Have You Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS? – Jazzbelle 1984/1988
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| HYSTJFVHS? - Jazzbelle 1984/1988 |
OK, OK, OK. I think we can pretty
much close off the entries for band name of the year – Finland have nailed it. That’s
right, Finnish trio Have You Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS? have brought
their A-Game name wise and their album ‘Jazzbelle 1984/1988’ is equally
impressive/bonkers depending on your vantage point. I mean, let’s face it, any
album that opens with a track called ‘Magic Swimming Pants’ is going to be fun
right? The keys, fuzz and drums romp that opens this collection feels like Bis cover
the Wannadies and if you aren’t excited by that then I’m done with you.
Seriously, get out.
‘Eggs’ keeps the energy levels up
with a trumpet and organ duel and some riot girl attitude while ‘The Heman Song’
is likely to be a cult hit in Japan with it’s Hives meets the Lovely Eggs rough’n’ready
melodies that just won’t quit. On ‘Corazone’ the melody hits me with a Holy
City Rollers vibe and some dEUS sized fun but then ‘Sheep’ goes all Lush meets
St Etienne on our asses and the love affair just keeps on going. There’s no
time to stop and pick this apart in any meaningful way, you just have to strap
yourself in, keep your arms outside the car and enjoy the ride. But then there’s
‘Teeth’. ‘Teeth’ opens with a drone that sounds like an outer-Hebridean folk
festival is just getting in to gear before a Oi-punk tune emerges from the camp
fire to smash the acoustic guitars and burn the beards of our faces with
incendiary organs and blistering drums.
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| Have You Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS? |
The organ melody on ‘Mareride’ is
hooky beyond anything that is reasonable while the vocals and fuzzy bass of
Susse Stemma-Sihvola are straight out of an 80s suburban LA garage. ‘Hanky
Panky’ has a beautifully bratty feel to it as though it’s some French Art-punk
piece from the 70s while ‘What Would Phil Dunphy Do?’ combines stabbing organs,
breathless vocals and my favourite TV Real Estate Agent which is not an easy
call. ‘Bambi Act’ feels like it could have been used in the climactic montage
chase scene of some ADHD inspired kid’s TV show and the album closes out on ‘Period’
which emerges from the basement like the transformed geek in full homecoming
queen garb – this is the most commercial of the tunes with it’s catchy horns
and sultry vocals so if you’re needing something on the entry level then go for
this. All in all, this is bonkers, breathless and wondrous – unlike anything I’ve
heard since I first discovered Metal Molly’s ‘Surgery for Zebra’ and that was
back in 1995 so well after Fonda’s peak. Brilliant stuff.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/janefondaaerobicvhs
Live Dates:
2nd February – Bar Downtown, Kouvola
3rd February – Kuudes Linja, Helsinki
9th March – Dynamo, Turku