Shonen Knife - Yama-no Attchan

The year between the recording of their first record, 1983's Burning Farm, and their second, 1984's Yama-no Attchan, allowed Shonen Knife to improve their musicianship a touch. Not enough to mess up their innocent charm, but enough to make this record an improvement over their already quite good debut. The songs are just a bit stronger too. "Cycling Is Fun" bounces along on a near-Motown beat the likes of which they couldn't have done a year earlier, "Chinese Song" betrays the influence of dub punk like The Slits and The Raincoats, "Flying Jelly Attack" sports a killer bubblegum chorus and some tight riffing, and "Dali's Sunflower" betrays some heavy metal influence thanks to heavy power chords and guest guitarist Yasushi Utsunomiya's guitar mangling. Read More