05/30/2008 00:46:52
♥
written by
vu (
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Discography
[1999] Le Tigre
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[2001] Feminist Sweepstakes
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[2004] This Island
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Le Tigre, "The Tiger", is undoubtably the best project that Kathleen Hanna's been involved in since Bikini Kill. Originally, this band was conceived to be a "live" version of her solo effort, Julie Ruin,
but as it developed between Johanna Fatman and Sadie Bennings, they
quickly realized this was a birth of a new sound and a new band.
Although
Bikini Kill was more DIY/Riot Grrrl, Le Tigre's sound, although still
involved in feminism, seems to emphasize on dance, visual performance
art, and electro. Take a listen to their first single, Hot Topic to hear what a wonderful tribute to strong women throughout the years, backed by a great drum beat and chorus.
My favorite
moment was when I was listening to this song, quite loudly in my car,
at a stop light. I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings,
but apparently these black youths in the car next to me were rocking
out to this song. They absolutely loved it.
I listened to their debut album constantly around this time, and I can tell you these are the songs that never got skipped:
"Deceptacon": absolutely love this song. This is also a great track to
play at a dance club, I remember hearing this at Popscene in San
Francisco and the audience loved it.
"Hot
Topic": See comment above. I love hearing and picking up on all the
artists mentioned, including Sleater-Kinny, Yoko Ono, Cibo Matto,
Leslie Feinberg, etc.
"The The Empty": Contains the best lyrics: "I went to your concert and I didn't feel a thing/Oh Baby, why won't you talk to me?/Oh baby, you just want me empty!"
"My My Metrocard": When I was in New York, I suddenly realized how much this song is so closely tied to the metro: "Next Stop: Atlantic Avenue/Next Stop: Christopher Street/Next Stop: Transfer to the/Next Stop: A, C, or E"
"Les and
Ray": The lyrics to this song suggests that these were Kathleen's
neighbors when she was very young. She used to put her head next to the
wall to hear these two guys composing music and it really inspired
her... at least that's what the song is about.
While waiting for their sophomore album, I found this little EP, From the Desk of Mr Lady,
at Circuit City. I think, also by this time JD Samson came on as a full
member of Le Tigre, while Sadie retired quietly in the background.
I thought
there were a couple of good songs on the EP: "Get Off the Internet"
(relates to me...) and "Gone B4 Yr Home" (a nice pop song)
I did
wanted to talk about their song "Bang! Bang!", it's about Amadou
Diallo, who was shot 41 times by four officers. When I saw Le Tigre
live, when they performed this song, they asked us to note how long
counting to 41 was (it was the longest part of the song it seems).
By the time Feminist Sweepstakes
came out in the winter of '01, I was still in love with Le Tigre. I
thought this album was a little militant and I kind of felt slightly
discriminated because I wasn't "a lady or a fag", as they put it on "LT
Tour Theme".
Some may argue that it's not anti-men, but I really felt like this album didn't want any
men to listen to it. The women-only theme continues on "F.Y.R." (which
stands for "Fifty years of ridicule"), "Dyke March 2001", "TGIF", just
to name a few.
One of the few favorite off this album, for me, was "On Guard", which contains a catchy line: "En Garde, let me see you shake it baby, shake it some more"
After picking up the rather disappointing Remix
EP, containing remixes by various DJs, I was
pretty much convinced that I should stop buying remix EPs (which is why I've avoided getting This Island Remixes). Like Randy,
I'm not a fan of remixes (although occasionally, I will admit, some remixes are much
better than the original).
I would only recommend people to pick up the Remix EP if you're a hardcore Le Tigre/Kathleen Hanna fan, otherwise, I couldn't endorse this.
In 2004, This Island
made its debut on a (gasp!) major record label, Universal Records. No
idea why a major label would want to pick up a band with such a niche
audience (no offense, but Le Tigre are more political and
feminist-charged rather than "mass appeal").
There's a couple of good tracks off the new album, which is tame compared to Feminist Sweepstakes.
I liked
"Nanny Nanny Boo Boo", which was a fun song, The Pointer Sister cover song, "I'm So Excited", and "TKO". They tried to
market the later as single, it contains the ironic line "TKO/heard it on the radio", which as you know never quite made it to popular radio.
There was another effort to release After Dark as a single, but I have never found this single (and never bothered to do ebay, etc).
So, where are Le Tigre now? They're currently taking an extended break since 2007. The band (minus Kathleen Hanna) formed Men,
but I haven't heard anything from this band yet. I'll definitely keep
my eyes open for new material from Men, Le Tigre, or Kathleen Hanna, so
keep on livin'.
Links:
www.letigreworld.com
myspace.com/letigre
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