has anyone heard of dance music? not dance music as in "ooh, i could dance to this," but dance music as in "i have to go buy this new versace top before we go out tonight, 'kay?" yeah, well, dance music sucks. making music out of slowed-down new order synth parts played over bland drum machines and booming bass (with the occasional vocal sample) is as bad an idea now as whenever someone came up with it. the merits of creative electronic music should not be disputed, but that is another matter.
le tigre's remix album, as much as it pains me to say it, is dance music. if i hadn't loved everything this band had recorded before this 6-song sort-of lp, i would have been wise enough to not buy something that was originally released on vinyl only because it was "intended for djs," but their three previous releases are some of the best i own. well, this one is not. the first side takes three great songs and turns them into three songs that are catchy at best and irritating at worst. then there's "dyke march 2001," which was already the most beat-heavy song in the le tigre catalog--the remix is redundant, unnecessary, and not even as danceable. still, the most frustrating thing about this album is that some of the songs ("on guard," "mediocrity rules") that were effective in their original form because of their furious social commentary emerge from the remix process without any of the originial's intensity because the remix chops up the political message that was the point of the song in the first place. even the catchiest cut ("deceptacon") comes off as, above all, unnecessary. save "yr" money.