Shonen Knife are going into their thirty-fifth year of punk garage-pop, and they admittedly haven’t evolved much – but why would they at this point? Yes, their latest, Adventure, is pretty similar to what the band has been doing for decades, but that’s what you’re looking for from this well-worn Japanese import.
In some ways, Adventure almost seems like a caricature of Shonen Knife, with songs about everything from “Rock’n’roll T-Shirt” to “Wasabi” – they even go Pacific with “Hawaii” and “Tasmanian Devil”. They are not one for deep thought or complex experimentation, but what they do, they do well, from the cheery SK punk-bop of “Jump Into the New World” onward.
Adventure breaks no new ground for this band, who precedes so many waves they can’t be counted anymore (Kurt Cobain was a fan, and they were already established by that point…). If you like Shonen Knife, you’ll like Adventure, and why wouldn’t you like Shonen Knife?…
