Free Time
Time and A Half For Weekend Work: The Music of Shonen Knife
29 Sunday May 2011
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
in29 Sunday May 2011
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
inFree Time
08 Thursday Jan 2009
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
inTags
I’m proud of much that I’ve put on this blog. So far as I can tell, nowhere else on the Internet can you find reviews of Peanuts television specials on the level that you will find here. A few chapters of my upcoming self-published Sonic Youth tour journals have popped up, hopefully with the result of whetted appetities. But perhaps my most notable contribution(s) can be found by searching “Shonen Knife” in the blogger search bar to the upper left. Scroll down and you’ll see the most complete overview of the band’s recorded output spread out over five posts, a concert review, and the one that started it all, my review and upload of the Knife’s first-ever release, the Minna Tanoshiku cassette. Where else can you find so much friggin’ Shonen in the blogworld? And they deserve every sentence my fingers can flurry forth.
So you think I’d know when Shonen Knife releases a new album. (In November, even!) Japanese-only release or not, that’s hardly an excuse. That’s de rigeur in Knife land these days. I should be up on this, should be scouring Ebay so I can get it at a price slightly less pocket-gouging than standard export CDs traditionally demand (just like I did with their last release, fun!fun!fun!).
I feel especially that I am losing out with this one. Feast your eyes on that tracklisting: “Muddy Bubbles Hell”, “Deer Biscuits”, “BBQ Party”, “Your Guitar”. This is Naoko Yamano on the top of her title game, no question. Also, yes, the final song is a cover of one of my favorite songs of the 70s.
Until I can get ahold of this CD (and punch in for another day of the factory), this will have to suffice. “Put the Knife under the scalpel”, I wish I’d thought of that.
15 Thursday May 2008
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
inTags
Youtube find of the day, possibly week (there are 4 days left). The members of Redd Kross, Wendy Horowitz, and assorted West Coast scenesters sing “Take Me Home Country Road” at the dinner table while the girls from Shonen Knife sort of just stare off into space.
20 Sunday Jan 2008
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
inWhenever a Shonen Knife post appears on this blog, it’s like a fresh batch of lemon cookies in Antarctica. That’s not me tooting my own writerly horn, that’s just the natural conclusion I’ve come to.
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“–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.
08 Saturday Dec 2007
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
in1997-2007
Brand New Knife (March 1997, Big Deal)
You got some brand new roller skates, I got a brand new knife…
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…
Im very hungry. bring me something to eat
“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.
“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)
1. Mass Communication Breakdown
2. Messy Room
3. Wonder Land
4. Seiuchi
5. Virtual Reality
6. Cross Word
7. Nazo
8. Monkey Brand Oolong Tea
Another import; I’ve heard it once, and burned the tracks I liked to CD-R because it just let me down so much. Calvin Johnson guesting on “Seiuchi” is about 15 years too late. If I can find the disc soon, I’ll edit my review in.
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 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
“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?
Atsuko does double duty (bass/drums) on all but four songs, when future official member Etsuko Nakanishi takes over. For a tidbit that’s sure to impress some people, Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 adds vocals on the next-to-last song.
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)
1. 重力無重力
2. Barnacle(ふじつぼ)
3. Flu(インフルエンザ)
4. Ramones Forever
5. Las Vegas
6. Birthday
7. ポップコーン(Popcorn)
8. クッキーたべたい (I want to eat cake!)
9. みなみのしま (Everyone’s island)
10. おやすみ(Goodnight)
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.
07 Friday Dec 2007
Posted Shonen Knife
in1990-1996
When Gastanka/Rockville reissued Baka Guy in December 1990, bonuses were dependent on format. People who bought the vinyl got the first 5 live songs and three covers: “Chains” (by the Supremes), “Suzy is a Headbanger” (Ramones, duh) and “I Wanna Be Your (Wo)man” (Beatles). You gotta hand it to these women, when they go for the covers, they don’t shy from stepping to the biggest cheese wheels in the fridge. I am sad and peeved to report I still I have heard none of these songs, and scour Ebay for this LP like Jim O’Rourke for rare Japanese psych-folk from the 60s.
The CD and cassette, on the other hand, got all 8 live tracks; a fair trade-off, I’d have to think.
The offerings from 1990 are a window into the cozy world of a band of secretaries fresh off a hero’s welcome in the previously-thought impenetrable American rock scene. The highlight is “Baggs” a crabby-sounding toss that namedropped Louis Vuitton a full decade and change before Kanye West. Atsuko’s drumming is not only the best performance you’ll hear from her in any capacity, but its insistent shuffle still sounds current amid a wealth of West Coast dance-punk racket-gangs.
The ’82-ers are naturally inferior in terms of recording quality, but are top-to-bottom essential nonetheless. Dinky and doinky, not too far from sounding like three tipsy bridesmaids who just threw the wedding band off the dais so they could show off what Rocket to Russia taught them.
Okay, so what did it teach them? Guts. Honesty as godhead. Rock star as dayjob-tripper. It’s audible (hell, tangible) in the woozy giggle of “Spider”, the literally not-yet-up-to-speed punk rock that is “Secret Dance”, and the scraped-raw “Realist”. Shonen Knife would never show that much bone through the skin again.
712 (Nippon Crown, July 1991; Rockville, August 1991; MCA/Victor, November 1995; Oglio, January 2005)
So the Americans have gotten their minimum wage record collector claws on the Knife. Hooray for wider distribution in the States, but boo to uneven mixes between the Japanese and U.S versions. For whatever reason, the mixes differ for “The Moon World” (more prominent keyb on the Rockville verz), “Blue Oyster Cult” and most tragically, “Redd Kross” (see below).
“Shonen Knife”–The blare of an alarm clock followed by Naoko’s diamond-precious “Good morning, Shonen Knife freaks!” Well, they are now certainly aware they have a following. Whether or not they are clever enough to pull off joyous self-aware songwriting is entirely up to the listeners. Naoko raps over the isolated drums from “Don’t Bring Me Down”, if that’s any indication.
“Lazybone“–A nifty Beatles rewrite and dare I say one of the great choruses of the last 25 years.
“Blue Oyster Cult”–It’s actually about oyster poisoning. “Oyster brings evil upon me”. Yeah, eat that, Meltzer. Pared-back and enchanting, fun for the whole fat family!
“Rain”–The inevitable Beatles cover, with Redd Kross brutha Steve McDonald on the assist. This is actually not a shambling disgrace, despite what reviews written by curmudgeonly self-appointed guardians of the Liverpudlian lad legacy may say. These are the same people who think Lennon’s songs on Abbey Road are better than McCartney’s. Bleh.
“The Luck of the Irish”–Now it’s Jeff McDonald and Naoko duetting on a Lennon/Ono song, and yeah, I don’t really know what’s going on or why it belongs on anything other than a Tater Totz record.
“My Favorite Town”–It ain’t East St. Louis! Michie restrung her bass with rubberbands for this one, I see.
“Faith Healer”–Written by the band Big Dipper just for the Knife, this mid tempo charger is a two-faced beast. Thankfully they didn’t fuck up the guitar mix for this song.
“Redd Kross“—Here is how this song is supposed to sound. It’s supposed to make you jump and sing and shout and hoot and speak in tongues and twist yourself apeshit with arms towards the heavens as your feet pound the ceiling of Hell. The tension gathered up in this song is like hoarded trick-or-treat candy that you can’t wait to unwrap and gorge upon before bed. You’ll get sick! You’ll eat more in the morning!
The Rockville version is absolutely insipid in comparison, practically no guitar oomph whatsoever. Who dropped the ball and was it promptly picked up and thrown at their heads as punishment?
“White Flag”–How you gonna put the two band tribute songs back-to-back when the second one just isn’t very good (band and song)? And no, Michie’s rapid reiteration of “White Frag! White Frag!” doesn’t strike me as funny. Slap yourself.
“Superstar”–Lamentably, not a Carpenters cover (that would come later). Cool song, but fails to transcend the room it’s in. Vintage Knife transcends the fucking house.
“Expo ’90” & “Fruit Loop Dreams”–Pairing these together because they feature lyrics written by Yankee outsiders: Steve Davis and Bill “Pat Fear” Bartell. Behold what American men think Shonen Knife should be singing about. Bartell in particular needs a near-death experience for making Naoko sing shit like: “There’s a big bird named Toucan Sam/With a pretty colored beak like a candy cane”. “Expo” at least has a swift guitar hook going for it.
“The Moon World”–Bears a veryclose resemblance to “Riding on the Rocket” in both melody and subject matter, but features keyboards and wild yelling. I want to find the Japanese lyrics so I can sing along with the chorus while dancing with my Santa Snoopy.
“Baggs“–The Live In Japan version is galaxies better.
In case you’re wondering about the title…
The album was named after the contraction of the Japanese words for the numbers 7 (nana), 1 (ichi), 2 (futatu), which, when contracted, sound like “na-i-fu.” Naifu is the imported word in Japanese for “knife.”
Let’s Knife (Virgin 1992)
Oh how friggin‘ colorful. At least their entire bodies are shown this time. As you can see, Branson’s brain trust won the right to exploit the kooky Jap chicks! Man, it took Geffen seven whole minutes to get over that!
This album comes not quite one year after Kurt Cobain spent great chunks of interviews gushing over their purity and savant-brilliance. Anything that connected back to the giant pulsating Nirvana orb was seen as possibly profitable so milk that cow the best you know how.
Riding side saddle is executive producer Page Porrazzo. Off the name I could just tell he was an asshole.
The bulk of the material consists of re-recordings of their choicest early material. This is a good and bad thing.
“Riding on the Rocket”–First off, Atsuko was made a slave to a click track. While this makes for a steadier beat, it also makes for an ultimately sterile one as well. (Interestingly, 1992 also saw the release of Sonic Youth’s Dirty, their final bid for major label gold; drummer Steve Shelley later confessed that master mixer Andy Wallace injected drum samples into the final mix to give the beats more “oomph”.) Also, say goodbye to the clipped charm of the Japanese language.
Outsider meddling did birth some positives; mainly, the chunkier, sharper guitar sound. For the purposes of this blast off, the addition of a solo is cool and the fade out is a nice touch also.
Essential as a whistle in a bat cave, though.
“Bear Up Bison”–Well, bub, once your ears get acclimated to those robotic beats, and the sheeny, error-free vocals, you can appreciate that at least a great songwriter like Naoko Yamano has access to better equipment now.
“Twist Barbie”–But did it have to be so clean? Exactly how huge did Virgin think this would get?
“Tortoise Brand Pot (Sea Turtle)”–Spaghetti-western wistful.
“Antonio Baka Guy”—Hmm…needs more feedback. The English version now gives gender to the “guy”, transforming it from shell to human male.
“Ah, Singapore”–Stripped of jittering percussion and decorated with Asian trapping and tinkles, this is the first “new classic” that improves on the original. Very pretty.
“Flying Jelly Attack”—Naoko and Michie harmonize very well.
“Black Bass”–Ah, a newie! I know someone who is not me that is brought to near-tears by this song. Only Naoko could make a fishing trip sound like visiting a grave site. The guitar motif also reminds me a bit of the Buoys’ “Timothy”–just another twisted element.
Part that makes me want to wrap warm arms around the entirety of Japan for making possible these women of wonder: “Someone brought the black bass/To this lake from far away/Changing the biological distribution of the lake.”
“Cycling Is Fun”–Just ’cause you can don’t mean you should.
“Watchin‘ Girl”–Let Atsuko’s heart shine through natural rhythm, not what you think a major label record should sound like! ‘Cause the guitars on this are fuckin‘ ripping, and that chorus remains aflame.
“I Am a Cat”–When I was 15 and bought this CD, I listened to Naoko sing about a trip into some “timeless zone” where she found cat ears and whiskers and put them on her head and face, thereby transforming into a gentle dancing feline lost in extraterrestrial bliss. Now I just listen and think, “YouTube link, or it never happened.”
“Tortoise (Green)”–Imagine the original, just without the slop and grit and quality.
“Devil House”–Listen for a peek of the old Knife (“Time warp time triiiiiiiiiiip!”)
“Insect Collector”–Sweet song. Always has been.
“Burning Farm”–The chants are elongated and made more palatable to the average listener. The solos are certainly raunchier.
“Get the Wow”—
Just enjoy a song so potent as to pass for a vaccination against death. The solo especially shows great understanding of melodic point/counterpoint.
“Milky Way”–Surf rock instro. Cool way to wrap it up.
Let’s Knife was many fans first exposure, and to a generation weaned on scrubbed-clean, wiped-louder “alternative” music, it sounded fantastic. For those versed in baby Knife, though, it was still fun, but had a whiff of compromise to it that lingered.
Rock Animals (Virgin, January 1994)
Look closely at their faces; they don’t believe what they’re wearing, either.
Mixmaster Don Fleming vowed in interviews to keep the SK sound away from the generic, homogenized digital trap that the last record fell into, but the eight-track king was helpless to halt the Porrazzo Express in his thirsty quest to dilute this magical elixir!
“Quavers”–A love song that gets samey after a minute.
“Concrete Animals”–Okay, I forgive you. Once again, an innocent thing like animal statues in the park makes me want to cry. The chorus is practically begging for interaction with the inanimate objects. The bridge by itself deserves a statue, and at the base a plague to note Atsuko’s fills.
“Butterfly Boy”–I know it’s gonna make me come off like the raging SY fan girl I try so very hard not to be, but…Thurston Moore’s fuzz-fuck playing on this is the highlight. I’m sorry.
“Little Tree”–Aural azure-blue. I half-expected “Save the Last Dance For Me” to break out.
“Catnip Dream”–Jeff Buckley did this song live. That’s all I got.
“Tomato Head”–Too much tomato, not enough head.
“Another Day”–A piano-driven ballad. I don’t feel that they were 100% into this.
“Brown Mushrooms”–Just leaving your influences out there to flap on your sleeve is fine, just so long as they don’t overwhelm ya. This reeks of three weeks nonstop Nevermind on the stereo but retains the theurgic qualities of early SK: uncomplicated topic, unpretentious melody, fans ear for structure, and total fearlessness.
“Johnny Johnny Johnny”–Fit for sock hops and Grease sleepovers.
“Cobra versus Mongoose”—Biiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggg fight! Suggestive of “Antonio Baka Guy”, what with the slooow rawk teased into a speed demon racer they keep together with scotch tape and butterscotch and butter and scotch. Naoko stays killin’ me with that screwface snarl. And peep the fuckin’ 80s hair metal solo! Loudness lives.
“Music Square”–What the hell? Oh, whoa, it’s a harmonica. Sorry for the fright, but hearing a harmonica on a Shonen Knife song is like hearing an elephant bark.
The Birds and the B-Sides (Virgin, March 1996)
“Well, Shonen Knife, we tried. We tried to sell America on three bubbly Asian chicks with Ramones aspirations and solid connections. We gave you gloss, we take the loss. We couldn’t get enough milk out of you to drown a gnat! But you have one more album left to fulfill your contract, so we’ll just haphazardly compile outtakes, covers and live tracks and then you can cream puff back to whatever candy house you ate your way out of.”
“Heatwave”–Compact, swinging, but maybe a little too straightforward.
“Gomi Day”–Burpling keyboard flits over buried fuzz. “Gomi Day” is when the trash gets collected.
“Top of the World”–SK have made for an exceptional covers band, as the key to a memorable remake is for the artist to comprehend what they enjoyed about the original and then imbue it with their own personality, to adopt the song and mold it in their image. “Top of the World” would likely finish first on a “Best Shonen Knife Cover” fan poll (I’d vote for “Cherry Bomb”). It also appeared in a late ’90s Microsoft ad and made the Retrocrush “100 Best Cover Songs of All-Time” list. This song is always smiles-time!
“Ice Cream City”–Live! Tonight! Germany! Weird hearing the English version.
“Paradise”–You put the Atsuko in the coconut…a rare turn at the mic for the Shonen gatekeeper, tackling a Nilsson song. So layered and ethereal it’s hard to believe it’s them.
“Little Tree”–Lusher than the original, and more playful. A #1 hit in a world that made any sense.
“Space Christmas”–This was actually a hit on the indie charts in the fucking United Kingdom, 1991. The girls bundle up their energy into a sturdy box wrapped with smartly-trimmed paper and a tight bow. The breakdown is pre-Stereolab sheep choir.
“Fruit Loop Dreams”–Outtake. Thetrash.
“Boys”–Atsuko used to steal the show when she’d sing this slinky Shirelles b-side from behind her kit. Shonen Knife probably wish they could go back to the 1960s and rule teenage culture. Songs like this prove they would have.
“Till the End of the Day”–A great Kinks cover marred only by Page Porrazzo’s insistence on martial drumming that comes off as borderline fake-sounding. Back off, sleazeball. Please, please re-record this.
“Elmer Elevator”–Now sung in non-Japanese!
“Don’t Hurt My Little Sister”–Ripped from a Beach Boys tribute album, and again featuring the lovely pipes of Atsuko Yamano. This is light-hearted but mature, with crazy replay value. Get ready to have this stuck in your head all day and night.
“Strawberry Cream Puff”–A true b-side.
“Neon Zebra”–A Sub Pop single that gallops into kaleidoscope blade gleam stuck between the teeth of the rainbow rider.
“Lazybone”, et. al–Ever wondered what Shonen Knife sounded like opening up for Nirvana in late ’91 during the latter’s triumphant tour of the fucking United Kingdom? Well, stop it!
“Choco Bars” and “Redd Kross” in particular come off like they knocked the remaining teeth from every sneering punters gob. Tell the NME to go fuck itself.
06 Thursday Dec 2007
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
in1982-1989
Upon seeing a shonen naifu in a fellow college students backpack–oh those innocent 80s!–Naoko Yamano was struck. The germ to assemble a rock band was already there in her mind, injected by the Ramones several years prior. The literal English translation of shonen naifu is “boy knife”. One word suggesting cuteness and another denoting a sharp, potentially lethal weapon presented an appealing juxtaposition for the budding guitarist, and she decided to make a multilingual compromise for the name of her yet-unborn racket-gang.
Joined in short order by younger sister Atsuko on drums and friend Michie Nakatani on bass/occasional vocals, Naoko’s dream was realized. She still had to work as a receptionist for many years thereafter, but music made a deliriously delicious diversion. Even if mom and dad made the girls hide their instruments so house guests to the Yamano domicile wouldn’t discover that their hosts had two daughters who–gulp–aspired to be rock goddesses.
MINNA TANOSHIKU (August 1982 – XA)
(Every song bar 4, 8, 9 and 11 would reappear on the first three albums, re-recorded and in a few cases reimagined.)
If you are hearing this for the first time and taking it in with ears conditioned by every other SK record, well…what an experience, huh? It’s a bit like watching old home videos of your lover as a child. Further, it retroactively validates every half-baked Shaggs comparison these girls ever got thrown at them.
Saving the soon-to-be redone songs for comparisons sake, we’re left with a cover (“Saboten“, a lyrically-reworked version of the Delta 5’s “You”, and suffused with a guarded verve. Even then it’s the freest, closest-to-propulsive song on the whole tape), a brief paean to “Planet X” that features a male voice intoning the title along with the girls at the beginning of every other line, a live song that would be thrown onto the end of an album without anyone knowing its legendary origins (“Spider”) and a jagged, nearly-tribal studio version of a track that only resurfaced in live form (“I Am A Realist”).
If you think Burning Farm is ramshackle and amateurish, Minna Tanoshiku makes that album sound like Return To Forever.
BURNING FARM (July 1983, Zero; June 1985, K; November 1995, MCA/Victor; January 2005, Oglio)
For this review, I’ll be going by the K Records cassette track listing, which took the eight songs of the original and tacked on three extra compilation tunes (thank you, Calvin Johnson). This 11 song collection was the template for the Oglio reissue as well.
(The original Japanese BF consisted of only the first 8 tracks; the 1995 version tacked on “Ukkari Hachibei” and a cover of “I Wanna Be Sedated”.)
Hey, did you know this is number 26 on Kurt Cobain’s Top 50 Favorite Albums of All-Time Ever? For real. I’m not sure why I even need to bother with a review.
“Eventually, after a week of listening to it every day, I started crying. That’s how much it affected me. I just couldn’t believe that three people from a totally different culture could write songs as good as those, because I’d never heard any other Japanese music or artist who ever came up with anything good.
Everything about them is just so fucking endearing. They’re not too cute! That’s part of the charm….In many ways, they’re the ultimate K band, because they are sincere, they are real. They don’t’ purposely put their guitars out of tune and they don’t purposely sing out of tune.”
“Miracles”–In the year between Minna and BF, the band had settled into a shaky yet persistent sonic niche: fuzzy guitar, bass lines that plonked along with lovable determination, and rickety-clackety percussion. The end result: a musical house of cards that is all the more beautiful for what it doesn’t do as what it does.
There is no better song in SK’s history than this. On Minna, a bare-bones idea (drum machine, aqua-guit and heavily-effected vocals). On the full album, they wisely kept the sick ass melody but gave it punk attitude. Sung in three distinct languages (English, Japanese and feline), this Michie track hits every mole in the soul with relish: the bass riff bounces and pops with all the freedom a lack of technical proficiency allows while Naoko’s scuzz chording reaches for the stars.
The lyrics start in English, Naoko’s vocals shouting back at Michie:
“Miracle work (work!)/Miracle play (play!)/Miracle speaking/Miracle drug (drug!)/Miracle woman/Miracle woman/Oh yeah!”
The Japanese lyrics refer to “the time to use secret power” and assures us that this Miracle Woman is “neither a terrorist or Ultra Woman” and finally, that “miracles is covered with mystery”. All of this sung in voices that reach shame-free pitch. It is enough to make you jump up from a seated position to your feet and proclaim the sun irrelevant, ’cause Shonen Knife is here! Then…when you feel the apex has been reached…when the payoff has arrived…that’s when they start meowing. Like it is the natural next step for the song. As the bass continues its workmanlike journey under the barre chord, and the drums keep up a steady course, Naoko and Michie bust out into rhythmic cat cries. The rest of the song is a repeat of the first two sections, as clearly there is no topping that.
The lyrics are interesting: they tell us what Miracle Woman is not, but not specifically what she is. It may be surmised that this Miracle Woman is in fact the single-bodied representation of Shonen Knife themselves as they engage in miracle work (day jobs), miracle play (instruments), miracle speaking (singing), miracle drug (the experience of making music).
The best song by an all-girl group ever. Good luck trying to “refute” my opinion.
“Parallel Woman”–Sung entirely in Japanese, this track is notable for a few reasons. It is the first of the album to introduce a musical motif that illustrates both Naoko’s lack of skill and her carefree approach to songwriting. The riff (which skips along at a reggae-type pace) is primarily two chords strummed in a “dah–dah * half-second pause* dah–dah” pattern. Three other songs on the album will mimic this, with little changes in chord placement, speed, and tone keeping monotony at bay. How many songwriters would take that progression, futz with it for awhile, then once they had come across a potent brew they deemed “best”, used it and threw all the other similar sounding experiments in the trash? Naoko, far from precious about her abilities, kept ’em.
The translated lyrics are as jaw-dropping as the original Japanese is beautiful:
The Minna version is slower, and thus imbued with an even more sinister vibe.
“Twist Barbie”–What is it about? Is it ironic? Sincere? Oh, those Asians!
Then, at the end: “I wanna be twist barbie!”
So what’s up? Is Naoko showing a savvy sense of sexist salesmanship or falling feet first into the pitfall of living up to the feminine ideal?
The genius of this song–yes, it’s an utter pisstake, and should along with the song preceding it be enough evidence that these women didn’t have tofu for brains–is how it exists thrillingly just as a punk rave-up (such an unabashed jack of the “We’re a Happy Family” vocal melody, really*) that whatever message is there is rendered meaningless in the rapturous throes of the listener’s full-on spaz surrender. Do you think the kids that just mindlessly extend their joints at the simple crack of a snare on Pancake Mountain gave a super flying jelly shit about context? Does anyone seriously consider the oppressive role of the media in gender self-actualization when they hear this song?
(*actually, the verse riff to this song is pretty much just a sped-up “Miracles”, but the Ramones rip is just too likely to ignore)
“Elephant Pao Pao“–Another hint of sonic daring found here, as the band play around with stop-start in this ode to a banana-munchin‘ pachyderm.
“Tortoise Brand Pot Cleaner’s Theme”–Written in the style of a TV jingle, this barely-there classic sells you “the best pot cleaner!!” Par for the course, the lackluster production values only help elevate this song to “the greatest musical secret you don’t wanna keep”.
The Minna original is actually longer, as it repeats the single verse. Maybe they just didn’t have enough faith in the product at that time. Or they needed the practice; both Naoko and Michie come across as never having even touched their instruments before committing the song to tape. And is that a mouth harp I hear? “I before E, except after BOING BOING BOING“.
“Animal Song”–A fun Michie trifle. It’s about the beheading of Sir Walter Raleigh. Nah, the best part by far: after frantic lines of Japanese, one English exclamation stands alone–“What is this?” Pretty well sums up the whole Burning Farm experience, no matter what side of the flames you’re on.
“A Day of the Factory”–Standby riff twisted into minimalist pseudo-funk groove. This ode to the working man is catchy as fuck-all and appeared on the famous Sub Pop 100 LP from 1986. Not hard to imagine Kurt Cobain cracking a grin and boogieing to this one. Actually, hard to imagine anyone could be so heartless not to.
“Burning Farm”–When Sonic Youth covered this number in 1989, they did a Christo on the shit, simply adding their own sheets of chanting and sneering guitar snarl atop the original. Apparently, Shonen Knife brings out the inner pony rider in Kim Gordon.
You don’t fuck around with a track that nicely borrows the “Land of 1000 Dances” chorus then turns it into the cup of sugar they probably wanted to ask for in the first place.
The longest song on the album is also the most musically experimental, in spite of the reoccurrence of that riff. The percussion is muffled tribal and with the exception of the stabbing hook in between verses, the guitar is unspectacular. More outstanding is Michie’s burbling bass ballast, which pretty much just puts the war paint on for you.
The girls seem to lose themselves in what they have patched together here (“stepping the harvest dance”) and revel in the flail until the buoyant, exclamatory conclusion.
The Minna version is two minutes longer, prefaced as it is by a sample of ritual chanting. When the song kicks in, it is recognizable but slowed down just enough to import an entirely different impression onto the song. The “na na“‘s which sounded so cute and adorably out of tune now sound otherworldly, as if the Knife are possessed by some “other than”. It’s the difference between being at a party where you are a welcome guest and at one where you are about to be eaten.
“Parrott Polynesia”–It’s just like an even faster “Parallel Woman”, but with a brilliant, brain-embedding bridge/chorus. This li’l bird is under the tutelage of Dr. Dolittle.
The Minna version is…practically identical. Smart.
“Watchin‘ Girl”–“Sometimes I’m thinking it is no use that mass media is/My body feels everything/I don’t need anything”.
I’m sayin‘, though.
More Michie reflection (something she would prove far more prone to than Naoko) abetted by the sweetest pair of rocked-out riffs on the whole album. It’s pretty much step-on-the-pedal-and-strum-the-one-chord-you’ve-mastered stuff, but as stuff goes it’s way better than good.
“Bananafish“–A tender cautionary tale, bells out. There was this fat fish who loved to eat many a banana. Unlike the elephant of earlier, however, the Bananafish is thoughtlessly greedy. He saw an octopus trap overflowing with bananas and just had to eat them all. The result of his unchecked lust for phallic fruit? His body puffed up to such a great size that he could not escape the trap. Michie Nakatani was like the Edgar Allan Poe of the Kansai scene, yeesh.
YAMA NO ATTCHAN (May 1984, Zero; November 1995, MCA/Victor; January 2005, Oglio)
Instantly one can tell the slight upgrade in production values. Still unprofessional-sounding enough to instigate grand mal seizures in Tom Scholz, though.
“An Angel Has Come”–Begins with a synth signalling “charge!” before the bass stumble out of the door in a fervent quest to pound you to the ground even as they call on you to look towards the sky. The ideal energy to start off a sophomore release.
A large part of Shonen Knife’s appeal to this listener is that the majority of their early records were sung in their native tongue. The clipped syllables not only sound fantastic over this “kitchen pop-punk” but it’s always a blast to read the translated lyrics and find out that Japanese is a language that makes a little sound like a mouthful.
(Michie Nakatani’s lyricism FTW: “The angel whispered, ‘Don’t annoy, believe my words!”)
“Cycling is Fun”–I much prefer cynical, cryptic Michie to this fluff. I not only find this completely forgettable hack-pop, but refuse to believe that was the best title they could come up with. Yeah, it’s consistent with the band’s predilection for extolling life’s simplest pleasures, but you know, Barry White was famous for his endless catalog of ditties devoted to fleshly pleasures, and I don’t recall ever coming across one called “Sex is a Good Way To Pass the Time” or whatever the hell. He had certain standards, I’m saying.
“Elmer Elevator”–For an “I Want Candy” ripoff, I give this an 8. Naoko, how can you not love her, that guitar sounds positively sci-fi. I kept waiting for Crow’s voice.
“Banana Leaf”–And we’re back! You may by now be realizing that this is a band enamored of bananas. This track has appeal for sure–great story and alluring soundtrack.
What happens when a banana leaf falls on your head? If you’re a tiny Asian woman, it apparently knocks you down into a hole. You’ll struggle and yell before finally grabbing the leaf and ripping it apart like, “Goddamn you, banana leaf, now I’m gonna miss the first two minutes of 30 Rock“.
This is one of many songs spread across the first two albums that features a bass intro. That’s the bands way of signalling to your jaded American ass that their songs are deeper than you think.
Of all the redone Minna tracks, this is the most vastly improved. In addition to the jubilant foundation provided by the bass, the flanged guitar now sounds even more like a synth. This is a unique soundscape that sucks you right in; the exit-sealing moment comes when Naoko starts crying out from the hole. The stunning melange is another substantial component to SK’s charm, and so it is here, with hi-hats and melancholy stringwork swimming sublimely in not-quite-synchronization.
“Chinese Song”–Once again, Michie, what the health clinic? Don’t get me wrong, nifty little number and all, utterly captivating when you briefly consider that the Naoko of one year ago couldn’t have pulled that opening sequence of notes off.
“Flying Jelly Attack”–If the Rezillos can have their “Flying Saucer Attack”, then the Osaka girls will have theirs as well. A perfect song to fire up when you feel the need to abandon all the sense you were born with, if only temporarily.
A member of the old Shonen Knife usenet group who interviewed the great woman had the guts to inquire about song inspirations (usually verboten with such a notoriously skittish band). Surprisingly, she seemed to have no problem giving answers away from the pressures of “one of the three”. The guy never put up the interview and if it ended up elsewhere, never let the group know. The only origin story he shared was that of “Jelly”: working a thankless job at a candy store, Naoko retreated into fantasy, reimagining the shop as a field of battle and the confectionaries as weapons of war. Not necessarily out of any real malice as much as ennui.
“Cannibal Papaya”–This is in fact more like it, Michie. “Hitokui papaiya” sounds a lot to these ears like “eat the gooey papaiya” which only ratchets up the enjoyment level.
A bopping tune (once again bass-driven) about fruits given to eat other fruits, despite the best efforts of the populace, who all things considered should be counting their blessings. The song progresses from happy verse to jittering bridge to sweetly threatening-sounding chorus. Again, something they were not doing on the first album. Bookended by some fantastically quivery “ah”-ing that needs to be heard.
That said…the Minna version may be superior. While the album rendition starts right off with vocals, the original builds tension with rolling drums and shearing riffage before the “ah”‘s come in.
“Dali’s Sunflower”–The one on the Oglio reissue is the same as the MCA reissue, which is to say, neither are the original. I’m not sure why the labels thought no one would be discombobulated by their decision to toss in a version of the song clearly recorded in the 1990s among the other, cruder tracks. The new “Dali” probably has more overdubbing in it than the rest of the albums songs combined.
But forget that. The original take on Michie’s tale of a divorced woman put into an asylum by her concerned family is stark, nonjudgmental and unforgettable.
“Insect Collector”–A sweet song about a girl and her hobby. The throwaway acoustic riff at the end is rife for sampling.
“Bye Bye”–It starts off sounding like “Rainbow Connection” and devolves into the oddest lyrics ever compiled from a (safe to say) sober mind: “Marmalade on a glorious day/A lame clown on a tray/A mailbox talking to invisible drops of rain”. Sung in English as a bonus, this whole song might be what John Lennon heard drifting in and out of his head as he lived his last minutes.
The 1995 reissue adds “Flying Saucer Attack” (of course!) and “Secret Dance”.
The day that Naoko lost her crayons was the 9/11 of Shonen Knife Land.
This review concerns the original LP release; the most vital version of Baka Guy would be issued in 1990, augmented by the Live in Japan album, and that will kick off the next installment.
“Making Plans for Bison”–Hey, if XTC can make plans for Nigel….
Straight away it’s apparent that the band’s third step is its most strident yet. The sound is fuller, the playing a tad more assured, and there’s an infectious general fearlessness evident throughout, as if they just realized their own artistic carte blanche and added it to the rest of the toys.
The beneficial effects of constant gigging are in full bloom here: the fuzzy-faced guitar has shed almost all its tentativeness, Atsuko’s drumming is forceful and brimming with personality, and finally someone has learned how to properly mix tracks so the bass doesn’t poke out of every song like saboten prickers.
“Summertime Boogie”–The last of the redone Minna tracks, featuring only minor tweaks. The rudimentary instrumentation is offset by Michie and Naoko’s atonal duet, climaxing with a shriek in mid-song. That either brings a smile to your face or I got nothing for you.
“I Wanna Eat Chocobars”–In a lot of ways, the quintessential slice. It promises, it delivers, and no double take necessary. Mixing English/Japanese (as does much of the record, with a mind to broader appeal?), Naoko sells us on her love of candy bars. Any kind. She’ll eat ’em at a two-daily clip, watch her. Woman’s metabolism must be insane.
What catapults “Chocobars” into the rarefied air occupied by godheads is that it is not some by-the-numbers Ramonesy pogo-er. It’s a downright ballad, gently strummed chords over a sweet synth intro as Naoko croons a matter-of-fact love story. Love it or hate it, “Chocobars” will remain in the brain.
“Public Bath”–People who don’t know any other songs by the Knife know of this one. Name labels after it, for cookies sake. For good reason; while there have been many songs in rock history extolling the pleasures of cleansing oneself in communal bath house…oh wait, that’s right. See what I mean about fearlessness? Shonen Knife are going to write and sing about what they want in a very straightforward manner all while blasting out ballsy, borderline new wave riffs that they don’t on first sight look even capable of, and we can make of it what we wish.
What makes this song, other than the utterly original subject matter, is the swagger with which the band pull it off. 1983 Knife had no idea how to go about such.
“Devil House”—Who cares what buzzing cocks get? This Rocky Horror vignette is all day-glo rain and a giant Snoopy head booming out supernatural warnings to everyone who would dare taste the rice krispy treats.
“Antonio Baka Guy”–Fun fact: a “gai” is a shell, and is the subject of this song. Not, as you may have suspected, a human male. Naoko has a thing for paronyms. She also has a metalhead inside of her, and with her sparse toolbox she whips up a fair headbanger which starts up drawn-out and concrete head-smash then turns into a certified neck-snapper.
“Ice Cream City”–If Michie named “Cycling is Fun” something like, say, “Bicycle Wheel Nation”, I would like it a little more. Titles=crucial.
Here’s what an ice cream headache sounds like–“yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan yan!” Just another in a series of childish conceits elevated to genius pieces of pop.
“Ah Singapore”–Blink and you’ll miss this wistful, almost precious ode to the land of fantastic noodles.
“Riding on the Rocket”–Since I’ve already claimed a number one best Shonen song, there has to be a number two, correct? Tah dah!
Wherein our impervious trio finds out that jet packs will not be available for the general public as a viable alternative mode of transportation. They frown for three seconds, then decide to create their own packs out of string, curled metal wire and wood. A million invitations to zoos worldwide are sent out, and in due time the girls forget all about NASA red tape and killjoy secrecy.
Their invention is a mighty blast of power chord jubilee, the riff that will not die until you do from dancing too much to it. Shonen Knife promise great fun and great fun in space, and I’m willing to hop on board.
(Again, the lyrics in Japanese are bewitching. Naoko’s intonations matched with the flu-like flurry behind her words make me wish this song were two minutes longer.)
“Kappa Ex”–When the band played its first American show at the Second Coming in L.A., every cool musician in the city knew about it and was there (even many from across the country). For years the gig was total legend for non-attendees until a man who was there put up “Kappa Ex” from that performance for download. As far as brief tastes go, this one whets the appetite fierce. The Knife rip through a repetitive, unyielding four-chord bliss to the audible ecstasy of the thunderstruck crowd. The studio version is almost as incredible, a perfect ending to the best album of their career.
Indeed, I challenge the reader to come up with an all-female band that had three straight albums of this high quality. And I call you already on Sleater-Kinney (Dig Me Out, The Hot Rock, All Hands on the Bad One). So good luck. And stay tuned.
Yama no Attchan Pretty Little Baka Guy Burning Farm Shonen Knife Minna Tanoshiku
04 Tuesday Dec 2007
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
inShonen Knife!
It’s been 26 years and skipping for the band that unwittingly opened the doors for pretty much every other Japanese band to find an audience on American shores, no matter how resolutely “cult”. Up through Friday, I’ll be taking you on a journey that will hopefully prove enlightening, insightful and entertaining. A trip into and through a magical patch of Earth called Shonen Knife Land.
This happy character here is the sun. He shines down on Shonen Knife Land, see?
Break it down like–
TUESDAY–Introduction
WEDNESDAY–1982-1989
THURSDAY–1990-1996
FRIDAY–1997-2007
The goal, inasmuch as my silly self will permit me one, is to present a fair overview of Shonen Knife’s music and serve due justice to one of the most underappreciated, underrated, under-cited bands in music history.
As a preface, I’m going to get the matter–the albatross?–of the band’s “image” over with. Reviews cluttered with references to Hello Kitty, Pink Lady and “Asian girl fetish” are not ones I’d take pride in. It would indicate a failure as a listener that spilled over into my abilities as a writer.
INTRODUCTION
Their famed fans are legion: Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Redd Kross, the Ramones, Fugazi, the Donnas, L7, Half Japanese, Beat Happening, Beck, and Sleater-Kinney have all given them the high hitch-digit. Perhaps even greater praise came from former Boredoms guitar-lord Seiichi Yamamoto, who once brushed aside any attempt to identify himself as a “godfather” of Osaka’s storied Kansai music scene by naming the members of Hijokaidan and Shonen Knife as far more qualified candidates to hold said title. Indeed, SK have become so synonymous with the musical life of Japan that the quickest way for some intellectually lethargic member of the media to annoy a band from there is to ask what they think of Shonen Knife. (The price pioneers pay!)
In one way, it’s a shame. With some manifest guile and willingness to mold their own myth, Shonen Knife themselves could fingerpaint a clearer picture. As it stands, they’ve always been a sort of regenerative window display.
In another way…what a ridiculous thing to expect from a group that likes public baths. Whereas other musicians send fans into wild teeth-gnashing and hair-yanking over the “greater meaning” of their songs–’cause you just know something more is happening there, and it’s damn near crucial to find out what, to bring yourself somehow closer to the artist, to act like you know—Shonen Knife inspire wonderment only at how you could enjoy a collective of guitar/bass/drums so fully and purely. It’s almost rude to require explanations from women who, in the middle of the first song on their first record, decide to “meow” for 20-odd seconds.
There is undoubtedly an interesting story behind all the cotton candy and ice cream cake. The women of Shonen Knife weren’t conceived in Barbie condos and nourished with food fresh from an Easy Bake Oven. Nor do they currently reside in gingerbread houses with pools of pudding skinning over in the backyard, periodically emerging to pick up instruments that almost dwarf their tiny bodies and giggle their way through pithy ditties about how cherubic the cheeks of a fucking chipmunk look, while an audience of anime freaks and stuffed animal collectors jump around squealing and shouting marriage proposals to the drummer. These are human beings with inspirations and conflicts uniquely their own. Trailblazers in a scene that has birthed many other unforgettable acts, they are still active, still recording and touring, still raising a magnificent joyous racket under the radar.
It’s hard to give much credence to the “it’s a trick” accusation after all this time. If you’re lucky enough to get the opportunity, see them live–and stand witness to one of the most enduring, invigorating examples of honesty in artistry that has ever been.
24 Saturday Nov 2007
Posted Concert Reviews, Music, Shonen Knife
inTags
The greatest girl band alive since the greatest girl band retired played in DC tonight. It was my second time seeing them live (the first being two years ago, also at the Cat) and this performance surpassed that one.
Shonen Knife are basically the musical equivalent of a visit to Camp Snoopy, and being in the audience of a Shonen Knife show is to see through two different sights.
The first scope is your basic human eyesight. Through this, I saw myself simply and dully: the tallest girl in attendance, very likely the heaviest. I clocked the presence of many men. Middle-aged. Almost all without female companions.
The second scope is comparable to peering through a Magnum Power 675X telescope into the late night sky. The images captured are much more precise, unconcerned with the peripheral, focused rather on what truly matters–your reality as one of many, ecstatically immersed.
A Shonen Knife show is like being ensnared in a web formed of strawberry jelly, with three slyly-smiling spiders approaching you, each arachnoid a sickly-sweet amalgamation of sushi, marshmallow and bananas. Far from being the fearful, sweat-stinking victim, you are just one big beautiful candy bar swimming in nougat.
The night didn’t start out great. Prior to the drive down to DC, I had taken one-and-a-half Vicodin tablets for nagging back pain. (It had to be pretty damn Marge Simpson for me to acquiesce to such powerful medication.) Dinner was a turkey salad sandwich, chips, dips and two kinds of salad–macaroni and a particularly tangy bowtie pasta. Once Patrick and I began the journey, my usual motion sickness kicked in, but much more intense than normal. The slightest visual stimuli became unbearable, and I spent the majority of the trip slumped in the passengers seat, eyes forced shut, head and gut throbbing, the sounds of Easter by the Patti Smith Group wafting from the CD player. The conversation was thankfully sparse.
“She’s saying ‘space monkey’, right?”
“Yeah. That’s the name of the song.”
“Thurston Moore probably sings ‘Because the Night’ in the shower.”
I missed the virtually barren blocks of Georgia Avenue that chilly Saturday as I tried the defense of stillness and temporary blindness against the lurching roil in my stomach. Mere blocks from the club, I made Patrick pull over to an empty parking space on a side street so I could admit defeat. Naturally, the release made me feel instantly worlds better. Of course, with every positive comes a negative, namely…puke-breath.
Hanging in the Black Cat’s red room is always a comforting experience. Nothing better than to lean back against the couch cushions, relax, read up on the free issue of The Onion you grabbed from the mini-newspaper rack by the entrance (“New Sexual Harassment Policy Masturbated To”) and marvel at the arcade game table that simply reads “multi game” on the side. It’s also the most immaculate environment imaginable if you want to suddenly stand and have your significant others digital camera fall from your coat pocket onto the wooden floor, causing a thud rather than a clatter as it lands. No damage, but I was mildly berated by Patrick (“I can’t take you anywhere”).
At 9, the doors opened, and we hopped on up to the mainstage. A sharp right to the merch table revealed the sundry 30 buck import albums one must expect at such a gig. Fun! Fun! Fun! (the very newest SK wreck-hard, of which I have only heard snippets) was among these items, but I only had 30 on me to begin with. Once I saw the sweet black-and-green seahorse shirts for 20 bucks and the mega-rare SK/Thurston Moore “All I Want For Christmas” CD single from 1999 for 10 dollars, I knew where Alex and Andy would go.
Making our way to the front of the stage, I regaled Patrick with the backstory of said holiday non-standard.
“Naoko Yamano wants to do another Shonen Knife Christmas song, but she doesn’t wanna write the lyrics. So she e-mails Thurston Moore and asks him to write lyrics. He sends ’em back, she writes the music, there ya go. Must be nice.” Only very recently had I even heard this song via download, but I never stopped wanting the physical disc; it also includes a Thurston remix of the Knife classic “Cannibal Papaya”, the best song about man-eating fruit since “Rhinestone Cowboy”.
Time was passed with “Captain Purple”. He’s an older man, silver-haired and mustachioed-out, a big fan of the power-pop Shonen Knife traffics in. He’s a generally genial sort, and would probably take a bullet for Allison Wolfe, but he kinda confused me when he dismissed Patti Smith as “too mainstream” for his tastes.
There were two openers on this night: Verona Grove and the Juliet Dagger, in that order.
Verona Grove were OK for two songs, after which they ceased to be an entity. Decent power pop chug, but the vocals reeked of mad Fall Out Boy. The drummer wore a shirt emblazoned with the word HAPPY bookended by skull ‘n crossbones and made the kind of “fuck dude, I’m so gellin‘!” faces that are easily chalked up to youthful exuberance but become intolerable when the band around him is churning out the Diet Rock brand of crap rock that’s ruining Modern Rock radio. I began thinking of things that could possibly sound more stilted and half-assed than Verona Grove: Naoko Yamano biting into half of a bean burrito and then, without swallowing, reciting Remembrance of Things Past from the original French manuscript? Yeah, maybe, but at least I like burritos.
Also, their intro music was the theme to “Kill Bill”. Hmm. Not a great sign, using a selection from the soundtrack to a film released this century. Say what you will about Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins, they recognize the importance of age in lending gravitas.
I did like their between-song exhortations to “hang out” at the bar and talk post-performance. A proletariat Fall Out Boy, then.
The Juliet Dagger were much better, a quartet fronted by a female singer/guitarist. They had all of the energy that almost salvaged Verona Grove, but were aided and abetted by actual good songs (and quite a few that sounded great).
Awaiting the Knife that is Shonen, I appraised the audience and found, in addition to the expected middle-aged dudes with crazy Asian babe fetish, that there were a refreshing number of young ladies who looked ready to screech and squeal and dance the mess up and down. In all honesty, I will take balding 40-somethings who actually seem to enjoy the music they paid to listen to and express this by dancing and yelling in tongues over the typical Sonic Youth crowd of Buckingham Palace guards-in-training.
Predictably, things blasted off with “Konnichiwa“, welcoming us all to the show. This firecracker of a hello was barely extinguished when the choppy Ramones-y “Twist Barbie” assaulted the hearts and souls of the audience. Seeing Shonen Knife play their older material reminds any fan of how far they’ve come since the fuzzy tenuous guitar playing and clattering percussion of Burning Farm. Naoko is an assured guitarist, fully committed to playing even as she stares age 50 head on, and Etsuko is a much looser, more accomplished drummer than Atsuko was at the same age. Also, every male in the room fell in love with her, Patrick speaking for all when he spake thus: “She’s so fucking cute!”
As with the last Shonen show, the setlist was varied and pleasing. In several spots, orgasmic. I mean, “Concrete Animals”? When the fuck do they ever play that? I went insane off the first few seconds when I recognized the riff, but a delayed reaction was in order for a group of Knife-lifers behind me who started screaming and hooting in recognition only when Naoko started singing. As much as the gloss of Rock Animals made the songs hit and miss, “Concrete Animals” has always been a favorite of mine, and in concert it was doubly powerful for the brashness that a live setting–away from the squeaky-clean knob-twiddles of Page Porrazzo–can’t help but bring. Nowhere was the band looser with material originally designed to sell them to alterna-America than in Etsuko’s playfully tight drumming, which eschewed the uncharacteristic fills Atsuko played in the studio in favor of snare work that let the song breathe.
Atsuko got a turn at the mike for the bouncy “Whatever”. Naoko delicately introduced “S.P.A.M.” as a song inspired by endless spam emails deluging her inbox, which makes me think Knife fan Lee Ranaldo needs to give props where props is due, kid. ‘Cause that track is from ’05.
And since I’ve brought up yet another member of Sonic Youth…I’ve been to 38 of that legendary band’s concerts. With the Internet posting reviews mere hours after the house lights come up and the band’s stubborn refusal to make “surefire crowd-pleaser” setlists, it’s almost impossible for me to be truly shocked at an SY concert. “Shaking Hell” for the Rather Ripped tour was incredible, but anyone who read the band’s forum knew it was being brought back as a “new oldie” for the set, in the tradition of “Skip Tracer” or “White Kross“. The expectation for a Sonic Youth show is the quality of the performance of a limited pool of generally outstanding songs. In between, there may be some grade-A banter.
The aforementioned “Concrete Animals” was a shock to the system. Honestly, I didn’t think the girls could repeat that effect. But they did.
“In Japan, there are public baths.”
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttt? THE CAPS LOCK IS ON IN MY SOUL!
“But they are…female and male baths.”
Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! They’re gonna do it! They’re going to dust off one of their greatest-ever songs, and indisputably the best song ever written about bathing!
Straight from Patrick’s camera to your heart:
Unreal…if you had told me beforehand that I would go to see Shonen Knife at the Black Cat and end up with the “All I Want For Christmas” single and see “Concrete Animals” and “Public Bath”, well…I may have possibly spat out soy milk on your shoes. How dare you.
Frequently, Naoko would preface songs with explanatory gab (as evidenced above). Hence, “Sushi Bar” encouraged fans to yell out their favorite types of sushi as the girls looked on in obvious delight.
“Beef!” someone yelled.
“We do have beef sushi in Japan”, Naoko allowed.
Atsuko then chimed in, “Yes, but it is rare.”
HA! Seriously, it took me two seconds longer to catch that quip than it should have. Guess that’s the trade-off for recognizing “Concrete Animals” with the quickness. I just stood there wondering why people were laughing and going “aww!” until it finally struck me: “Oh yeah! Rare!”
“Flu” was another Fun! tune, one of those raucous, pseudo-metal tracks that the Black Sabbath lover in Naoko cannot help but attempt. The joke is, the band pulls it off. While “Flu” is not as Luciferically delicious as “Buddha’s Face”, it was still quite, um…contagious. *coughs* Oh shit, I got the flu!
The show was almost stolen away, however, by another song off the new release.
“This is a song about the Ramones. It is called…’Ramones Forever’.”
Huge applause. There is no band more qualified than Shonen Knife, themselves given the blessing years ago by the boys, to write and play a fucking song titled “Ramones Forever”. It was, as one would surmise, three chords played real fast in service of the keeping the heart of music pumping.
“One day I heard music from the radio
It was so fun! An amazing discovery
Next day I bought the album and listened again
Then I started my own punk rock band…
At last we got the chance to be their opening band
Like a dream on the same stage as my rock stars
It was their last tour of Japan.”
How guileless and sincere. How I adore them for this. Interesting that they decided to make a tribute song to the Barons of Brevity that’s about four minutes long, but that’s a minor point.
“Giant Kitty” is the final song on Genki Shock and it was the last song of the evening before the encore break. A number with the refrain of “Big big big big cat!” Yes, it is that incredible. I was a bobbing, popping, headbanging and hair-flopping puddle of delight all night. Throttle into overdrive moment of the eve came when, to conclude this ode to a big ol’ feline, Naoko matter-of-factly ceased strumming, removed the mic from its stand, and held it out to the audience. I was almost directly in front of her, so it didn’t take long for my eager vibes to attract the microphone to me like a magnet. Under Naoko’s wide, expectant grin, I knew exactly what to do.
“Big big big big cat!”
Right into that motherfucker.
Patrick was next up and, despite having just popped his “Giant Kitty” cherry, he proved a great learner. That makes now three times I have had a performer proffer the mic before me to yell their own lyrics back at them (the previous two: Kim Gordon during “Kool Thing” and Mark Mothersbaugh during “Jocko Homo”).
Their encore was “Wonder Wine” and, I shit you never, a dependably cheerful cover of “Satisfaction” (with the line “Trying to make some girl” replaced with “Trying to make some money”). I didn’t think the second time seeing Osaka’s happiest finest could be any more pore-cleansing, any more able to infuse me with the desire to write with an eye towards apotheosis, but I’ll be a goddamned black bass if they didn’t do it.
Shonen Knife have fun making music. If the idea of having fun listening to music isn’t anathema to your mind–if, in other words, you haven’t let the cynicism of rockism infest your brain and rot your soul–Shonen Knife should already be in your vocabulary.
Need further convincing? Yeesh, aren’t you a tough nut to crack. Well…just stay tuned.
04 Friday May 2007
Posted Music, Shonen Knife
in
Kurt Cobain has, in the 13 years since the Nirvana frontman ceased to exist, been made into such a daunting, impenetrable figure of near-spectral proportions that simple facts regarding his person are frequently forgotten as they do not conform to the myth cultivated by fans, friends, enemies, and cultural commentators. Among these facts are several I can’t relate to: Cobain was a gifted singer/songwriter, a drug addict, a husband, a father, an ambivalent rock star.
There is another truth which does resonate personally, though–Cobain was a voracious fan of music. To gaze upon the much-dissected list of his top 50 favorite albums is to be awed and perhaps even skeptical (Public Enemy is the go-to rap act for insecure white kids who want to show you how cool they are). There’s the melodic crunch of the Pixies, the bat-cave horror of the Swans, the sludge-pudge of Melvins, the saddle-ready classic rock of Aerosmith, and the gleeful amateurism of the Shaggs. And Daniel Johnston. And Shonen Knife.
Ah, Shonen Knife. Did ever a band so beloved by Kurt befuddle his acolytes so thoroughly? Here’s the conventional wisdom of those resolutely not “of the knife”:
Three Japanese women who want to be the Beatles and the Ramones all wrapped up in a pancake, and probably would be except that they can’t play, can’t sing, and really can’t see how all these big artists who profess to be fans really are taking the royal piss. I mean, Sonic Youth, Redd Kross, Fugazi, Sleater-Kinney, Babes In Toyland, L7, Beck, John Zorn, for God’s sake Lemmy, Bikini Kill even–please. Take away the matching outfits and the kitsch factor of cute Asian chicks and no one would give a fuck about a Shonen Knife and their been-there-done-that three fuzzy chords with an uptempo beat.
Well, if you are of the Knife, or don’t have an allegiance either way, let’s continue.
Shonen Knife began in 1981, two sisters (Naoko and Atsuko Yamano) and a friend (Michie Nakatani) on guitar, drums and bass, respectively with Naoko and Michie sharing vocal duties. After rehearsing and gigging around their hometown of Osaka for a bit, local label XA Records released their first cassette, Minna Tanoshiku (“Everybody Happy” in English) in 1982. The original pressing of 50 copies sold out and diligently XA produced more. However, after only 20 copies had left the presses, the band stepped in and demanded that the label halt. XA abided, and only 70 copies of Minna Tanoshiku were ever made.
Future albums enjoyed greater distribution and band support: Burning Farm, Yama No-Attchan, and Pretty Little Baka Guy, all released between 1983-86 (although the latter is best enjoyed in its 1990 reincarnation with the indispensable, legend-cementing Live in Japan). On these records were a band with a refreshing take on the classic punk-pop sound, reimagined through the minds and hands of musicians whose melodic genius and pure pop sensibility and passion surpassed their technical ability. The lyrics were sung mostly in their native tongue, offering up the personification of fruit, suicide among working women, ugly animals, space travel, and food food food. It still holds up as catchy, super-cute, and undeniably borne of unabashed love for performing music, all brought to you by three women who at that time were still working as secretaries.
Slowly, the American underground caught on. When K Records honcho/Beat Happening founder/all-around Zeus to skinny, sensitive boys in the Pacific Northwest Calvin Johnson trekked to Japan in the early 80s, his musical curiosity led him to the Knife. Enchanted, he blessed Burning Farm with American release in 1985, thus showing these shores their first-ever glisten of SK. A coveted spot on the Sub Pop 100 compilation followed. Still, the girls remained ensconced in the land of the Big Red Dot on a White Flag like baby pandas at the zoo who just cannot bring themselves to appear before the clamoring crowd, choosing instead to huddle in the warm of Mama’s protective bulk.
To promote Baka Guy, Shonen Knife released a videotape of crude videos for 8 of the albums 10 songs, mixed with live footage. When a copy found its way into the hands of Los Angeles bubble-punkers Redd Kross, Shonen Knife’s previous proclivity towards provinciality was soon to meet its end.
The smitten McDonalds bros. shared both the video and audio Baka cassettes with their friends in the land of sun ‘n’ smog, spreading the Shonen sensation. Soon, an entire community of hipster-ass Cali-kids were in love. Having been so enamored of the Shaggs, they were thrilled to now have their own Shaggs.
The secret spilled over on August 2, 1989. Cajoled by their newest fans on the West Coast, Shonen Knife played their first-ever US gig at the 2nd Coming in Los Angeles. One grand worth of flesh packed the place, with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth among the luminaries present to witness history. Those there would go on to describe a scene resembling a religious ceremony at its most fervent.
With that, part of the band died. Just being pleased as papaya to exist and create was no longer the soup of the day. Muddy production and sloppy musicianship (which enhanced the early materials stunning sense of melody and rhythm) was “rectified”, gradually, and with the questionable advice of their new manager (who will go unnamed here because he was by many accounts a swindler and he’s dead now anyway) Shonen Knife began singing songs exclusively in English. The production values became much crisper. Someone made Atsuko Yamano drum to a click-track in the studio. It all began sounding too clean. Goddamnit, what happened to the rusty Knife?
Not to say that SK from ’92 onwards was scrubbed squeaky clean (shut up!) of all appeal. They are to this day releasing quality albums and putting on hellaciously fun live shows. A world with Shonen Knife active within it is far more preferable to a world without. It is rare to come across a band so lacking artifice and pretension about what it is they do. When Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo cites Shonen Knife as an influence on his own massively-impactful band, you can bet it is not so much for their music inasmuch as their love of and dedication to music.
Some describe Shonen Knife as adults playing their music with the mindset of children. This should never be used as an insult; if such a state were strived for by more modern acts, you may very well see a considerable improvement in the state of music. Ah well.
—————————————————
Who knew, back in 1982, that the band who made a cassette they barely wanted anyone to hear would live on 25 years later as a viable recording and performing group? Who could have imagined that said cassette would be frothed after by a rabid cult, who gnash their teeth over its scarceness and fret themselves hairless over the likelihood that, with each passing year, some fool with a treasure he doesn’t even appreciate tosses it in the garbage or lets it depreciate via exposure to any one of several hundred possible dangerous elements? All that we have had is a tracklisting and cover picture provided by some asshole who wouldn’t copy it. More recently, Knife fans were set buzzing over the appearance of the tape on auction site gemm.com–the buyer is asking $632.50 for it.
I myself, as a devoted fan of SK, searched the Internet desperately. Certainly someone has put this rarer-than-a-Washington-Nationals-win piece of history up for download. Somewhere. Please.
This week…I found it. Where? Uh uh. No dice. Where I got it is easily accessible if you know how to work that Google. And let me tell you, it was a pain in the ass to download these tracks. I am providing, in one handy zip file, the much-desired, classic-without-hearing-a-single-note, shoulda-been-left-for-dead, Minna Tanoshiku. If you are a Shonen Knife head, you know what this tape means. It is Ground Zero, the book of Genesis, and “Simpsons Roasting On an Open Fire” all in one. One of the most geniune, joyous, enduring bands started here. Enjoy it.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JX4NZFVH
May you indulge a fangirl her own review?
As you will tell if you are already a fan, the majority of these songs were re-recorded for the bands next albums. Here then, a compare/contrast. Jesus, this is just amazing to able to do this!
BANANA LEAF–Later redone for Yama No-Attchan, and a personal favorite, this right off clues you in that you are listening to a muddled recording with low production value. And it’s still good. The familiar riff is done via guitar here, as opposed to the later keyboard action, and Michie’s ballast bassline is absent.
PARROT POLYNESIA–Appearing on the Burning Farm cassette, and the Minna track most unchanged in its later incarnation. Sing the riff with me, kids..dun-dun, dun-dun…
CANNIBAL PAPAYA–Destined for redo on Yama, this is the single Minna song that I will say they should not have made so many changes to. The bone-dry drums and scorching guitars of the intro are beastly, as is the appearance of backing “ahhhs” during the chorus. Many fans of the Knife bristle at the Shaggs comparisons, and I am one of them. The Shaggs could barely play. The SK of ’83-on were never that inept. Well, folks…here’s Shonen Shaggs. Michie’s basswork and vocal delivery would improve immeasurably on the later version, as would Atsuko’s drumming.
SABOTEN–A cover of Delta 5’s “You” with new lyrics. The girls have a hell of a time reinterpreting a punky fave. You! You! You will be singing along or found to have no soul.
BURNING FARM–How is this different from the later version? Does starting with two straight minutes of African chanting and drums count for much? Wow. Once the girls come in, you will notice the song is much more sinister than the 1983 version in both music and vocals.
PARALLEL WOMAN–That riff again! Goddamn, few bands just took a riff and worked it into as many holes as Shonen Knife were doing for the stuff that ended up on Burning Farm. Slower than the later rendition. Still very much about workplace suicide.
AN ANGEL IS COMING–Live version of a Yama favorite. Not great.
SPIDER–Consider it confirmed–this is the version that appears on Live in Japan.
I AM A REALIST–Amazing to hear a studio version of this Live in Japan track. Anyone who thinks SK were all sunshine lollipops and Ramones chords everywhere needs to be directed towards this stark, jagged track.
VOICE OF CRANE/TORTOISE BRAND THEME–“Crane” is an almost-pointless intro, but this original version of an absolute Knife classic is a grand example of how rough they really started out. Is that a mouth harp? And oh, Naoko’s riffing…damn, she got a lot better.
PLANET X–Never again released. Kinda sounds like “Planet Claire” by the B-52s as it starts. And oh shit, that riff! Except it takes a downturn, thereby another twist on the old formula. I just love it, some bands would take that chord progression, fuck with it, and choose the best-sounding strike to record. Not Shonen Knife. They took that riff and made half a goddamn album with it. Play it fast, play it slow, play this for everyone you know!
SUMMERTIME BOOGIE–Wouldn’t appear again until four years later. I swear to God Michie is about to laugh when she and Naoko do the brilliant dual-“Ahhhh!” in the middle. So great.
MIRACLES–The “Miracles” of Burning Farm is the best song ever recorded by an all-girl band. Ever ever ever. So as you can imagine this version was bound to fascinate me. And it does. The avian flu progression of notes is there, but played by a submerged single guitar string as opposed to the latter version’s fuzz-o-rama; a drum machine is present throughout; and the vocals are treated to comic effect, like Naoko’s down in the water with the guitar string. Yes, kids, it’s the best song on the tape STILL.
Wow…I hope you enjoy this find. I’m still on the sugar rush myself!