Band : Super Junky Monkey
Album : Parasitic People
Release Year : 1996
Genre : Progressive | Hardcore | Funk | Experimental
Tracklist :
01. Introduction
02. The Words
03. If
04. Parasitic People
05. Gokai (Misunderstanding)
06. Our Universe
07. Nani (What)
08. Telepathy
09. Start With Makin’ A Fire
10. Burn System’s Flag
11. Kappa
12. The True Parasites
13. See Me, Feel Me
14. New Song
15. Tairiku No Kodoh (Pulsation’s Continent)
Super Junky Monkey is a Japanese all-female punk/funk/metal/hardcore band. They played as a four-piece during the 1990s, until the tragic suicide of their singer, Mutsumi Fukuhara, in 1999. They disbanded until 2009 when a reunion to conmemorate the tenth aniversary of Mutsumi’s death brought the three surviving members back together for good. They are currently touring Japan. Super Junky Monkey’s music is inspired by Steve Vai, the early Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mr. Bungle among others.
These four women make fast, raucous, gleefully in-your-face music that I'd classify as "progressive thrash" (Thought Industry's there too), and know what? I don't think I've heard a better trio of bass/guitar/percussion players than Keiko, Shinobu, and Matsudaahh!! anywhere in the loud rock field: agile, abrupt, pummeling, and versatile enough to try jazzy, robotic, hip-hop, spacey, funky, and beach-rock variations on the steady thrash core. The songwriting itself is merely serviceable, with "See Me Feel Me", a bizarrely adventurous but melody-retaining rewrite of the last track from the Who's TOMMY, far overshadowing all but one ("Parasitic People") of the original tracks (no shame, given how awe-inspiring the cover is; I still hear, what's it called, "We're Not Gonna Take It" as "oh yeah, the See Me Feel Me source material"). But that's okay, since the songs are servicing the often multi-tracked vocalist, Mutsumi, a wizard, a true star. As appropriate, or pleasurably inappropriate, she can sound like the Beastie Girls, the Chipmunks, Salt'n/or'Pepa, the Bangles (!), a punk shouter, a bored Bronx phone operator, a shaman leading tribal invocations, or a baby alligator flushed down the Boston sewers in 1982 and now grown up and hungry.
If, however, we treat these not as "songs" but as "compositions", well, they're stunning. SJM obviously had a great time making these songs, and Mutsumi's vocal gifts have a definite comic streak, so if you can enjoy the whole project more by regarding it as a goof, I'd not want to stop you. Just understand that there ain't no-one you know who could whip this out on their vacation time. Or even necessarily in twenty years of intense practice. Shonen Knife, we like your music, but get out of the way of the stereotype machine. Something new exists under the (rising) sun (have you noticed how magazine headlines have made unfunny puns an obligation? when did that happen?), and cute ain't it's essence.
02. The Words
03. If
04. Parasitic People
05. Gokai (Misunderstanding)
06. Our Universe
07. Nani (What)
08. Telepathy
09. Start With Makin’ A Fire
10. Burn System’s Flag
11. Kappa
12. The True Parasites
13. See Me, Feel Me
14. New Song
15. Tairiku No Kodoh (Pulsation’s Continent)
Super Junky Monkey is a Japanese all-female punk/funk/metal/hardcore band. They played as a four-piece during the 1990s, until the tragic suicide of their singer, Mutsumi Fukuhara, in 1999. They disbanded until 2009 when a reunion to conmemorate the tenth aniversary of Mutsumi’s death brought the three surviving members back together for good. They are currently touring Japan. Super Junky Monkey’s music is inspired by Steve Vai, the early Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mr. Bungle among others.
These four women make fast, raucous, gleefully in-your-face music that I'd classify as "progressive thrash" (Thought Industry's there too), and know what? I don't think I've heard a better trio of bass/guitar/percussion players than Keiko, Shinobu, and Matsudaahh!! anywhere in the loud rock field: agile, abrupt, pummeling, and versatile enough to try jazzy, robotic, hip-hop, spacey, funky, and beach-rock variations on the steady thrash core. The songwriting itself is merely serviceable, with "See Me Feel Me", a bizarrely adventurous but melody-retaining rewrite of the last track from the Who's TOMMY, far overshadowing all but one ("Parasitic People") of the original tracks (no shame, given how awe-inspiring the cover is; I still hear, what's it called, "We're Not Gonna Take It" as "oh yeah, the See Me Feel Me source material"). But that's okay, since the songs are servicing the often multi-tracked vocalist, Mutsumi, a wizard, a true star. As appropriate, or pleasurably inappropriate, she can sound like the Beastie Girls, the Chipmunks, Salt'n/or'Pepa, the Bangles (!), a punk shouter, a bored Bronx phone operator, a shaman leading tribal invocations, or a baby alligator flushed down the Boston sewers in 1982 and now grown up and hungry.
If, however, we treat these not as "songs" but as "compositions", well, they're stunning. SJM obviously had a great time making these songs, and Mutsumi's vocal gifts have a definite comic streak, so if you can enjoy the whole project more by regarding it as a goof, I'd not want to stop you. Just understand that there ain't no-one you know who could whip this out on their vacation time. Or even necessarily in twenty years of intense practice. Shonen Knife, we like your music, but get out of the way of the stereotype machine. Something new exists under the (rising) sun (have you noticed how magazine headlines have made unfunny puns an obligation? when did that happen?), and cute ain't it's essence.
No comments:
Post a Comment