Review: Genki Shock!

Genki Shock!
Shonen Knife
2006

In December of 2006, a friend and I strolled into a local Tower Records, which was going out of business. For those who may not remember, Tower Records was a very popular music store that went bankrupt that same year. Like many businesses that are folding/closing/ending/etc, they were having a "going out of business" sale in which all their merchandise: books, music, DVDs, posters, etc was being sold at ridiculous prices. The good kind of ridiculous, of course; by which I really mean: "the kind in which consumers win."

I sifted through bins and boxes for CDs and anything else I could get for super cheap. I couldn't find much except for a Sonic Youth single which I ended up giving to someone as a gift. I was about to grab a Streets CD but my friend had seen it first and claimed it for himself. As a consolation, he handed me Genki Shock! My first reaction was, "Dude, what the fuck?" because it was pink. He calmly responded, "Trust me, you'll like them." And this is where the review starts.

This was my first exposure to Shonen Knife, later reading that they'd been around for a while. My initial reaction was obviously of bewilderment. Surely, a pink album cover (the cover is only pink in the US; in the Japanese release, the cover is yellow) could only be indicative of girly music, right? What the hell had my friend easily convinced me to get? Not like I could really complain since I only paid about 2 bucks for it.

I was flabbergasted at how much I enjoyed the album because it defied every expectation I had. Granted, those expectations were ridiculous and had no substance but the more legitimate (though still stupid) expectations regarding the music itself were more: "this music will probably be very cutesy and more appropriate on a children's television program." Or very low.

The album itself is a collection of stuff that I would call a mix of various guitar-driven genres like pop, punk, hard rock, and faint echoes of metal (particularly that gnarly solo on "The Queen of Darkness") and jazz ("Broccoli Man") simply because of the lyrical content and delivery. Pop: Not necessarily saccharine-sweet stuff but nothing that (for example) Black Flag would sing about like giant kitties and glasses ("Giant Kitty" and "My Magic Glasses", respectively).

From the first track, the aptly-named "Introduction" which serves as a preview for a later track ("Giant Kitty"), I was intrigued and amused at how it lulls you into a false sense of security with the track being presented as if it was coming from a distant boombox as it explodes into "S*P*A*M" which is probably what grabbed me and never let me go since I first heard the album. The rest of the songs that followed maintained a similar energy though it did lull you into another false sense of security (or at the very least led you in one direction and then POW!) in which- "WHOA! This solo on 'The Queen of Darkness' is pretty sweet!"

Yes, it's like that. Not to say that the songs in between are filler but they don't grab you with the same cutesy shiny gleeful ferocity as the first few tracks and the closing track. So, don't dismiss "Broccoli Man" as run of the mill pseudo-jazz or anything of the sort. The guitar work is what stands out for me especially when the distorted guitars aren't strumming away but when you get to stuff like "Rock Society" and "Under my Pillow" which serve as perfect showcases for how varied their guitar playing abilities are. Very talented dames these dames.

My only beef would have to be with the obvious fact that Naoko Yamano singing in English is something you just have to get used to. It's not atrocious but it's not that easy getting used to it either but fuck it, the music's good. My only other beef is the fact that their guitar work left a deep chip in my shoulder that I haven't been able to heal. Well, that's not such a bad thing because it just motivated me to at the very least learn my scales.

8/10

Bits and Pieces

I've noticed that it seems like every time I post something that isn't fiction, it's usually something self-deprecating: something about how I can't write, or how I'm an awful writer, or how it sucks that I can't come up with anything substantial to present.

Basically, a lot of "woe is me".

Only because the necessary ingredients that make this a blog worth reading or following half-heartedly, are missing and thus all we really have are bits and pieces. But I suppose this foul condition reflects that of the world's own condition. The search for "the big picture" is as elusive as "perfection".

Everything we see and/or do really contributes more to the bits and pieces of a very large fragment. The same way that this entry will only be part of something bigger than in turn is only part of something even bigger.

So what I'm trying to say (perhaps to myself and to you, dear reader) is bits and pieces are cogs of a greater machine that you will see soon.

I rarely give advice but I suppose by my example I should say that if you've got bits and pieces of progress, display them. Doing so will help a lot. It may not seem like it now but if you follow this piece of advice that I received when I was younger, you should be fine:

Every day you don't write, the bastards win.

Damn it

I'm not a person who hates things. Well, I'm not a person who "hates" a lot of things. That's a more accurate statement. I don't actually see a point in hatred even though I know I still have some issues regarding hatred to resolve. That's to say, I "hate" the things I "hate" far less than I did when I started. All this is thanks to a process called "growing up" which is also known as "letting things go" even though sometimes they can be classified as two different things. Growing up and letting things go are required of an adult, something I'm working on becoming and will achieve. Eventually, in time, at some point.

Though I try to have as little hate as possible, there are some things I just can't stand. One of them is having to say three words. "I give up." and actually mean it.

It's one thing to say something and another thing to mean it. When you say one thing but don't mean it, it's generally considered to be a lie. Even if you're an actor, you still have to have a great degree of conviction in your delivery of your lines for them to ring true with the audience and make your performance believable and therefore better. So I hope that helps you understand what I mean when I say whatever it is I'm trying to say about saying something and meaning it. I suppose a better example would be the distinction between saying "sorry" and apologizing. There is a world of difference, but that'll have to wait for another time as I am straying from my original topic.

I'm the kind of person who will forever try to be an optimist, even in the face of danger. I might even laugh in the face of death. Why? Probably because I've lost my mind. I probably have because I haven't been completely sane for quite a while now. I tend to switch between being content with the way things are going and trying to get out of this damned swamp of misery.

But yes, in my efforts to be an optimist despite crappy odds I often falter and almost surrender.

I don't though because if I can control the situation, or turn it around or something I will do it. But if I give up readily and willingly even though things CAN be changed, then- it's a sickening feeling that everyone has felt at some point or another. That persistent specter of what-if and shoulda-coulda-woulda. The ghost of possibilities gone by. That's what makes me feel ill.

And that's why I remain stubborn and steadfast though it may be my downfall. That and bad writing.

Obligatory Post of the New Year: 2013

Apocalypse NOT!

2013 is underway and with that, the same droning echoes of deluded promises of self-improvement.

Which explains why for only the next month or two, gyms will be packed and then thin out by mid-March/early April. That's being generous in my estimate.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just stating facts that have oft repeated themselves time and time again. For the gym example, people seem to think that it's easy even though they KNOW it isn't. Does that make sense? But it isn't, it requires a lot of hard work and dedication and further changes in their comfortable lifestyle.

And that's why people fail in their new year's resolutions: they lack the dedication to step outside of their comfort zone for longer than a few minutes. This explains why- if I had a new year's resolution, it'd be the same as last year's: nothin'.

If you set the bar low and somehow do something, you will have surpassed your own expectations and actually accomplished something. The reason this works is because we often get carried away in our own quests for self-improvement that our modest goals become so lofty and enormous that they teeter on impossible for our current skill set.

Of course, you should aspire to something. I wouldn't recommend stretching so far that your bones get dislocated because you're gonna hurt yourself but reach for a goal.

Good luck!

Don't just do nothing, ass.