31101Ciu nice
Lets Knife
Virgin
What if the Ramones were female
and Japanese? For a long time this
important musical question has re-
mained open, but happily, the answer
is here in the form of Michie, Atsuko
andNaoko,otherwiseknownasShonen
Knife. While they have been around
for the better part of a decade, this
album, "Let's Knife," is their major
label debut and their first all-English
recording.
Now that theirlyricsarein English,
thefulljoyandamusementthatShonen
Knife bring to their music can be fully
appreciated. Quirky subjects like cats,
insects, outer space, candy and biking
complement their loud, punky style.
"Let's Knife" is a great mood lifter,
good to sing along with and jump
around to. Their wackiness has earned
the respect of many punk rock gods,
including Thurston Moore of Sonic
Youth and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
"Let's Knife" is a great showcase
for theKnife's widerangeof craziness.
Highlights include the Ramones-like
punkof"TwistBarbie"and"Riding on
the Rocket,"the surfy "Tortoise Brand
PotCleaner(Sea Turtle),"thehardcore
send-up "Antonio Baka Guy," the
'50s doo-wop of"Cycling isFun,"and
the psychedelia of "Insect Collector"
all done in inimitable Shonen Knife
fashion. "Let's Knife" is weird, wild
stuffthatcouldbeaccusedofbeing too
catchy and too much fun. A special
bonus for Shonen Knife freaks: The
import of "Let's Knife" has a CD-5 of
karaoke versions of some of the songs
to"singalongaknifeto."Ican'tthinkof
anything I'd rather do.
-Heather Phares
Various Artists
African Elegant
Original Music
Mostof us can't help but notice the
African contributions to American
music;hollersoftheblues,polyrhythms
0 ofjazz,andrap'sreggae-inspiredwalk-
ing talk. But we often overlook the
eddies in this current.
The unique mesh of African, Latin
and European musics drifted back
across the Atlantic via colonialism and
trade. "African Elegant" explores this
cross-fertilizationby comparing 1950's
Sierra Leone palmwine guitar music
with Trinidad's calypsos from the be-
ginning of this century.
The recordings principally feature
Sierra Leone's "calypso king"
Ebenezer Calender and his Maringa
Band.
The acoustic guitar rings with the
unmistakablesweettwang which char-
acterizes African dry guitar virtuosity
of the '40s and '50s. Quirky rhythmic
bompsofatatteredtubaand therattles'
spicy polyrhythms offset the sugary
guitarstrums. Thevocalsareled by the
king himself, embellished by the ca-
sualchorusofhisFreetown bandmates.
Because Sierra Leone was estab-
lished especially for freed slaves, the
disparate African language speakers
settledon Afro-Englishkrio(creole)as
their language of fare. Since the West
Indies developed similar creole during
this time, the compatibility allowed a
free exchange of ideas and songs.
The few songs by Kru musicians
complete the nexus. As seafaring trad-
ers of the Iberian coast, the Kru prob-
ably exchanged calypsos with traders
along the seventh parallel. Kru musi-
cians like Kroo Young Stars Rhythms
Group added flute flutters and limber
trumpet melodies to the basic guitar
dindle.
Thelinkbetweencontinentsismade
strikingly clear through Calender's
"Nobody's Business But My Own,"
which bears a frighteningly close re-
semblancetoAmericanbluesmanMis-
sissippi John Hurt's "Ain't Nobody's
Business."
Either the proto-song which in-
spired Hurt's rendition traveled by
memory and mouth to Freetown or an
old acetate of Hurt's 1928 ditty found
its way to SierraLeone.
As far as the calypso connection,
some of the earliestrecorded calypsos,
like Julian Whitenose's 1914 "Iron
Dukes in the Land,"have similar band
arrangementas theirKriocounterparts.
Although calypso became more
jazz and latin influenced than the
palmwine ballads, they both dealt with
social protest ("Poor Freetown Boy")
and local gossip ("The Stolen
Chicken").
Although the music isn't exactly
elegantin a hoity-toity sense, its play-
fulnessandbeautifullyvagariousmelo-
dies make it a grandly enjoyable mu-
sic. Just imagine you're in a coastal
sailor's bar ... and pass the palmwine,
would ya?
-Chris Wyrod
Bailter Space
Robot World.
Matador Records
Bailter Space is a trio hailing from
.ew Zealand whoarehappy to present
to you a Ride meets Husker Du pro-
duction replete with angst and techno-
feedback.
"Robot World"is aconcept album
designed to take the listener into a
place where everything is automatic
and void of personality. Yet, some
warmth exudes from these 11 tracks,
for thematic reasons, in spite of the
album's gothic disposition.
"Begin" starts things off with a
melodic guitar riff that quickly degen-
eratesintoahigh-tempominor-chord
frenzy.
The following songs continue to
explore eerie feedback and garbled
lyrics that border dangerously on be-
ing too repetitious and droning even
for an album emphasizing a robotic
civilization. Bass lines and drum
rhythms save many songs like "Ore"
and "Get Lost" where hyper guitar
distortion would reduce them to only
three minutes of white noise.
An overview of all of the songs
revealstheband'skeensenseoftheme.
After listening to the whole album you
feel as though you've been someplace
else,someplaceless fortunate and hope-
less.
This work conjures a feeling of
leaving home, getting lost and becom-
ing panic stricken, and then returning
by some miracle, grateful your senses
have returned. The brightest and most
favorable songs are "Begin" and
"Make"at opposite ends of the album.
"Make" showcases appealing, chim-
ing guitar effects that ring in celebra-
tion after coming out of six songs of
dark and, at worst, dismal music.
"Robot World"attempts to harness
raw sounds and transform theminto ...
songs, but often fails due to repetitious
noise and lack of diverse rhythms or
tempo changes. Unless you're a
hardcore techno-trance fanatic who
doesn't mind an occasional break into
something cheery and melodic, then
leave this one on the shelf.
-Thomas Hook
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