Le Tigre (album)
| Le Tigre | ||||
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| Studio album by Le Tigre | ||||
| Released | October 26, 1999 | |||
| Genre | Pop punk,new wave | |||
| Length | 31:44 | |||
| Label | Mr. Lady | |||
| Producer | Chris Stamey, Le Tigre | |||
| Le Tigre chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Alternative Press | 4/5 |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− |
| Melody Maker |  |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.5/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Select | 4/5 |
| Spin | 9/10 |
| The Village Voice | A |
Le Tigre is the debut studio album of American music trio Le Tigre. It was released October 26, 1999 on Mr. Lady Records. The album combined pop music with the band's feminist political lyrics. It received positive reviews from music critics.
Le Tigre was formed by Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman, and Sadie Benning. Hanna lived with Fateman while the two were in a band called the Troublemakers. Hanna had collaborated with Benning on a video for "Aerobicide" from Hannah's 1997 album Julie Ruin. The three of them originally planned to come up with a live format for Hanna's songs as Julie Ruin, but they transitioned into making music.
The band constructed songs using inexpensive electronic equipment. Fateman explained that they chose equipment with which they were unfamiliar to show "girl-punk scorn for that particular strain of male expertise associated with electronic music." Le Tigre produced the album with Chris Stamey of the dB's, who helped the band rearrange songs through digital editing. Hanna and Fateman knew the founders of Mr. Lady Records from their time in Portland, Oregon. They chose to release the album through Mr. Lady because of its political engagement. When Benning was unable to tour in support of the album, the band removed her from its lineup and added JD Samson.
Le Tigre's music spans 1960s pop, punk rock, and lo-fi new wave. The band members listened to pop and hip hop music while making it. Le Tigre plays Farfisa organs, samplers, turntables, and guitars on the album. Many of the album's beats were programmed on an Alesis HR-16b drum machine. Fateman stated that she found the use of a drum machine liberating because "it makes you self-sufficient."
The album incorporates the band's political beliefs; Hanna commented that she wanted "to make something that's totally pleasurable and political too." "My My Metrocard" criticizes New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, and "Hot Topic" praises progressive activists. The band emphasized frankness and didacticism in its lyrics as a response to the ironic tone of hipster subculture. Le Tigre's vocals often carry a bored or soft-spoken tone, punctuated by more energetic bursts. Their use of girl group chants was likened to 1960s group the Shangri-Las. Hanna was influenced by the vocals on old records by Lesley Gore, the Shirelles, and Connie Francis. She explained that she was fascinated by "what it would be like to be a woman with way more constraints than we have now, singing these really fucked-up insipid heterosexual love songs."
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