Shonen Knife
Shonen Knife, written in Japanese as 少年ナイフ, which transliterates as Shōnen Naifu, literally "Boy Knife," is an all-female Japanese pop-punk band formed in Osaka, Japan, in 1981. Heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups, pop bands, The Beach Boys, and early punk rock bands, 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 long career has earned them a solid, worldwide cult following and made avid fans out of seminal '90salternative rock bands such as Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Redd Kross. The band has been credited with making "the international pop underground more international" by "opening it up to bands from Japan". They have also performed and recorded as a Ramones tribute band under the name The Osaka Ramones.
Osaka, Japan's Shonen Knife return with their 18th release, a new studio album called "Pop Tune" released June 5th 2012 on Good Charamel Records in North America. The legendary female pop/punk trio continues celebrating their 30th Anniversary as the most internationally recognizable name in Japanese indie rock with another amazing collection of songs about life, fantasy and food.
"Pop Tune" is again delivered masterfully by lead vocalist / founding member Naoko featuring her always fun and crunchy guitars on 10 new pop tunes that could only have come from the minds and hearts of the ladies of Shonen Knife. The album features the song "Osaka Rock City" which has been chosen as the theme song for a Japanese movie called "Soul Flower Train" directed by Hiroshi Nishio. (http://www.soulflowertrain.com/).
The Pop Tune release was accompanied by a World Tour with extensive touring through Japan, Europe, Canada, Thailand and numerous visits to the United States, Shonen knife is currently writing for a new release and are considering plans to for further touring.
Latest Release
Pop Tune Download
Osaka, Japan’s Shonen Knife return with their 18th release, a new studio album called “Pop Tune”.
Download the album lyrics here (PDF)
Click Here for the CD Version
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