I need to lay my cards on the table here and now. I love Le Tigre, I liked This Island and I’m always up for a good remix. So you’d think this record would be fool-proof, huh? Weell, no. Something’ just really not working here. You’re probably not meant to listen to it in one sitting – as you’ll hear Nanny Nanny Boo Boo 3 times and After Dark 4 – but even so, I hate to type this, but it’s for the most part … boring. You might find something that suits your mood, but for this listener the cheekiness, edge and fun that Le Tigre bring to any speakers is somehow lost in translation. The NDB remix puts a thumping beat behind Kathleen Hannah’ vocals and suddenly you imagine yourself with your shirt off, fist in the air, perhaps a whistle around your neck and 20,000 of your closest friends running on the spot. Some may enjoy that, in my book it’s entirely predictable and repetitive. The Arthur Baker vs Coleman & Spencer Smashter remix is busy for the sake of it and all but divorced from the a cappella. The rest are much the same, except the Junior Senior and Morel’ Pink Noise Dub, which both manage to successfully take Le Tigre from lo-fi electro punk to almost house anthem. On the whole though, not for people who like Le Tigre.
Anna Burns
