lineup, with new Knife Etsuko upon the throne. In addition to youth and heart-skipping cuteness, she brings loose feet and hands to the party, providing a beat that skips with chin aloft under Naoko's infectious barrage.
"Ramones Forever"--This feels like a culmination for Shonen Knife. The Ramones provided such obvious inspiration to three unassuming girls from Osaka that just their continued existence seems like a sublime tribute; their undying devotion to making music that sets off a rainbow display of fireworks inside the hearts and minds of all who open up to it seems an unfuckwithable answer to the question, "Where the Ramones really that important?"
"I'll never forget/They are the best." That's all Eddie Vedder needed to say.
"Las Vegas"--A dichotomy for sure. Can you imagine li'l ol' Shonen Knife enjoying themselves in the Land That Decency Forgot? "Even if you say it's decadent/I don't mind 'cause it's fun." Slot machines are just shiny land-roaming bananafishes to Naoko.
"Birthday"--The Beatles song it is not. While having Naoko's daughter take a vocal turn here is "aww" and all, it's not a song that really grabs me.
"Popcorn"--There ain't a goddamn thing the matter with popcorn. The song or the food. It's just common sense. The key is expansion: too much heat too quickly leaves partially popped corn with hard centers; too little heat too slowly, it won't pop at all. Shonen Knife has a history of rich, heavy, full bags.
"I Want to Eat Cake!"--From the sound of it, a sludgy cake with the icing thick and sloppy. German Chocolate, perhaps? Best part is the sudden ascension into the soundtrack from some universe-spanning video game still stuck somewhere in the recesses of Shigeru Miyamoto's mind.
"Everyone's Island"--This is...OK. Average. Especially compared to the rejuvenated stuff that's come before. It's like playing Yar's Revenge immediately after Super Mario Galaxy.
"Goodnight"--A ballad with soft "little drummer girl" percussion and some delayed guitar work that sends precise, icy signals off the soul satellites. A gorgeous way to end it.
Verdict overall? Fun! Fun! Fun! is not a retread of what has come before, although it relies on the power of personality to merely stretch, bounce and in general frolic within firmly established boundaries and still make it sound like the best shit no music magazine or site puts on a year-end "Best Of" list because well jeez, doesn't that Arcade Fire record just scream innovative? Considering the magnificence of the Shonen template, diminishing this album on some sniveling charge of "no new ground broken here, move along folks" is either childish or brick-headed, take your pick.
There exists those listeners who demand progress of all musicians in all genres at all times. This is not only impossible--thus assuring plenty opportunity for indignation in print, on the Internet, and during songs you're trying to hear at a gig--but unfair. Unfair in the extremis to both artist and fan.
One of my favorite hip hop albums of the past several months is Ritual of Battle by Army of the Pharaohs. Like their equally fantastic debut, The Torture Papers, it consists of verses depicting typical genre braggadocio, almost-cartoonish violence, surprising references (from Lars Ulrich to Eddie Brock to Billy Dee Williams) and even some thoughtful wordplay. The beats are uniformly epic, be they driven by samples of furtive strings, Russian choirs, or filtered prog-rock. As a whole, it's hard to deny. Yet many have, decrying the "predictable" subject matter and "tired" production. Given more of same, they suddenly reject what previously they found irresistible. A listener that has moved on and wants more to take from music is one thing. But to expect (or even demand) concurrent growth in the artist is ridiculous. The creative impetus is too unique to set to a schedule. Accept or reject what it births, but to second-guess the very process is purest folly.
If you are a Shonen Knife wondering if you should pay the import price for this album, I ask: did you like Genki Shock? Heavy Songs? Yeah? Then put your money where your mouse is. I know I am.
Shonen Knife
"重力無重力"--Translation, anyone? No English words pop up on the lyrics sheet scanned for me in the package (thank you!). Whatever the subject, this first song is frizzled and frazzled punkish pop, a hearty bite of funnel cake post-Tilt-a-Whirl.
"Barnacle"--Hearkens right back to the Burning Farm days with a simple tale about an animal. Here, Naoko animates the titular crustacean with a sincere hope that it will somehow grow beyond just a free ride on a crab. However, "it couldn't escape from its fate" and ended up in the trash along with the crab post-grub. "Its hope didn't turn into reality." It's a metaphor, right? Sure. A metaphor for people who over-allegorize song lyrics.
"Flu"--Having heard this live, I knew this would be a barnstormer on record. It's in the classic vein of "Shonen Knife goes metal, bananas" tracks such as "Antonio Baka Guy", "Buddhas Face" and "Mosquitoes" but the new facts of Knife Life impact the formula profoundly. Only Naoko remains from the original lineup, with new Knife Etsuko upon the throne. In addition to youth and heart-skipping cuteness, she brings loose feet and hands to the party, providing a beat that skips with chin aloft under Naoko's infectious barrage.
"Ramones Forever"--This feels like a culmination for Shonen Knife. The Ramones provided such obvious inspiration to three unassuming girls from Osaka that just their continued existence seems like a sublime tribute; their undying devotion to making music that sets off a rainbow display of fireworks inside the hearts and minds of all who open up to it seems an unfuckwithable answer to the question, "Where the Ramones really that important?"
"I'll never forget/They are the best." That's all Eddie Vedder needed to say.
"Las Vegas"--A dichotomy for sure. Can you imagine li'l ol' Shonen Knife enjoying themselves in the Land That Decency Forgot? "Even if you say it's decadent/I don't mind 'cause it's fun." Slot machines are just shiny land-roaming bananafishes to Naoko.
"Birthday"--The Beatles song it is not. While having Naoko's daughter take a vocal turn here is "aww" and all, it's not a song that really grabs me.
"Popcorn"--There ain't a goddamn thing the matter with popcorn. The song or the food. It's just common sense. The key is expansion: too much heat too quickly leaves partially popped corn with hard centers; too little heat too slowly, it won't pop at all. Shonen Knife has a history of rich, heavy, full bags.
"I Want to Eat Cake!"--From the sound of it, a sludgy cake with the icing thick and sloppy. German Chocolate, perhaps? Best part is the sudden ascension into the soundtrack from some universe-spanning video game still stuck somewhere in the recesses of Shigeru Miyamoto's mind.
"Everyone's Island"--This is...OK. Average. Especially compared to the rejuvenated stuff that's come before. It's like playing Yar's Revenge immediately after Super Mario Galaxy.
"Goodnight"--A ballad with soft "little drummer girl" percussion and some delayed guitar work that sends precise, icy signals off the soul satellites. A gorgeous way to end it.
Verdict overall? Fun! Fun! Fun! is not a retread of what has come before, although it relies on the power of personality to merely stretch, bounce and in general frolic within firmly established boundaries and still make it sound like the best shit no music magazine or site puts on a year-end "Best Of" list because well jeez, doesn't that Arcade Fire record just scream innovative? Considering the magnificence of the Shonen template, diminishing this album on some sniveling charge of "no new ground broken here, move along folks" is either childish or brick-headed, take your pick.
There exists those listeners who demand progress of all musicians in all genres at all times. This is not only impossible--thus assuring plenty opportunity for indignation in print, on the Internet, and during songs you're trying to hear at a gig--but unfair. Unfair in the extremis to both artist and fan.
One of my favorite hip hop albums of the past several months is Ritual of Battle by Army of the Pharaohs. Like their equally fantastic debut, The Torture Papers, it consists of verses depicting typical genre braggadocio, almost-cartoonish violence, surprising references (from Lars Ulrich to Eddie Brock to Billy Dee Williams) and even some thoughtful wordplay. The beats are uniformly epic, be they driven by samples of furtive strings, Russian choirs, or filtered prog-rock. As a whole, it's hard to deny. Yet many have, decrying the "predictable" subject matter and "tired" production. Given more of same, they suddenly reject what previously they found irresistible. A listener that has moved on and wants more to take from music is one thing. But to expect (or even demand) concurrent growth in the artist is ridiculous. The creative impetus is too unique to set to a schedule. Accept or reject what it births, but to second-guess the very process is purest folly.
If you are a Shonen Knife wondering if you should pay the import price for this album, I ask: did you like Genki Shock? Heavy Songs? Yeah? Then put your money where your mouse is. I know I am.
Shonen Knife
I think the first song is something about levitation or something. I just gathered that from the video on the myspace page and from looking up the characters in the title. Beyond that, I'm clueless too.
ReplyDeleteTrack 1 is "Gravity, Zero-Gravity". See lyrics for it (and other songs on Fun! Fun! Fun!) in the June 20, 2007 blog entry at the "Music Square" fansite www010.upp.so-net.ne.jp/shonenknife
ReplyDelete