Shonen Knife - Sweet Candy Power

Japanese legends return with another ten tracks of power pop punk zipping by in half an hour. The pogo-tastic energy on this, their 30-somethingth release is just as fresh as when they started nearly 40 years ago! Still led by the Yamano sisters (Naoko on guitar and younger sister Atsuko on drums), the trio is completed by bassist Taneda Ritsuko, who’s been with the band for the past decade.

If you’ve been following the gals for any time now, you know the routine: Ramones-styles bubble gum punk with tongues planted firmly in cheek (they once satirized critics’ frequent comparisons to their heroes with a Ramones tribute album released under the pseudonym Osaka Ramones!), colourful, nonsense lyrics about such summertime goodies as ‘Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches’ all speeding by at a million miles an hour on three chords and a prayer. ‘Party’ open the album to get us in the right frame of mind right off the bat, with the sprightly ‘Dizzy’ (not the Tommy Roe hit) the first of many earworms (listen for yourself below).

The title track is a sugar high waiting to happen, and there’s even a rather nifty Sex Pistols riff (‘Pretty Vacant’, perhaps?) launching ‘My Independent Country’, with Naoko delivering her nationalistic lyrics in an emphatic Yoko Ono screetch. ‘Wave Rock’ and ‘California Lemon Trees’ introduce a jingly jangly surf beat and singalong chorus, and ‘Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich’  just melts in your mouth, not in your hands, like those little round candies of old!

Fuzz boxes are set to stun on the epic (for them) 4½ minute ‘Never-Never Land’, which actually slows the adrenaline down to good effect, and I might even call it a ballad, although the “B” word is rarely tossed around in Shonen Knife circles! All told another solid effort and perfectly timed to invigorate the long hot summer ahead.