Electric Roller Girl

With Electric Roller Girl, their third album released through the exclusively Asian girl punk Benten record label, Mummy the Peepshow (with bassist Naru Shin, formerly of Osaka's Wonder 3) proves to be among the scene's standout groups. While records like this have long been hard to come by outside of Japan, the Internet makes them much easier to obtain, though they tend to be more expensive than American CDs as they tend to sell for around 20 dollars plus shipping. With a penchant for writing sugary sweet, surprisingly catchy pop-punk songs, Mummy the Peepshow will never be confused with Guitar Wolf, but like that band they manage to be appealing even to non-Japanese-speaking audiences. Granted, Mummy the Peepshow's sometimes clumsy or confusing attempts at writing lyrics in English make them all the more endearing. Take for instance "Kick Off!," which features lines like "Put on my roller skates/OK, I ate up banana/I will kidnap you/Sunshine will be on my side." It might not make sense, but it's impossible not to sing along. While the novelty value of Japanese girl punk will be enough for some (especially when they pull out covers like "This Charming Man"), it doesn't have to be. Even the songs performed in Japanese are catchy, with perky guitar riffs, playful group shoutalong choruses, and the overall feeling that these girls couldn't be happier being in a rock & roll band. Sometimes just listening to music performed by people who are so obviously happy to be making music is way more fun than overanalyzing Fugazi lyrics. It's like '50s girl group pop turned punk. Better than Prozac. ~ Karen E. Graves, Rovi