Wherein the girls lose a major label record deal and one-half of the songwriting team.
Brand New Knife (March 1997, Big Deal)
So long, Virgin! Bye bye Svengali Porrazzo! Tin-eared scummo!
Welcome back, natural Knife!
"Explosion"--Very standard punky popsicle with a chorus that yearns for that great ice cream truck in the sky. And see, far be it from me to look for clues following the bands first release after their failed attempt at world domination, but...
Explosion! explosion!
if I leave it as it is and break away
Explosion! explosion!
I cant wait. there is no time anymore
Im very hungry. bring me something to eat
Im getting angry. destroy everything.
its like a battle field
Brand New Knife (March 1997, Big Deal)
So long, Virgin! Bye bye Svengali Porrazzo! Tin-eared scummo!
Welcome back, natural Knife!
"Explosion"--Very standard punky popsicle with a chorus that yearns for that great ice cream truck in the sky. And see, far be it from me to look for clues following the bands first release after their failed attempt at world domination, but...
Explosion! explosion!
if I leave it as it is and break away
Explosion! explosion!
I cant wait. there is no time anymore
Im very hungry. bring me something to eat
Im getting angry. destroy everything.
its like a battle field
"Wind Your Spring"--Gentle, sparkling pop with heartfelt lyrics almost hysterical in their basic truth. Another SK song that creases your face with a mile-smile, but it's pulling at your strings, not just nudging your sense of the ridiculous.
"The Perfect World"--Michie is right at home in this new, thoughtful milieu. "I listen to music to know that I am not alone/I read books to know that I am not alone." An American band does this, it charts high. Guaranteed.
"ESP"--Ah, back to the upbeat par usual. But the band takes care to not let the proceedings loosen up too much.
"Loop di Loop"--Gorging on carnival rides and food. It's 48 degrees outside right now and I want elephant ears. You see my dilemma!
"Wonder Wine"--Chords fall like ice sheets from roof slopes onto the pavement. Some unreal harmony on the choruses across this whole album.
"Magic Joe"--Hey, bulldog! You're the ugliest canine I ever seen. But Shonen Knife possess some of the most beautiful souls I ever heard.
"Fruits and Vegetables"--The pillow-soft backing vocals are a treat, but eh. First bump.
You'll notice throughout that I've kept other reviewers out of the equation, 'cause frankly, they all repeat themselves worse than they accuse Shonen Knife of the same thing. But for the BNK review on Amazon.com by one John Chandler, I make this notable exception:
"Fruits & Vegetables" is delightful, but they might want to shy away from food songs--that's Cibo Matto's turf.
"The Perfect World"--Michie is right at home in this new, thoughtful milieu. "I listen to music to know that I am not alone/I read books to know that I am not alone." An American band does this, it charts high. Guaranteed.
"ESP"--Ah, back to the upbeat par usual. But the band takes care to not let the proceedings loosen up too much.
"Loop di Loop"--Gorging on carnival rides and food. It's 48 degrees outside right now and I want elephant ears. You see my dilemma!
"Wonder Wine"--Chords fall like ice sheets from roof slopes onto the pavement. Some unreal harmony on the choruses across this whole album.
"Magic Joe"--Hey, bulldog! You're the ugliest canine I ever seen. But Shonen Knife possess some of the most beautiful souls I ever heard.
"Fruits and Vegetables"--The pillow-soft backing vocals are a treat, but eh. First bump.
You'll notice throughout that I've kept other reviewers out of the equation, 'cause frankly, they all repeat themselves worse than they accuse Shonen Knife of the same thing. But for the BNK review on Amazon.com by one John Chandler, I make this notable exception:
"Fruits & Vegetables" is delightful, but they might want to shy away from food songs--that's Cibo Matto's turf.
Excuse me? Cibo Matto's first album was in 1995; Shonen Knife were doing songs about food far back as '83, and don't forget that nine years before Cibo Matto came out, SK recorded the greatest song ever about edibles, "I Wanna Eat Choco Bars". Journalists never do their fuckin' homework.
"Tower of the Sun"--The dual guitar intro is striking, and guess this song (another mid-tempo sway) needed the verve.
"Keep On Rockin'"--No band should be able to pull this off. Look at that title; any group in this day and age is going to stuff three minutes jelly-tight with irony and self-aware musings. But not Shonen Knife. They totally want to keep on rockin'. It's what they do. Unfortunately for listeners, they seem to be trying too hard, and the end result is like Spinal Tap meets the 5.6.7.8.'s.
"Frogphobia"--A classic jangly chord progression that gives off a whiff of Burning Farm. People who don't bop and bob and shimmy-shake to this song are one more rape-invoking turn at Halo 3 from helpless.
"Buddha's Face"--Another in a series that includes "Antonio Baka Guy" and "Cobra vs. Mongoose"; hold your horns up, f'real this time. The words concern eyeballs, melted brains and fat rats. "You've gone too faaaaaaaar this time". Gulp.
Believe it or not, this mosaic of wretchedness and damnation comes straight from the brain of Naoko.
"One Week"--I could totally see this on an episode of Sesame Street, with a group of kids playing soccer. Just cut out the end, where the girls repeat the title incessantly in feral Yoko Ono style shrieks. Which is the best part about it, so sucks for the kids.
Happy Hour (June 1998, Big Deal)
"Shonen Knife Planet"--So B-52's, this. Wild spacey self-referencing samples and the heartwarming motto, "Peace, love and Shonen Knife". Some say Naoko's naive, derivative, a shameless aper and stereotype-reflector who gives nothing back of substance.
WELL SHE ISN'T!
"Konnichiwa"--Look! In the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Flying V! So undeniable, so free, so buzzsaw, it is still the guaranteed first song of their concerts ("Welcome to our show/Let's have a good time tonight"). Drywall rockets itself from my bedroom walls when I play this on the stereo. Paint peels and a half-full water bottle vibrates toward the edge of a desk. Snatch it up, finish it off, get back to bein' a dork. I was playing Nintendo Wii when this song started up, and immediately the console switched from my golf game and automatically started creating Shonen Knife Miis. The Yamano sisters are gonna kick my ass in tennis.
"Cookie Day"--Ah crap, it's ska. Except it doesn't suck. That melody flip is so Fab. I let Snoopy peep this song and of course he loved it, but was careful to add that, "For some of us, every day is Cookie Day."
"Hot Chocolate"--Dig the pots-and-panned guit.
"Sushi Bar"--Remember the Presidents of the United States of America? 'Bout '95/96 or so, they had that pair of novelty goofball songs, "Lump" and "Peaches"? And printed media always abbreviated their name--POTUSA--and stoners giggled? Yeah. Anyway, they help out here on the chorus. Highlight of their collective life, no question, 'cause this refrain is so strikingly populist and inspirational.
"Fish Eyes"--Michie woke up one day with the eyes of a fish, and more songwriting talent than your favorite band.
"Banana Chips"--A clap-ecstatic rave-up with lyrics that pretty much sum this band up. "Banana chips for you/Banana chips for me/In the afternoon, banana chips and tea".
The Youtube vid for the Japanese version of this track features three pages of comments, the most telling being "I swear Shonen Knife must be high when they come up with this stuff." Nah, believe it or not, a band just made something creative and crazy and was sober throughout. I know, weird. It's what happens when you love to do something so much the natural rush through your central nervous system shoots the same (legal, free) chemicals we all have in our bodies up into the brain and sets off your imagination. Try it.
"Dolly"--Sleepy acoustic; sounds like a ship in a bottle perched on some too-high shelf.
"Jackalope"--Porno-wah and seeping organ. Passable postcard punk.
"Gyoza"--You listening, Cibo Matto? Y'all were good, but Shonen Knife is for the children! The hyperactive, sugar-shocked, bad TV-addicted children!
"Catch Your Bus"--There's something about the beginning that tugs at my hippocampus. The persistent notes over three-chord splash. I just can't place it! Very of its decade. Shonen Knife should write a song about a hippopotamus going to college.
"People Traps"--"Any number of people traps/In society". I feel you, KnifeFam. Help me stay safe.
"His Pet"--It's like "Iron Man", but not that good, now. I love when the Knife gets heavy with recently-sliced fudge, but the vocal tricks are uncalled for.
"Daydream Believer"--In the vein of "Top of the World", but c'mon--they were practically made to cover this. They service it like a South Prospect Street hooker. Is it superior to the original? Is Japanese food superior to Chinese? Yeaaahhh.
Strawberry Sound (February 2000, Universal/MCA)
The first phase of Shonen Knife is over; after Happy Hour, Michie Nakatani left the band. It is assumed the split was amicable. With a band so notoriously reticent, assumptions are often all you can make.
The transformation from three- to two-piece after 18 years did not stagger the sisters. They took the departure of their friend as an opportunity to do something critics increasingly derided them for not doing. They expanded their sound and experimented with instruments beyond the typical guit-bass-drums setup. The finalized album would be their best since Baka Guy.
"Side 1"--Nine-second intro. Dunno what video game they jacked for this, but I wanna play it!
"Buggy Bug"--Devil-running bass and a pest of a guitar pattern burrows deep into the brain. The solo departs from the clean lines and note-mirroring they're known to rely on, a maelstrom that implies some sick vermin orgy.
"Wild Life"--Smart and speedy...and in Japanese. Baby baby, fallin' in love...
"Nya Nya"--The title is the unrelenting hook, and a welcome recall of those "don't-give-a-fig" 80s, when SK would just throw some walkie-talkie transmission in a song about the solar system, or quote a department store catalogue and defy you to deny the validity of it all.
"Gokiburi"--Detective John Shaft races to the scene in a pink Cadillac, stopping by a fire hydrant in front of Kim's Music. He looks down and sees not spurting water but a pile of cockroaches streaming into, out of, and around a discarded taco. "This shit ain't fit for evidence control!" he spits out in undisguised disgust. "I'm-a hit up that Shonen Knife concert and then come back here and canvas the motherfuckin' neighborhood. Bitch betta have my Merzbox."
"Super Big Black Bass"--Not reminiscent of the Let's Knife original. It's faster, louder, and is in Japanese. Amazing how the band just hops back and forth from style to style on this album, from gnarled rock to playful roll.
"CM Song"--Hilarious. A parody of Japanese advert music that sounds like a sped-up sample of cats copulating on a Casio. The cincher is Naoko's whispered hook, "This is the CM song", completely aware of how brain dead everything sounds.
"Side 2"--We have now stepped into a New Age bookstore/massage parlor.
"Punk Rock Star"--Pithy. No, I don't have a lisp.
"Sesame"--Sounds like a Brand New Knife castoff but better. Naoko forgets better hooks than most songwriters these days have committed to record. This one is so deeply embedded in my brain I can smell the metal.
"Kaiki Game"--James Bond is back in the Orient! You Only Live Knife.
"Chinese Disco"--Clubby-type track. Cool.
"Mosquitoes"--"I am the mosquito sacrifice!" Holy crap on a crutch. As close as Shonen Knife will ever get to Slayer. You need to plunk down the 40-50 bucks an import copy will run you right now.
(And if that lightning-gallop drum part sounds too proficient to be Atsuko, well, it is...the late Mana "China" Nishiura hopped onto the stool for this one. She would later spend three years as the group's touring drummer.)
"Mayonnaise Addiction"--After the disorienting, stimulating "Mosquitoes", any subsequent track is going to sound weaker and non-sweaty. Even this nice Rubber Soul nod.
"Synthesizer"--Like Alan Parsons, but minus the games people play. Pure interplanetary economics. Naoko explained it thusly:
"It was 1990, the economic situation in Japan was very good. "Flower Expo '90" was held in Osaka. There was an entertainment using water (like Disneyland's water show) at the Expo. "Synthesizer" was inspired by the background music of the water show! And, around 1990 was in the middle of the good economical situation in Japan. Many companies spend much money to promote such kinds of events. I wrote this song in Boom to Bust years."
Candy Rock (March 2003, Warner Indies Network)
The most elusive Shonen Knife album ever! That was released on CD, I mean!
"Mass Communication Breakdown"--Stripped of extraneous instrumentation, the Knife are once more exemplars supremo of the emosawa-powah trio template. Listeners amused by "Engrish" will be disappointed, as this and all subsequent songs are sung in the band's native tongue.
"Messy Room"--Can you imagine a member of SK ever trashing a room in anger? Even after the 500th interview asking them what touring with Nirvana was like, I can't imagine they'd do anything worse than hurl an empty pudding cup against a wall, or maybe snap a bare Satay stick in half.
"Wonder Land"--Hey, dude! Sweet and misty, the love before the love of your life.
"Walrus"--A rave-up with milk and Goldfish. Calvin Johnson's baritone walking alongside Naoko on the chorus is worth a Snicker snack.
"Virtual Reality"--So yeah, the ladies are fighting to keep their own interest piqued, much less mine. Sometimes you just need to knock back a few shots before you get on the merry-go-round, right?
"Crossword"--Far and away the highlight of Candy Rock is this Atsuko-sung ode to the last dream Charlotte ever had: Wilbur cured cancer, then followed it up by banning bacon, thereby cementing his status as the most divisive creature who ever walked the planet Earth.
"Doubts"--Can you imagine a member of SK ever experiencing doubt? Maybe over whether or not to order the orange swirl or chocolate swirl. Early Cars vibe, hold the keys. Chill out and just wait for the report of knuckles against wood.
"Monkey Brand Oolong Tea"--Lockstep, lacks spunk.
I can't urge you to hunt this one down. Maybe hope that someone will upload "Crossword" on YT.
Heavy Songs (October 2003, Confidential)
"A Map Master"--More lovingly regurgitated Ramones, dealing with difficulty reading directions. Irresistible.
"A.A.A."--Or, "Ah Ah Ah". More accurately, Eh Eh Eh.
"Golden Years of Rock 'n' Roll"--Some Knife collectors on the Internet acted like Michie's exit was akin to finding out Naoko was a wartime geisha. Total hogwash.
"Tower of the Sun"--The dual guitar intro is striking, and guess this song (another mid-tempo sway) needed the verve.
"Keep On Rockin'"--No band should be able to pull this off. Look at that title; any group in this day and age is going to stuff three minutes jelly-tight with irony and self-aware musings. But not Shonen Knife. They totally want to keep on rockin'. It's what they do. Unfortunately for listeners, they seem to be trying too hard, and the end result is like Spinal Tap meets the 5.6.7.8.'s.
"Frogphobia"--A classic jangly chord progression that gives off a whiff of Burning Farm. People who don't bop and bob and shimmy-shake to this song are one more rape-invoking turn at Halo 3 from helpless.
"Buddha's Face"--Another in a series that includes "Antonio Baka Guy" and "Cobra vs. Mongoose"; hold your horns up, f'real this time. The words concern eyeballs, melted brains and fat rats. "You've gone too faaaaaaaar this time". Gulp.
Believe it or not, this mosaic of wretchedness and damnation comes straight from the brain of Naoko.
"One Week"--I could totally see this on an episode of Sesame Street, with a group of kids playing soccer. Just cut out the end, where the girls repeat the title incessantly in feral Yoko Ono style shrieks. Which is the best part about it, so sucks for the kids.
Happy Hour (June 1998, Big Deal)
"Shonen Knife Planet"--So B-52's, this. Wild spacey self-referencing samples and the heartwarming motto, "Peace, love and Shonen Knife". Some say Naoko's naive, derivative, a shameless aper and stereotype-reflector who gives nothing back of substance.
WELL SHE ISN'T!
"Konnichiwa"--Look! In the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Flying V! So undeniable, so free, so buzzsaw, it is still the guaranteed first song of their concerts ("Welcome to our show/Let's have a good time tonight"). Drywall rockets itself from my bedroom walls when I play this on the stereo. Paint peels and a half-full water bottle vibrates toward the edge of a desk. Snatch it up, finish it off, get back to bein' a dork. I was playing Nintendo Wii when this song started up, and immediately the console switched from my golf game and automatically started creating Shonen Knife Miis. The Yamano sisters are gonna kick my ass in tennis.
"Cookie Day"--Ah crap, it's ska. Except it doesn't suck. That melody flip is so Fab. I let Snoopy peep this song and of course he loved it, but was careful to add that, "For some of us, every day is Cookie Day."
"Hot Chocolate"--Dig the pots-and-panned guit.
"Sushi Bar"--Remember the Presidents of the United States of America? 'Bout '95/96 or so, they had that pair of novelty goofball songs, "Lump" and "Peaches"? And printed media always abbreviated their name--POTUSA--and stoners giggled? Yeah. Anyway, they help out here on the chorus. Highlight of their collective life, no question, 'cause this refrain is so strikingly populist and inspirational.
"Fish Eyes"--Michie woke up one day with the eyes of a fish, and more songwriting talent than your favorite band.
"Banana Chips"--A clap-ecstatic rave-up with lyrics that pretty much sum this band up. "Banana chips for you/Banana chips for me/In the afternoon, banana chips and tea".
The Youtube vid for the Japanese version of this track features three pages of comments, the most telling being "I swear Shonen Knife must be high when they come up with this stuff." Nah, believe it or not, a band just made something creative and crazy and was sober throughout. I know, weird. It's what happens when you love to do something so much the natural rush through your central nervous system shoots the same (legal, free) chemicals we all have in our bodies up into the brain and sets off your imagination. Try it.
"Dolly"--Sleepy acoustic; sounds like a ship in a bottle perched on some too-high shelf.
"Jackalope"--Porno-wah and seeping organ. Passable postcard punk.
"Gyoza"--You listening, Cibo Matto? Y'all were good, but Shonen Knife is for the children! The hyperactive, sugar-shocked, bad TV-addicted children!
"Catch Your Bus"--There's something about the beginning that tugs at my hippocampus. The persistent notes over three-chord splash. I just can't place it! Very of its decade. Shonen Knife should write a song about a hippopotamus going to college.
"People Traps"--"Any number of people traps/In society". I feel you, KnifeFam. Help me stay safe.
"His Pet"--It's like "Iron Man", but not that good, now. I love when the Knife gets heavy with recently-sliced fudge, but the vocal tricks are uncalled for.
"Daydream Believer"--In the vein of "Top of the World", but c'mon--they were practically made to cover this. They service it like a South Prospect Street hooker. Is it superior to the original? Is Japanese food superior to Chinese? Yeaaahhh.
Strawberry Sound (February 2000, Universal/MCA)
The first phase of Shonen Knife is over; after Happy Hour, Michie Nakatani left the band. It is assumed the split was amicable. With a band so notoriously reticent, assumptions are often all you can make.
The transformation from three- to two-piece after 18 years did not stagger the sisters. They took the departure of their friend as an opportunity to do something critics increasingly derided them for not doing. They expanded their sound and experimented with instruments beyond the typical guit-bass-drums setup. The finalized album would be their best since Baka Guy.
"Side 1"--Nine-second intro. Dunno what video game they jacked for this, but I wanna play it!
"Buggy Bug"--Devil-running bass and a pest of a guitar pattern burrows deep into the brain. The solo departs from the clean lines and note-mirroring they're known to rely on, a maelstrom that implies some sick vermin orgy.
"Wild Life"--Smart and speedy...and in Japanese. Baby baby, fallin' in love...
"Nya Nya"--The title is the unrelenting hook, and a welcome recall of those "don't-give-a-fig" 80s, when SK would just throw some walkie-talkie transmission in a song about the solar system, or quote a department store catalogue and defy you to deny the validity of it all.
"Gokiburi"--Detective John Shaft races to the scene in a pink Cadillac, stopping by a fire hydrant in front of Kim's Music. He looks down and sees not spurting water but a pile of cockroaches streaming into, out of, and around a discarded taco. "This shit ain't fit for evidence control!" he spits out in undisguised disgust. "I'm-a hit up that Shonen Knife concert and then come back here and canvas the motherfuckin' neighborhood. Bitch betta have my Merzbox."
"Super Big Black Bass"--Not reminiscent of the Let's Knife original. It's faster, louder, and is in Japanese. Amazing how the band just hops back and forth from style to style on this album, from gnarled rock to playful roll.
"CM Song"--Hilarious. A parody of Japanese advert music that sounds like a sped-up sample of cats copulating on a Casio. The cincher is Naoko's whispered hook, "This is the CM song", completely aware of how brain dead everything sounds.
"Side 2"--We have now stepped into a New Age bookstore/massage parlor.
"Punk Rock Star"--Pithy. No, I don't have a lisp.
"Sesame"--Sounds like a Brand New Knife castoff but better. Naoko forgets better hooks than most songwriters these days have committed to record. This one is so deeply embedded in my brain I can smell the metal.
"Kaiki Game"--James Bond is back in the Orient! You Only Live Knife.
"Chinese Disco"--Clubby-type track. Cool.
"Mosquitoes"--"I am the mosquito sacrifice!" Holy crap on a crutch. As close as Shonen Knife will ever get to Slayer. You need to plunk down the 40-50 bucks an import copy will run you right now.
(And if that lightning-gallop drum part sounds too proficient to be Atsuko, well, it is...the late Mana "China" Nishiura hopped onto the stool for this one. She would later spend three years as the group's touring drummer.)
"Mayonnaise Addiction"--After the disorienting, stimulating "Mosquitoes", any subsequent track is going to sound weaker and non-sweaty. Even this nice Rubber Soul nod.
"Synthesizer"--Like Alan Parsons, but minus the games people play. Pure interplanetary economics. Naoko explained it thusly:
"It was 1990, the economic situation in Japan was very good. "Flower Expo '90" was held in Osaka. There was an entertainment using water (like Disneyland's water show) at the Expo. "Synthesizer" was inspired by the background music of the water show! And, around 1990 was in the middle of the good economical situation in Japan. Many companies spend much money to promote such kinds of events. I wrote this song in Boom to Bust years."
Candy Rock (March 2003, Warner Indies Network)
The most elusive Shonen Knife album ever! That was released on CD, I mean!
"Mass Communication Breakdown"--Stripped of extraneous instrumentation, the Knife are once more exemplars supremo of the emosawa-powah trio template. Listeners amused by "Engrish" will be disappointed, as this and all subsequent songs are sung in the band's native tongue.
"Messy Room"--Can you imagine a member of SK ever trashing a room in anger? Even after the 500th interview asking them what touring with Nirvana was like, I can't imagine they'd do anything worse than hurl an empty pudding cup against a wall, or maybe snap a bare Satay stick in half.
"Wonder Land"--Hey, dude! Sweet and misty, the love before the love of your life.
"Walrus"--A rave-up with milk and Goldfish. Calvin Johnson's baritone walking alongside Naoko on the chorus is worth a Snicker snack.
"Virtual Reality"--So yeah, the ladies are fighting to keep their own interest piqued, much less mine. Sometimes you just need to knock back a few shots before you get on the merry-go-round, right?
"Crossword"--Far and away the highlight of Candy Rock is this Atsuko-sung ode to the last dream Charlotte ever had: Wilbur cured cancer, then followed it up by banning bacon, thereby cementing his status as the most divisive creature who ever walked the planet Earth.
"Doubts"--Can you imagine a member of SK ever experiencing doubt? Maybe over whether or not to order the orange swirl or chocolate swirl. Early Cars vibe, hold the keys. Chill out and just wait for the report of knuckles against wood.
"Monkey Brand Oolong Tea"--Lockstep, lacks spunk.
I can't urge you to hunt this one down. Maybe hope that someone will upload "Crossword" on YT.
Heavy Songs (October 2003, Confidential)
"A Map Master"--More lovingly regurgitated Ramones, dealing with difficulty reading directions. Irresistible."A.A.A."--Or, "Ah Ah Ah". More accurately, Eh Eh Eh.
"Golden Years of Rock 'n' Roll"--Some Knife collectors on the Internet acted like Michie's exit was akin to finding out Naoko was a wartime geisha. Total hogwash.
I got news my favourite band
Would go on a reunion concert tour
So I went to a ticket agency
It was very high priced
But it's okay, it might be a precious time for me
It's all right, I can't wait to go
I took out their old records
From deep inside my closet
But my old record player
Didn't work very well
So I bought their newly released greatest hits CD
Oh how nice, now I'm ready for the show
Rock, rock
I don't hear rock music anymore
Rock, rock
All I need is .....
Rock, rock
I don't want techno anymore
Rock, rock
All I need is .....
Hello, golden years of rock n' roll
Welcome back to the twenty-first century
Finally the day of the concert came
And I was at the big arena
The band appeared on the stage
They look different than before
What happened to their long hair and slender bodies?
I was disappointed by their looks
But their live performance was
Fantastic, everybody there had fun
Two hours later, the show was over
I hurried over to buy something
Then I got a cool black short-sleeved tee shirt
Anyway, the music made me so happy
Cheer up! Cheer up!
Rock will never die
Cheer up! Cheer up!
Rock forever
Would go on a reunion concert tour
So I went to a ticket agency
It was very high priced
But it's okay, it might be a precious time for me
It's all right, I can't wait to go
I took out their old records
From deep inside my closet
But my old record player
Didn't work very well
So I bought their newly released greatest hits CD
Oh how nice, now I'm ready for the show
Rock, rock
I don't hear rock music anymore
Rock, rock
All I need is .....
Rock, rock
I don't want techno anymore
Rock, rock
All I need is .....
Hello, golden years of rock n' roll
Welcome back to the twenty-first century
Finally the day of the concert came
And I was at the big arena
The band appeared on the stage
They look different than before
What happened to their long hair and slender bodies?
I was disappointed by their looks
But their live performance was
Fantastic, everybody there had fun
Two hours later, the show was over
I hurried over to buy something
Then I got a cool black short-sleeved tee shirt
Anyway, the music made me so happy
Cheer up! Cheer up!
Rock will never die
Cheer up! Cheer up!
Rock forever
Wow...I don't even know how much I would co-sign that sentiment, but they're forcing me to believe it. Nothing to decode (and you know how much I love my metaphor pin), nothing to feel ambivalent about. MWAUH!
"Rubberband"--Samples a comical rubberband effect. Powerful!
"Heavy Song"--Not really, though. Mournful organ and tapped cymbals, loping and hazy.
"A Boogie Monster"--Who ate a map master. I think. Maurice Sendak told that story before, anyway.
"Mushroom Hair Cut"--By-the-numbers rockabilly. What the hell happened to the "Strawberry Sound"?
"Whatever"--Legendary among fans as the first song penned (and sung) by Atsuko. It is cool, but goddamn y'all, curb ya dogs.
"Pigmy Jerboa"--Always makes me think of ex-Swan Jarboe. The piano doesn't though, very light on its feet and unjarring.
"An Elephant Insect"--This song features Ron Sexsmith, but shut up a second. A couple weeks ago Patrick and I watched an episode of Mythbusters where the hosts, Adam and Jamie, sought to either confirm or bust the myth that elephants are scared of mice. Setting up shop in the African wild, they rigged a dung with string so that when the pachyderm approached, they would yank the dung away to reveal a white mouse that had been hiding underneath. And wouldn't you know, that elephant backed off. Crazed.
"Computer Language"--A flashback to the morphing, exploratory sounds displayed on the last album, all found sound and hoarded menace pushed to the limits.
"Mango Juice"--A parenthetical tribute to George Harrison, who had recently passed. The udu strains now serve as the bands intro music at their gigs. Seiichi Yamamoto took time out of a daily schedule of seventeen gigs and four studio sessions to add some guitar flourishes.
Genki Shock (April 2006, Glue Factory)
Glue Factory? Isn't that where you send past-prime horses?
The liners state it plainly: "No synthesizers".
Yeah, 'cause their presence totally fucked up Strawberry Sound! I don't know why they feel the need to offer that disclaimer.
"Introduction"--The refrain of "Big big, big cat!" mixed low for a half-minute or so. A self-solving mystery.
"SPAM"--A song decrying the enlarged penile horrors of "Speeuhyam" emails.
"Jeans Blue"--Meh to the feh.
"Anime Phenomenon"--Reminiscent of "Quavers", minus the deity-deafening drums. Shonen Knife doing a song called "Anime Phenomenon" was as inevitable as the new Wu-Tang album totally ruling.
"Spider House"--Heavy and pretty. There's mayonnaise on this grilled cheese sandwich, what?
"My Magic Glasses"--Your Average B-Side.
"The Queen of Darkness"--Charming, for sure. Brooding axe chops that make way for lollipop licks.
"Forest Walk"--To the C-side.
"A World Atlas"--Very helpful, one would imagine, to a map master. Compass bass provides respite.
"Broccoli Man"--Sounds like a smokey club where Shonen Knife are opening for a syringe that does spoken word.
"Rock Society"--That bassline is the freshest thing here.
"Under My Pillow"--Do I like it or not? I can't...D-side.
"Giant Kitty"--Ah, so that's where you got the intro from! Always recommended to end the album with the best track, even if it's not so advisable to have it be so far ahead of every other song it's like a different band showed up at the studio. Felines worldwide purr their appreciation at this buzzsaw homage. (And thank you, Naoko, for letting me sing the chorus from the crowd in DC last month.)
Fun! Fun! Fun! (2007, Blues Interactions Japan)
The 30-second snippets I heard on a Japanese online store sounded instantly more promising than Genki Shock, and seeing "Flu" and "Ramones Forever" live in November just made me antsier to hear the entire album. When I do, I'll put in a review.
----------------------------------------------------
The moral of the Shonen Knife story is that over 14 albums, the "Osaka Ramones" can be safely said to have not overstayed their welcome. Nor can the charge of "samey" be thrown at them and actually stick.
The first three albums and Strawberry Sound are positive must-owns (even with the latter's hefty import price). None, bar Candy Rock, should be absolutely avoided.
I hope this has opened your eyes and ears a bit to the wonder world that is Shonen Knife. Or as I like to call them, Musical Velcro.
"Rubberband"--Samples a comical rubberband effect. Powerful!
"Heavy Song"--Not really, though. Mournful organ and tapped cymbals, loping and hazy.
"A Boogie Monster"--Who ate a map master. I think. Maurice Sendak told that story before, anyway.
"Mushroom Hair Cut"--By-the-numbers rockabilly. What the hell happened to the "Strawberry Sound"?
"Whatever"--Legendary among fans as the first song penned (and sung) by Atsuko. It is cool, but goddamn y'all, curb ya dogs.
"Pigmy Jerboa"--Always makes me think of ex-Swan Jarboe. The piano doesn't though, very light on its feet and unjarring.
"An Elephant Insect"--This song features Ron Sexsmith, but shut up a second. A couple weeks ago Patrick and I watched an episode of Mythbusters where the hosts, Adam and Jamie, sought to either confirm or bust the myth that elephants are scared of mice. Setting up shop in the African wild, they rigged a dung with string so that when the pachyderm approached, they would yank the dung away to reveal a white mouse that had been hiding underneath. And wouldn't you know, that elephant backed off. Crazed.
"Computer Language"--A flashback to the morphing, exploratory sounds displayed on the last album, all found sound and hoarded menace pushed to the limits.
"Mango Juice"--A parenthetical tribute to George Harrison, who had recently passed. The udu strains now serve as the bands intro music at their gigs. Seiichi Yamamoto took time out of a daily schedule of seventeen gigs and four studio sessions to add some guitar flourishes.
Genki Shock (April 2006, Glue Factory)
Glue Factory? Isn't that where you send past-prime horses?
The liners state it plainly: "No synthesizers".
Yeah, 'cause their presence totally fucked up Strawberry Sound! I don't know why they feel the need to offer that disclaimer.
"Introduction"--The refrain of "Big big, big cat!" mixed low for a half-minute or so. A self-solving mystery.
"SPAM"--A song decrying the enlarged penile horrors of "Speeuhyam" emails.
"Jeans Blue"--Meh to the feh.
"Anime Phenomenon"--Reminiscent of "Quavers", minus the deity-deafening drums. Shonen Knife doing a song called "Anime Phenomenon" was as inevitable as the new Wu-Tang album totally ruling.
"Spider House"--Heavy and pretty. There's mayonnaise on this grilled cheese sandwich, what?
"My Magic Glasses"--Your Average B-Side.
"The Queen of Darkness"--Charming, for sure. Brooding axe chops that make way for lollipop licks.
"Forest Walk"--To the C-side.
"A World Atlas"--Very helpful, one would imagine, to a map master. Compass bass provides respite.
"Broccoli Man"--Sounds like a smokey club where Shonen Knife are opening for a syringe that does spoken word.
"Rock Society"--That bassline is the freshest thing here.
"Under My Pillow"--Do I like it or not? I can't...D-side.
"Giant Kitty"--Ah, so that's where you got the intro from! Always recommended to end the album with the best track, even if it's not so advisable to have it be so far ahead of every other song it's like a different band showed up at the studio. Felines worldwide purr their appreciation at this buzzsaw homage. (And thank you, Naoko, for letting me sing the chorus from the crowd in DC last month.)
Fun! Fun! Fun! (2007, Blues Interactions Japan)
The 30-second snippets I heard on a Japanese online store sounded instantly more promising than Genki Shock, and seeing "Flu" and "Ramones Forever" live in November just made me antsier to hear the entire album. When I do, I'll put in a review.
----------------------------------------------------
The moral of the Shonen Knife story is that over 14 albums, the "Osaka Ramones" can be safely said to have not overstayed their welcome. Nor can the charge of "samey" be thrown at them and actually stick.
The first three albums and Strawberry Sound are positive must-owns (even with the latter's hefty import price). None, bar Candy Rock, should be absolutely avoided.
I hope this has opened your eyes and ears a bit to the wonder world that is Shonen Knife. Or as I like to call them, Musical Velcro.
