In Brief

* * 1/2 Shonen Knife, “Let’s Knife,” Virgin. On its major-label debut, the Tokyo trio is still at its best as the Ramones of the Rising Sun with Japanenglish punk-pop. But attempts to vary the pace and become a Pacific Rim girl group for the ‘90s are hit-and-miss--though never anything less than charming and fun. The group plays the Roxy Feb. 8.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).