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It's Ah Ah Ah, Ah
Sep. 9th, 2006 10:32 amI love the Japanese girl-rock band Shonen Knife, which plays bouncy pop-punk in the spirit of the Ramones with silly lyrics about everyday things -- food, animals, etc. I've seen them live twice -- on their Brand New Knife tour and on their Happy Hour tour. That was at the height of their popularity, or a little past the height. They started out as a weird Japanese indie band that few people outside of Japan knew about, then became an underground sensation, and with the help of Kurt Cobain (who was a big fan) they found a certain level of mainstream appeal in the west and went on to release four cds in a row in English on western labels.
The first, Let's Knife, was mostly a collecting of songs from their earlier Japanese releases, but redone in English. After this came Rock Animals, Brand New Knife, and Happy Hour. Brand New Knife is probably their best cd, but while some fans don't seem to like Happy Hour as much, I love many of the songs on that release. In any case, that cd and the subsequent tour (which I saw with Sky and -- I forget who else, Tom? Jeff?) was the end of their flirtation with Western mainstream acceptance/popularity.
After that, bassist Michie Nakatana left the band, and while sisters Naoko and Atsuko Yamano soldiered on, their subsequent releases were Japanese-only releases with no Western distribution. I got used to picking up their new cds as imports with mostly Japanese vocals -- Strawberry Sound came first, followed by Candy Rock, and then Heavy Songs and most recently Genki Shock.
The first two of these were somewhat lackluster in sound -- the fact that they'd lost a member of their trio and were well past their glory days seemed to be reflected in the music. But Heavy Songs was a much better cd, getting back to their punk pop roots, and Genki Shock was an equal return to form. I just wished that they were available in English.
...which they are! I haven't been paying enough attention, because both of these cds were released in English on Western indie labels (apparently months after I'd picked them up as Japanese language imports).
So I had to order them. Luckily they were both avaiable very cheaply used -- one for less than $5. Now I'll finally know what some of these songs are actually about! ^_^
It seems likely that Strawberry Sound and Candy Rock will never be released in English, but that may not be a huge loss. They weren't the best Shonen Knife cds out there. Heavy Songs and Genki Shock, however, compare favorably with Rock Animals, Brand New Knife, and Happy Hour, so getting them in English is a great thing indeed.
( Second Life disaster! )
The first, Let's Knife, was mostly a collecting of songs from their earlier Japanese releases, but redone in English. After this came Rock Animals, Brand New Knife, and Happy Hour. Brand New Knife is probably their best cd, but while some fans don't seem to like Happy Hour as much, I love many of the songs on that release. In any case, that cd and the subsequent tour (which I saw with Sky and -- I forget who else, Tom? Jeff?) was the end of their flirtation with Western mainstream acceptance/popularity.
After that, bassist Michie Nakatana left the band, and while sisters Naoko and Atsuko Yamano soldiered on, their subsequent releases were Japanese-only releases with no Western distribution. I got used to picking up their new cds as imports with mostly Japanese vocals -- Strawberry Sound came first, followed by Candy Rock, and then Heavy Songs and most recently Genki Shock.
The first two of these were somewhat lackluster in sound -- the fact that they'd lost a member of their trio and were well past their glory days seemed to be reflected in the music. But Heavy Songs was a much better cd, getting back to their punk pop roots, and Genki Shock was an equal return to form. I just wished that they were available in English.
...which they are! I haven't been paying enough attention, because both of these cds were released in English on Western indie labels (apparently months after I'd picked them up as Japanese language imports).
So I had to order them. Luckily they were both avaiable very cheaply used -- one for less than $5. Now I'll finally know what some of these songs are actually about! ^_^
It seems likely that Strawberry Sound and Candy Rock will never be released in English, but that may not be a huge loss. They weren't the best Shonen Knife cds out there. Heavy Songs and Genki Shock, however, compare favorably with Rock Animals, Brand New Knife, and Happy Hour, so getting them in English is a great thing indeed.
( Second Life disaster! )
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