(Damnably)

Despite this 30-year veteran Japanese all-girl punk-pop trio being down to just a solitary remaining founder member in guitarist and singer Naoko Yamano these days, their reserves of winning daftness remain plentiful.

Yamano’s lyrics aren’t getting any more sophisticated (‘yummy, yummy rolled cake’ runs the delightful ‘Rock’n’Roll Cake’), nor her English pronunciation much better (‘I’d like to give you a wose,’ she sings on the gleefully melodic ‘Capybara’, which also comes in techno version), and Free Time inevitably gets pretty annoying. But if a chorus line like ‘Oooout break! Outbreak of jellyfish!’ sung over fizzing power-chords doesn’t raise at least a fleeting smile, you probably need to lighten up a bit.

Shonen Knife - Perfect Freedom (English Version)