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Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour
R0 - America - Oscilloscope Laboratories Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (30th July 2011). |
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The Film
 Serious. Fun. If you were looking for words to describe Le Tigre, those would be at the tippy top of the list. Wacky might be an equally applicable term, as the band’s performances – aided by strange audio-visuals – are certainly a madcap mish-mash of blazingly colorful lights, synthetic sound, and choreographed dance moves that more closely resemble weird kids games (or robotic seizures) than proper, polished showmanship. But such is Le Tigre, a band that combined the grimy stage presence of underground punk and grunge with low-fi electronics to create a sound and public image all their own for near half-a-decade. The self-described “feminist performance artists” were – or perhaps, in the right circles, are – known for their liberally minded, politicized lyrics and the left-wing-learning subject matter of their songs (which, among other things, promoted women’s and LGBT rights, while commenting on the latent sexism and homophobia surrounding each.) The socially conscious, electro-clash group was formed by Kathleen Hannah and Joanna Fateman in 1998. J.D. Samson, an out-n-proud lesbian, and at one time Le Tigre’s projectionist, joined in 2000, replacing a third member who left amicably after the release of their first album. The group quickly set about critiquing the dominant patriarchy of western culture. And they did it with style. Some might think that front-woman Hannah (originally of 90's punk band Bikini Kill) and her cohorts would – or even did – go about their business in an off-putting, seemingly militant way, but the truth is, behind the shrill façade, they actually wrapped their criticism and commentary in smartly written, catchy pop-punk-dance music. The group released three albums – the self-titled debut “Le Tigre”, 2001’s “Feminist Sweepstakes”, and finally “The Island” in 2004 (their only record released on a major label) – before taking an extended break. The group no longer performs, and hasn’t released anything for a couple of years, but the trio have collectively collaborated in various side projects (and seem friendly and to be on good terms in the supplements on Oscilloscopes DVD release, picking up where they left off in 2004 for a crackerjack video commentary.) Serious, fun and wacky could also be used to describe Kerthy Fix’s new documentary “Who Took the Bomp?” which follows the band on their 2004 farewell tour. The surprisingly straight-forward rock documentary is the appropriate mix of outrageous frivolity – hijinks with the band backstage, in their hotel rooms, or out on the town – and somber reflection on the impact that Le Tigre had on its counterculture fanbase. It matches the tone set by the band and its members. There are moments of great fun – and “Bomp” is easily the funniest documentary I’ve seen so far this year – with scenes of honest-to-goodness, absurdist hilarity. But there’s an equally serious thread running underneath that too. In one scene the band embark on a journey to get their picture taken with a scary-looking death metal group also on the tour, who turn out to be far less badass then their costumes and screamo music let on. Elsewhere J.D. recounts a pitifully sorrowful, but funny story about her night on the town, where a flirty girl at a club stalked and talked her up the whole time. Only much, much later did anyone realize that the nameless, faceless girl thought J.D. was a slight, gay, man and not one of the so-called “ugly butch lesbians who wanna be men” that she rallied against all night. J.D. is unfazed and the trio share a hearty laugh their hotel rooms the next morning. Both scenarios plays well off another story from Joanna – an animal rights activist – who tells about one of the death-metal dudes hitting on her, drunkenly confessing that he wants to fight a shark (and punch it in the face). Neatly cut between these lighthearted moments are terrifically juxtaposed scenes where the band faces real-life examples of the blatant sexism and homophobia they stand against. At the beginning of a show, Hanna rebuffs a piggish member of the crowd. He screams, “take it off” as Le Tigre begins their set. Her response is classic: “fuck off, loser”. The crowd cheers Hanna, who stands strong, but as she reflects later, in an interview conducted years later, and admits to being constantly hurt by the reminders that, for all the forward strides made in the movement during the time the band was together, the masses (or at least select members of the mass) can still be bigoted and backwards. J.D. Samson faces similar realizations about the sad state of hetero and homosexual relations in modern culture. “I don’t know… I feel so dirty now,” she says after agreeing to an ad, interview and photo shoot for “Jane Magazine”. It turns out – a fact that they learn later, after agreeing to terms and sitting down for the shoot – that the conservative, homophobic management of the Japanese publication want to downplay the fact that J.D. is a lesbian. Of course, those seeking out a music documentary really only want to know one thing: what about the actual performances? The concert footage is amongst the most interesting stuff in the film – and likely what the fans will care about most – simply because it captures the spirit of Le Tigre and their music in a way that’s essentially tangible (as tangible as the intangible can be anyway). Director Fix captures the unhinged energy of a Le Tigre show perfectly, a fact made even more impressive because she’s primarily pieced together her film from a hodgepodge of home movie footage shot a half-decade before her documentary, by an untrained cameraman (the band’s friend and lighting technician, Carmine Covelli), which dangerously borders on amateurish. That Fix was able to pull anything coherent from the footage is somewhat shocking; that she was able to put together something so cohesive and perfectly blended – aided by layering a pristine audio track, taken from a single recording, over the material – is astonishing. “Who Took the Bomp?” is an often-brilliant look at a band that made a small, if memorable, mark on the counterculture music scene some years ago. The seriousness and the fun are an odd, but strangely alluring pair, and the sometimes conflicting nature of the two competing tones make “Who Took the Bomp?” unique. It’s obvious that the tour marks a time when the band is barely keeping themselves together, fighting back problems not from internal struggles and petty fighting, but outside societal forces that are either too hurtful or too absurd to not laugh at and note the uncomfortable circumstance. Fans will absolutely adore this documentary. Newcomers – like myself – will find plenty to like about it too.
Video
Colorful and reasonably sharp, with solid blacks and sufficient contrast, Oscilloscope’s 1.33:1 full-frame transfer delivers a decent looking – if problematic – image. Mostly shot on the fly by lighting technician Carmine Covelli with standard-def videotape, the documentary exudes a rough, but somewhat-appropriately lo-fi aesthetic. The disc is fairly consistent considering it’s the product of about a dozen different shows, random behind-he-scenes footage, and interviews conducted years later. But it isn’t without issues; examples of color fringing, banding, noise, moiré, aliasing and combing appear at sporadic intervals throughout the film. Sometimes the flaws are pretty severe. “Who Took the Bomp?” heavily relies on a myriad of other cheap SD formats and many of the flaws present in the transfer are inherent to the mediocre, low-def source. Oscilloscope’s encode seems faithful to the troubled source materials, but the resulting image certainly isn’t pretty, even if it gets the job done.
Audio
The English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is actually quite impressive during the performances. Music and lyrics – sourced from a single, pristine recording and seamlessly edited into the montages – are clear, and the mix has surprisingly strong dynamics. When the film moves away from the stage to candid behind-the-scenes clips, crispness and clarity wane, but, again, the source is to blame for the weaker moments of this disc. I’m left to wonder what an LPCM track might have sounded like; Oscilloscope really should consider 2-channel lossless for its future concert DVD's. Optional English subtitles are also included. Note: even without the option selected, potions with troubled, low volume or poorly recorded dialog and lyrics feature helpful hardcoded subtitles.
Extras
An extensive array of special features awaits fans of the band and documentary, and thankfully most of the supplements relate in some way to music. The band offers a select-scene video commentary on portions of the film, while 7 extended and additional performances, 2 outtakes, a complete bonus performance shot live in Vienna, and an archival interview with the band are also included alongside some bonus trailers. The video commentary with Le Tigre (non-anamorphic 1.78:1, 28 minutes 29 seconds) isn’t a true picture-in-picture track, and is kind of oddly presented… but it’s an enlightening extra all the same. As the band watches clips from the documentary on a laptop – the clips are occasionally blown up to fullscreen for the viewer – they reflect in a pseudo-interview fashion. The band is very laid back, but are quite keen to recall details about the scenes in question and cover a wealth of topics. Signing with a proper record label, their philosophy, general anecdotes about the 2004 tour, and shooting the film are all discussed in this informative extra. A submenu called “More from the Tour” (non-anamorphic 1.78:1) contains 7 extended and additional performances from “Who Took the Bomp?” Sound is encoded in 2-channel Dolby stereo and unfortunately there is no “play all” option making navigation needlessly complicated. The seven songs performed are: - “After Dark” (4 minutes 14 seconds). - “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes” (2 minutes 19 seconds). - “Mediocrity Rules” (2 minutes 12 seconds). - “Nanny Nanny Boo Boo” (3 minutes 52 seconds). - “Seconds” (1 minute 54 seconds). - “Well well well” (2 minutes 57 seconds). - “Punker Plus” (3 minutes 5 seconds). Although listed as outtakes in the menu, the two excerpts from the film are more like deleted scenes and either would have been at home in the final cut. “Johanna – Bunny’s Honey” (non-anamorphic 1.78:1, 2 minutes 49 seconds) has Jo realizing that a proposed PETA photo shoot isn’t quite what she expected, while “J.D. Reads A Letter from a Fan” (non-anamorphic 1.78:1, 2 minutes 12 seconds) is exactly what it sounds like. Those looking for even more footage of Le Tigre in concert will be grateful for “Live Show in Vienna, Austria” (1.33:1, 22 minutes 21 seconds). The single camera recording is a bonus performance from 2002. It’s a (almost uncut) set of about ten songs. The only downside is that the sound is a bit garbled in spots. Straight from the vault, Le Tigre sits down for an interview on a local public access show circa 2001. Dubbed “The Rattina Interview” (non-anamorphic 1.78:1, 2 minutes 55 seconds) the band appears on “Chic-A-Go-Go” – a dance show for children on Cable access – to be interviewed by a talking rat puppet named, you guessed it, Rattina. Lastly, a tab dubbed “Oscilloscope Releases” contains five bonus trailers for recent releases from the distributor’s library, including: - “Howl” (1.85:1 widescreen, 1 minute 45 seconds). - “Wendy and Lucy” (1.78:1 widescreen, 1 minute 37 seconds). - “Scott Walker: 30th Century Man” (1.78:1 widescreen, 1 minute 47 seconds). - “Beautiful Losers” (1.78:1 widescreen, 2 minutes 19 seconds). - “The Exploding Girl” (1.78:1 widescreen, 1 minute 46 seconds).
Packaging
“Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour” is spine number 33 from Oscilloscope Laboratories. The dual layered DVD-9 comes housed in a multi-paneled digipak made of 100% recycled material and featuring artwork by Anne Higgie. The disc slides into a sleeve within an eco-cardboard case, which is then covered by a sturdy slipbox. On the inner panels of the case you’ll find liner notes by writer Matt Wolf. “Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour” is marked as Region 0 and should be playable around the globe, although note that the video content is encoded in NTSC format.
Overall
An incredibly lively, funny and occasionally poignant concert film is saddled with inconsistent and sometimes downright poor-quality video and questionable, but suitable, stereo audio. Oscilloscope, per usual, seems to have done the best they could with the oft-troubled source materials that make up “Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour”. The overall package – from the attractive multi-panel case, to the plentiful supply of worthwhile special features – is first rate. Recommended.
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