Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Shonen Knife Return!


Shonen Knife is the legendary all-female Japanese pop-punk band formed in Osaka, Japan in 1981. Heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups, pop bands, and early punk rock acts, such as The Beach Boys and The Ramones, the trio plays stripped-down songs with infectious melodies and simplistic, exuberant lyrics sung both in Japanese and English. Despite their pop-oriented nature, the trio maintains a distinctly underground garage rock sound rooted in edgy instrumentation and D.I.Y. aesthetics.

The bands twenty-seven-year career has seem them tour the world with Nirvana (on the Nevermind tour), Sonic Youth, the BMX Bandits, and as part of Lollapolooza. They recorded sessions for John Peel, appeared on MTV's Beavis and Butthead, 120 minutes, the Conan O'Brian show and recorded "Buttercup (I'm a Supergirl)" for that for the hugely popular cartoon 'The Powerpuff Girls'.

And they're still around. The concept of their new album Super Group is to "go back to the starting point of ROCK". With all the lyrics on Super Group in English it's a trip back in time by leaping forward. With influences running the gamut from Jonathan Richman to even Macca, the record covers all the cute, pop punk territory that Shonen Knife are known for. In other words, this album will make everybody happy.

Download: Super Group

No comments: