Shonen Knife - Burning Farm (1983) [US Reissue '2005] RESTORED

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Shonen Knife - Burning Farm (1983) [US Reissue '2005] RESTORED

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Shonen Knife - Burning Farm (1983) [US Reissue '2005]
FLAC+CUE+LOG or MP3 CBR 320 | 33:25 mins | 285 or 101 MB

Shonen Knife is an influential all-female Japanese pop-punk band formed in Osaka, Japan in 1981. Heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups, The Beach Boys and early punk rock acts, such as The Ramones, the trio crafts stripped-down songs expressing 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, which over the course of their twenty-seven-year career has earned them solid, worldwide cult following and made avid fans out of seminal '90s alternative rock acts such as Sonic Youth, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, and Redd Kross.

The group was something of an anomaly when they started, as they were coming in at a time where all-female bands were quite scarce. Influenced by 1970s punk rock/new wave bands such as The Ramones and Buzzcocks while ignoring the then-rising, early J-Pop movement, the trio began crafting energetic rock songs rooted in rough instrumentation and do-it-yourself ethos. However, unlike traditional rebellious punk rockers, the trio emphasized on positivity using catchy, upbeat melodies and frivolous, carefree lyrics that often touched on sweets and animals. The group eventually came to describe their music as "super-eccentric-pop-punk-cult-band-shonen-knife!".

Burning Farm is their first album. It is almost entirely in Japanese, with only "Twist Barbie" on the original release in English. The album's cover was painted by bassist Michie Nakatani. CD reissue bonus tracks "Parrot Polynesia", "Watchin' Girl" and "Banana Fish" first appeared on the Zero Records compilation LP Aura Music in November 1983. The other bonus tracks in the US version it's two live songs.

Shonen Knife's first album, 1983's Burning Farm, has all the things the band became (slightly) famous for, well, the things that endeared them to indie rockers, anyway, like cuteness and catchy tunes. While they can barely play their instruments and the vocals are amateurish at best, they play and sing with an unbridled joy that gives the record all kinds of charm. They sound like schoolgirls playing early Beatles songs filtered through the Ramones, Blondie and the Rezillos. Only with no pesky technical proficiency to get in the way. The lyrical concerns are truly their own, too, with songs about parrots, elephants, Barbie and cleaning products sung mostly in Japanese. It would be easy to go too far and call them the Japanese Shags and wink at their cuteness, but if you forget the image and just listen to the music, they are so much more interesting than that. Very influential also to bands like Redd Kross and Nirvana, as well as the whole American indie pop scene of the late '80s and early '90s.

~ Tim Sendra, all media guide