Shonen Knife – Free Time – Damnably – DAMNABLY005 - ***

A chapter of Simon Reynolds' Retromania details Japanese predilections for exact recreations of Western pop. But even if it's worth sounding like The Ramones would if they were three women from Osaka, is it worth doing for thirty years, as Shonen Knife have? To be fair, the trio's range has broadened of late. The topical Economic Crisis is as much early Eighties Motorhead metal as it is '76 New York buzz-punk, Do You Happen To Know suggests some Phil Spector girls jumping on fuzz pedals, and the South American rodent anthem Capybara is an irrepressible slice of bounce-along indie-pop. Beguiling.

(24/7/11)