Shonen Knife - Heavy Songs (2002) [North American Re-Release 2003]

The Japanese trio Shonen Knife has made major fans out of alt-rock's elite (Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Redd Kross, among others) and built a solid, worldwide cult following with their Ramones meets the Beatles brand of sticky sweet pop-punk. Their album for year 2002 is "Heavy Songs" and it features twelve all-new songs from the most famous Punk-pop band in the world from Japan. The band spent a month and a half in the studio in Osaka, recording the new songs… and even provided fans an ongoing "in-studio" diary of the process, via the Net. During the recording sessions, various guest artists were involved in the recording. Canadian Super-musician, Ron Sexsmith and members of his band, dropped by the studio, and Ron sings a duet with Naoko on the new song "Elephant Insect" - with the guitarist for his band, Tim - doing the lead guitar here. Atsuko plays drums, bass, keyboards and sings on a song of her own composition. Naoko did the advanced computer mapping of the tracks, the lead vocals, and played many guitars, keyboards and other instruments throughout. Japanese guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto also performs on the album, with the lead guitar for "Mango Juice" - a track dedicated to the late George Harrison. Shonen Knife support drummer, Mana Nishiura, also performed the percussion for "Mango Juice" and the chorus for "Rubber Band". The album was re-released in the United States & Canada in 2003 on the "Confidential Recordings" label. The artwork on the cover & CD design is slightly different than the original Japanese release, but the track listings are the same.

Tracklist:

01. A Map Master
02. A.A.A.
03. Golden Years Of Rock'N'Roll
04. Rubber Band
05. Heavy Song
06. A Boogie Monster
07. Mushroom Hair Cut
08. Whatever
09. Pigmy Jerboa
10. An Elephant Insect
11. Computer Language
12. Mango Juice (for George Harrison)

all songs written by Naoko Yamano, except "8" by Atsuko Yamano

We finished our new album "Heavy Songs". This album followed the taste of the last album, "Strawberry Sound", which is not strictly a "band sound", and it is free, creative music. But, the new album includes more punk pop tunes than the last album. I think the sound of this album went back to the starting point of Shonen Knife. It is a very fresh, powerful and colorful ROCKalbum. I hope the album "Heavy Songs" can make you happy and cheerful.

– Naoko Yamano

Produced by Shonen Knife & Atsushi Shibata
Recorded & Mixed at Omega Sound, Osaka, Japan. Recording Engineer: Tetsuya Kotani
Mastered at Warner Music Mastering. Mastering Engineer: Ryuichi Tanaka (Mixer's Lab)

• Naoko Yamano - vocals, guitars, programming, etc…
• Atsuko Yamano – bass, drums, keyboards, vocals, percussion

additional musicians:
- Roman Yumeno - guitar, bass
- Ron Sexmith - vocals on "10"
- Tim Bovaconti - guitar solo & backing vocals on "10"
- Mana Nishiura - backing vocals on "4", percussion on "12"
- Seiichi Yamamoto - guitar on "12"
- Moray Crawford - udu on "12"

Original Release Date: May 23, 2002
US Re-Release Date: October 14, 2003
Label: Confidential Recordings
Catalog No.: CON 3008-2