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Man, a female Klinger. A female They Might Be Giants.
The high pitched voices, a barrage of cutesy pop keyboards,
the contagious melodies, the continual wahs, do doo's,
bah, bah, babababa's and songs about boys, emo songs,
broken hearts, pop culture, lead inexorably to a bouncy
red cordial mixed with speed and a couple of beers,
gracious-pop. no, really B-Grade Lisa Loeb is gold.
Pure, tongue in cheek pop, gold.
I once had a chance to hang backstage with Lisa Loeb.
By a remarkable twist of luck it turned out she and
her band were Christians and consequently didn't drink
( I thought Jesus turned water into wine?) so I got
to have as much of her rider as I liked/could manage.
I have had warm feelings towards her ever since -so
I will brook no criticism. On the other hand Jane vs
World are kind of like an amped up Lisa Loeb anyway
no matter what they say darling little indie children
filled with happiness, freedom and the desire to wear
'unconventional' clothes bought at out of the way op
shops whilst touring country towns. How could you not
love them and the indie pop that flows effortlessly
from their little indie hands? God love them and everyone
in their cardigan wearing world!
Woah, watch out Janeworld (the superfabulous rave writer),
Jane Vs World (the cute-core Melbourne duo) are biting
your territory girl! And given their sure-to-be-big
pearl-knitted precious pop perfection, you might find
yourself scrounging around for a new nom-de-pume…
ack! Me, I wanna see the face-off… Janeworld teeth
barred with poison-dart biro and num-chuck mini-cassettes
fending off brutal casio counter-attacks with the relentless
head-bopping head-butt of doom!! Phfwoar..hott.. I could
sell tickets and become a millionaire! The truth of
the matter is that one of Rave’s fave columnists
has cause of cencern. With the Belle and Sebastian and
nineties nostalgia, B-Grade Lisa Loeb could easily do
something bigger than your average gum-bubble.
The actual title of the track is enough of a giveaway
but, in case you still hadn’t caught on, Melbourne
duo Jane Vs World (featuring ex-Sarah Sarah vocal gal
Kate Duncan) love their pop music and, more than that,
take great pleasure in presenting you with their unashamedly
over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek pop approach. While lead
track ‘B-Grade Lisa Loeb’ from their forthcoming
debut EP is certainly by numbers, it’s injected
with the right amount of humour, upbeat energy and pisstaking
observations towards emo/indie dudes to make it something
that even the most discerning of listeners will find
difficult to resist tapping their foot along to. Even
if you’re not a big fan of this style in general,
just hearing something that obviously has the intention
of putting a smile on your face is worth it. Enjoy a
slice of infectious pop pie, shamelessly.
Jane Vs World was born when keys player Jadey O’Regan
moved to Melbourne after a five hour phone conversation
with new best friend Kate Duncan. The two have been
playing various venues around Melbourne for a while
now, and have also played some shows in Sydney, Brisbane,
and regional centres in between. Their debut EP 56K
Hearts will be released in February next year, but in
the meantime, we’ll have to make do with exciting
debut single B-Grade Lisa Loeb.
B-Grade Lisa Loeb is a fast and furious, but most of
all fun, track. It’s heavy on pianos and Duncan’s
poppy vocals, even though it’s essentially a break
up track. It laments conversations about bands that
hinted at a deeper personality clash. Luckily, the content
never drags the song down, and this piece of pop perfection
is an instant charmer. B-side The Subterraneans is a
similar effort, and although the tempo is reduced, the
atmosphere and intent certainly isn’t. Its more
of a road trip song, singing about trips to San Francisco.
These two songs are an brilliant introduction to a band
that is certainly going to turn some heads, or at the
very least, shakes some asses. Its entirely possible
the music industry didn’t need a cynical, nerdy
version of Josie and the Pussycats, but by gum we’ve
got them, and as long as they stick around, listeners
will be all the better for it.
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