Shonen Knife - Adventure (Damnably) 2016
7
If there’s one thing the Osaka pop-punkers have really nailed, it’s hitting those 50s girl-group harmonies while still managing to squeeze in a new angle on their rock’n’roll’n’food shtick with each album. On album #19, it’s the harder edge of Blue Öyster Cult and Mötörhead that adds the kick, “Rock’n’Roll T-Shirt” and “Wasabi” managing to find the right balance of irresistible melody and amped-up oomph while “IMI” simply pours on the Jack Daniels and lets the spirit of Lemmy flow through them. That’s not to say that Naoko has lost the charming naiveté that has defined the band for decades, as the album’s closing notes rank amongst their sweetest – it’s more that they have shown that adding a little metal to your bubblegum is never a bad idea.