780 Le Tigre - Le Tigre (1999)

 780 Le Tigre - Le Tigre (1999)

Studio Album - Electro/New Wave



About the Act:

Le Tigre were a socio-political feminist LGBT-facing band from New York. They ran from 1996-2007, and briefly again in 2010 and 2016. They were seemingly the brainchild of Sadie Benning, a multimedia artist. They have released 3 studio albums.

About the Album:

This was the band's first album. 

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

I music entertainment, or is it art? Or is it both? What do we mean when we say "entertainment", and what do we mean when we say "art"? Does it matter? Can you tell I am feeling philosophical? Or maybe I am just stalling because I don't know what to say about this album.

Arguably, entertainment is something you do for pleasure, and many people listen to music for pleasure. If you are listening to music you enjoy, I guess arguably that makes it entertainment.

Art seems to be something that is particularly difficult to describe. It seems to be generally agreed that the best of art has something to say, is persuasive, sometimes has a message, and provokes a response. Really good art can educate, and leave the consumer changed, hopefully for the better. Most art (maybe all) does this through some creative medium or media, and in order to be successful, a level of skill in using that medium is assumed.

However, there seems to be a phenomenon in art, especially in modern forms of art, that if the perpetrator (sorry "artist") takes themself or selves seriously enough, then people will start to assume it is good - maybe because it becomes too hard to say otherwise. This goes hand-in-glove with an idea that expression is more important than skill. It can be very hard to sort the genius from the Emperor's new clothes.

Back to music. Music does not have to take a lot of skill to be pleasing, some of the most pleasing is quite skilful, though. Most rock/pop/etc has lyrics, and so if your lyrics have a clear message, some people will like it regardless of skill. Punk in particular, seemed to replace skill with attitude, and despite way that sounds, actually at times I think they were right. 

Musically, this album is pretty simple. Actually crass, to be honest, and badly recorded. It sounds like it was recorded in a series of garages, in about 1972 (instead of in a studio in 1999). I find it quite hard to listen to as a purely musical experience. It's not without merit, it has an enthusiasm and earnestness that is fairly attractive, and the vocals, while not in tune, (it would be hard to decide which of the instruments to be in tune with) have a kind of punk appeal. Stylistically, it's kind of a mix of gog-go girls with looped samples and punky guitar at times.

The lyrics, now this is where there is something. They have messages. Of course they do, did you read the description of the band? I suspect that the majority of fans are attracted by the messages more than the musical skill and textures (but not all). Despite the description, this is not po-faced political correctness, it has a humour and at times almost joyful approach. 

So, my feelings are mixed. As a listening experience, though, I mostly found it mildly jarring, and wished that the skill-less-ness was toned down a bit, or even just that it was better produced - it sounds like a bad cassette copy.

5.8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0dSSZGzoukzrFBnG07J45i

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcHXuArdamOxnu8a9DIedumc0ARkaDbpG

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Tigre_(album)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990)

Image
 840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990) Compilation (double) - Girl Group (Soul/Bobby Soxer/Do-Wop) About the Album: This is a highly acclaimed compilation in 2CDs by Rhino Records. It's the sort of thing that in this country you might expect to see at 3.99 in a Garden Centre. My History with this Album: None Review: There are not many multi-artist compilations in this series for reviewing. There is not information about it on Wikipedia, but the reception seems to have been positive. It is choc-full of hits with a smattering of lesser-known songs, and it's hard not to imagine Grease or similar situations - girls with cardigans and white socks, listening to the juke box while sipping milkshakes in the drug store. On one level it's a fun collection of songs that you could use to feel nostalgic, or as the music for a themed party. On another level it's kind of like a cultural artefact. I feel honour-bound to describe it, even though if I drop
Read more

944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001)

Image
 944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001) Studio Album - World Music About the Act: Manu Chao is a French-Spanish musician of Spanish descent who grew up on the outskirts of Paris. In the mid-80s he was in a Spanish/English rockabilly group called Hot Pants. In 1987, with his brother and cousin he founded the band Mano Negra, combining punk and world music influences and playing on the Paris Metro. This band took off and had 4 studio albums. In 1995 Manu "went solo", forming the band Radio Bemba Sound System to be his backing band. The punk elements were less prominent, but he started to make music that "replicates the sound of street music and bar scenes from a variety of cultures". He has been really popular in parts of Europe.  About the Album: This album was Manu Chao's second studio album as a "solo" artist. In Spanish, the name means "Next Station: Hope", after a real station on the Madrid Metro. The album reached top 10 slots
Read more

591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952)

Image
 591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952) Compilation Album - Americana About the Act: Harry Smith is not the performer here, he is the collector. He was a film-maker, occultist, and eccentric. About the Album: Harry Smith had a collection of early 78rpm records of various "folk" styles dated from 1927 when such things first started to be commercially available to 1932 when the Great Depression put a stop to the sales of folk records. In 1947 he approached a label, Folkway Records, about releasing a collection of them transferred onto LPs. This they did in 1952, without seeking copyright permission, making this technically a bootleg. It was released as three double-LP boxed sets, and sold very poorly. In the first year it sold 50 copies, 47 to libraries and colleges. It was reissued later, and gained traction and sold better. It now has a reputation for being one of the most influential compilations in the history of Americana, and is cited as being a ma
Read more