"This is a really good record." I looked down at my feet while I spoke. "But why aren't we dancing? Or even smiling?"
"I dunno, but, yeah, it is pretty good."
"But then why don't we like it?? Is it because of you??"
"You can't blame me, Matt."
My subconscious and I were playing tiddlywinks on the back porch. I leaned back, taking my eyes off the game for a while. He was killing me anyway.
"Maybe this isn't the right environment. Let's go inside and turn on a smoke machine and some black lights."
"Or maybe we should go fill out our absentee ballots."
"That was totally stupid, Sub. Anyways, this record is only political enough to try to get me to use that adjective in describing it."
We were pissing each other off, so we gave up trying to listen. I went back to balancing the checkbook to take my mind off Le Tigre for a moment. But I asked myself: Why was I reacting so indifferently to their newest record? Le Tigre have been, for the past five years, one of the most reliable independent rock groups. And their feminist dance pop was making hipsters dance when members of the Rapture were still playing in instrumental accordion hardcore bands.
As I sat at the table with the stack of bills in front of me, I watched Subconscious and tried to read why he wasn't digging the new record. I knew it wasn't that they moved to a major label (Universal); that's a totally null issue. If anything, they've only moved farther into their inevitable electroclash direction while thankfully still holding onto that snotty punk edge that we've loved from Bikini Killite Kathleen Hanna.
But then I noticed what my subconscious was doing. He was listening to Thunderbirds Are Now!, Lil Pocketknife, Les Georges Leningrad, and ten other bands taking the keyboard dance party sound in more interesting directions than Le Tigre is on This Island.
I stood up. I knew why the record was only mediocre, but I just had to ask. "Hey, Subconscious, what are you listening to? Aren't you going to help me with the bills?"
And that's when it hit me: my subconscious. I guess I'd been bothering him about finances too much. But laying here on the ground, I realize now I'm just so used to this indie dance sound that Le Tigre just sounds boring in the context of Fall 2004. They've put out a Le Tigre record, and while that's all peaches and cream for Le Tigre, my subconscious has other things to worry about, like how to pay the bills now that I'm going unconscious.
1. On the Verge
2. Seconds
3. Don't Drink Poison
4. After Dark
5. Nanny Nanny Boo Boo
6. TKO
7. Tell You Now
8. New Kicks
9. Viz
10. This Island
11. I'm So Excited
12. Sixteen
13. Punker Plus
More about: Le Tigre
