Amish 82: "Hans Blix Theme"

There’s been tension in Anglo-Norwegian relations ever since that “Amundsen takes the South Pole” debacle. The two nations have been trading schadenfreude ever since, with Brit kids of today pissing “SCOTT FTW” onto ski-slopes when they’ve drunk too much Dahls. In an attempt to unite the two scowling kingdoms and help mediate some kind of peace dove, real-life Brüno lookalike Amish 82 has been thrashing out cartoon electro, all available free to keep and pass on to fulfil his Utopian agenda. 82, better—and more cooler—known as Snoore Valen to the kids on the Norwegian indie scene, serves up hot machine pop with a dusty dash of politics, a generous measure of ice tossed in with a twist of Team America: World Police to flavour. Remember the nemesis of Kim Jong-Il, Hans Brix, the doomed WMD dude? The one the crazed screecher lost his temper with and sent to meet the fishes down a trapdoor? Apparently he inspired a real-life namesake to advise W to slow down on Iraq—some five or six years ago, would you believe it. I know that’s perhaps where a humour-tune like this might belong, but maybe Mr. 82 was wisely biding his time for fear of a quick whisk to Guantanamo.

So the one you’ve been waiting for is “Hans Blix Theme”: a sequenced storm of lasers and hairspray to which buddy Bjørn Boassen plays guitar. “Who’s the very Scandinavian superhero,” groans 82/Valen, doing such a convincing “Mags from A-Ha” I was ready to get sucked into a drawing. It’s fun enough to dance to, weird enough to remember, and perhaps sharp enough to spread the word about Afghanistan—the word, I think, being enough. Still, all politics aside, this is one of the more left-field radio-friendly anti-nuke songs I’ve come across since 1988, and the fact that it could slot in to your average Ferris Bueller clone feels fitting the week after John Hughes died. Amish 82’s Best Of is available now via Sutemos, and this isn’t on it. Insanity.

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