Le Tigre - 'This Island' (Universal-Island)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
What is it about 'This Island' that makes it seem like a debut record? It's not the quirky, upbeat, snotty little tunes - we're quite used to them. Nor is it the pioneering nature of the sound, for Le Tigre have sounded this out-there for a while now. Maybe, in fact, we're sure; it's the big label push. Le Tigre have been dolled up, polished and streamlined for mass acceptance. After two albums tickling at us from the underground, something clicked with someone (a pen, probably - near a chequebook) and now, there seems something far more formidable to the trio, something much more difficult to ignore. They're ready to take over, if people are willing to let them.
'This Island' (the title a reference to their newly found label situation perhaps?) is ammunition enough to do just that, without even being their finest record. Investigate these first - the eponymous debut had an incredible pop intelligence and bratty swagger they've never beaten, the following 'Feminist Sweepstakes' coupled that with a developing subtlety and atmosphere-crafting ability that was hard to ignore. Which makes it all the stranger that so many people did just that. This is an all=girl pop group with some of the finest tunes of the last ten years, perfect fodder you'd think for a big label snap up. Except those songs are often about butch lesbianism or militant feminism and head 'Tigre Kathleen Hanna will have a poke at good ol' Dubya at any chance possible. Sounds like it'd make a great 'Top of the Pops'...
Congratulations then to Island for having some guts, and yet more kudos to Le Tigre for making this fine record. As concerned at all times as it is with rebellion and resistance to the idea that they are anything but equal to The Man (in both gender and authoritative senses), where 'This Island' works best is when it lets its principles pepper brilliant, gutsy pop songs rather than dictate them. Stylistically, it's marvellously varied - opener 'On The Verge' is a spacious rock reflection on their position at the brink of what we can only hope will be superb, lasting success, 'Seconds' the first time anyone has actually mastered proper dance punk, a yelping, punishing sound akin to Sham 69 getting off their tits at a rave. 'After Dark', however, is the first sign of proper genius - a pop tune so infectious that it could easily be the next Girls Aloud single, if the attitude wasn't still so unshakably confrontational.
There are but a couple of minor quibbles. The will to embrace a new fan-base has, it seems, blinded our valiant heroes to the fact that long-lasting fans (and there are a considerable number - all of that distinctive cult follower breed) can easily spot a number of instances where ideas have been repeated - 'TKO' here is essentially a sub-standard re-hash of 'FYR' from the aforementioned 'Feminist Sweepstakes': fine if you forget the existence of the previous tune, but we won't have the wool pulled over our eyes that easily. 'New Kicks' too, a drawn-out, ideological experiment in the vein of the previous LP's 'Dyke March 2001' is a rather dire piece of sloganeering on legitimacy of the Iraq war - a sentiment that wouldn't do us any bother if it wasn't for the fact that we know full well that Le Tigre usually make us both think and dance, and this does neither.
They're clever though. Follow that with something as exceptional as 'Viz', a brilliant, call and response style musing on the lifestyle of a butch lesbian (much, much better than it sounds - honest), and any prior flaws simply disappear. Continuing the tradition of there being one track on every 'Tigre record that stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of quality (no matter how grand the rest admittedly are), this is possibly a career high-point. We're thinking and dancing now, that's for sure.
From there 'til the end, it's one fantastic party; an immense 'I'm So Excited' ranks as one of the best cover versions of the year (who would have thought you could turn it into some kind of terrace-boogie and it'd still be ace?), and a sultry 'Sixteen' coupled with the bizarrely intense balladry of 'Tell You Now' fulfil the obligatory wistful, uneasily beautiful tune quota quite marvellously.
Right you lot, this is your chance. We've been telling you for a while, and now they're shouting at you themselves, so wake up and pay a-bloody-tention, OK? Only a fool, compulsive liar or corporate misogynist male pig-dog would disagree that Le Tigre are one of pop music's few remaining ways forward.
Artists in this article: Le Tigre
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