strawberry mud pie!

Strawberry Mud Pie! "You Sing! Me Play!" CDI don't know about you but when the months and months of damp, wet dreariness, otherwise known as "winter" on the Canadian west coast begin to turn into spring I start feeling a whole hell of a lot better, especially when I come across records as shamelessly fun and giddy as the debut full length by Japan's Strawberry Mud Pie!, which is the perfect soundtrack album for the sunny days and lazy weekends of spring and summer.You Sing! Me Play! besides being an excellent title for an album by a band that doesn't seem to speak that much English, is a 12 track poppy garage punk behemoth of a record. It's been a long while since I've been this impressed with the quality of songwriting on a straightforward record where each song employs the use of only 3, maybe 4 chords. There's no way a band like Strawberry Mud Pie! could ever be called original but they sure as hell are quite distinct due to Mika Mirinda's beautiful, hypnotizing, high pitched female voice (singing 90% of the songs in Japanese) over top of the buzzsaw guitar licks.I give this album my highest recommendation to all 3 chord garage punk fans who like things a bit on the saccharine side (they're wearing Reds and Queers shirts on the inside if that helps you any). If you listen to this and don't find yourself singing along, bopping your head or tapping your toes to songs like "Hohoo", "Teenage Girl Depression" or "Surfin' Johnny" you're simply a grumpy, old fuck. (JG)blankgeneration (1+2 Records - no address provided)--------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------You Sing! Me Play!: CD I liked this CD the minute I saw the cover art and the name of the band. I like food names (Razorcake, Strawberry Mud Pie, Punch and Pie, and, uh, more that I can’t think of right now). And I love female-fronted Japanese punk bands. (Pear of the West and Thug Murder are high on my list, which needs lengthening. If you are in a rockin’ female-fronted Japanese punk band, send me stuff to review, care of Razorcake!) You Sing! Me Play! didn’t disappoint me, either. Strawberry Mud Pie’s songs are very catchy, with a happy, rock’n’roll feel without being too poppy. Within the first song, you are already singing along: “Woohoo, she used to run away.” (At least, I think those are the words. Sometimes it’s hard to get past the singer’s Japanese accent, but that’s okay. It’s fun making up words, too.) You can tell the band is influenced by fifties rock’n’roll, and in the case of You Sing! Me Play!, that’s a good thing. I want more of this kind of stuff! –Felizon Vidad (1+2 Records) Razorcake