In Brief
* * * Shonen Knife, “Rock Animals,” Virgin. The Japanese female trio’s ultra-innocent take on American pop has earned it a cult following, and on “Rock Animals” Shonen Knife still hits lots of deliciously bum notes, still embraces bubblegum-pop and sings in nasal tones and quirky English about cute animals and yummy food. But the group’s imperfect sweetness is now wrapped in a more polished production, and they let the vocals rip in wild, pubescent tones.
New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).
