Despite being on hiatus, the celebrated nu-riot grrrls got together to write and produce a 'couple of songs' for the diminutive diva
Le Tigre have confirmed
last year's report that they have been working with
Christina Aguilera, calling it a "dream come true". The celebrated nu-riot grrrls wrote and produced a "couple of songs" for the singer, which they hope will appear on her next album, Bionic.
According to a
blogpost by singer/guitarist Johanna Fateman, Le Tigre's song Deceptacon had become "Christina's jam" in the first part of 2009. "At first we were tormented by the goal of writing 'another Deceptacon' for her, wondering how to crack the code to its energy and production style," Fateman explained, "plus we wanted to write melodies that would showcase Christina's incredible voice ... But we quickly realised that we just had to be ourselves and put our hearts into pulling together our best demos to play for her."
Though the band is on hiatus, Fateman and Kathleen Hanna traded bits of songs on portable hard drives, while JD Samson sent them "loops and basslines" during her tour with
Men. In June, not long after Fateman gave birth to a daughter, she and Samson met with Aguilera in Los Angeles. "Meeting Christina and working at her home studio was simultaneously super-comfortable and normal-seeming while also kind of a mind-blowing window into another world," Fateman wrote. The decor is apparently red and black, with bowls of Ricola cough drops and "crucifix doorknobs". But there was also, Fateman raved, "cool and beautiful books and tons of notepads and a million great pens".
As for the singing, Fateman calls Aguilera a "technical virtuoso behind the mic", "totally cool and hilarious and down-to-earth". The 29-year-old diva ad-libbed variations and harmonies, giving detailed comments at the end of each day. Nor was there any crisis of philosophy between Le Tigre's steely politics and Aguilera's plastic-wrapped pop. "[We] found a ton of common ground in our aim to make upbeat danceable tracks celebrating female friendship, strength, and of course, PARTYING," Fateman said. "For a feminist band obsessed with pop music, it was pretty much a dream come true."
"The songs have a lot of elements we're known for, like a garage guitar sound, schoolyard chants, new wave-y synths [and] electro beats," Fateman promised, "[but] somehow it all sounds crazily right with Christina's unbelievable voice."
Le Tigre aren't the only alternative act to have been tapped for what will be Aguilera's fourth studio album. MIA, Goldfrapp, Santigold, Sia and Ladytron have also spent time in her studio.
Bionic will be released in April.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/02/le-tigre-christina-aguilera
I never thought I'd actually look forward to a Christina Aguilera album
