interview | Shonen Knife, Interview with Naoko Yamano

“Monday I go to watch Sumo wrestling/It’s an easy day to get a good ticket” (One Week from Brand New Knife, 1996) Their songs bounce from jangling, smiling pop all the way through bashing, smashing punk. They are Shonen Knife, three Japanese grrrls who mix topics of buying Barbie dolls, drinking beer and watching Sumo … Continue reading “interview | Shonen Knife, Interview with Naoko Yamano”

Mental Notes: May 2003

HONG KONG–After finally working out a reliable way to get analogue cassette archives of radio interviews onto my machine, here they are streaming online, under the title Broadcast: The Eels’ E; The Posies‘ Ken Stringfellow; Weezer‘s Brian Bell; The 3Ds‘ Dave Saunders; Shonen Knife‘s Naoko Yamano; Butthole Surfers‘ King Coffey; Lush‘s Phillip King; Tripping Daisy‘s … Continue reading “Mental Notes: May 2003”

Mental Notes: August 2002

TAIPEI–Three new-spankin’-new playlists from Peso. Note new Humbug single, For the Birds, available MP3-only from www.humbugmusic.com. New song each week ’til album launch. Peso playlist Friday August 16, 2002 Mogwai – New Paths to Helicon Pt 1 Mogwai and David Pejo – Take Me Somewhere Nice Shino Lin – Track 7 [Req. Bad song on … Continue reading “Mental Notes: August 2002”

Big Day Out 1997, Bassendean Oval, February 2, 1997

A compilation of reviews for a bigger coverage assembled from several writers. For several thousand music fans, ravers and simple masochists, the first belly laughs of this final Big Day Out were to be had before reaching the ground. Note the frantic screams of the woman station guard as hundreds of kids tried to pile … Continue reading “Big Day Out 1997, Bassendean Oval, February 2, 1997”