The Pipettes

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I caught the show last night - it was the first time I had seen them and I thought they were great - they obviously are having a lot of fun doing what they are doing! I think they are doing a session on BB6 music today.

If you wanna talk about eye candy though, you should have seen the first openers, the Gypsy Queens (?) who were doing a sort of spoof Girls Aloud / Sugababes style thing. Maybe they were deadly serious? All I know is that the men in the crowd were really gawking at the undulating bodies of these scantily clad ladies.

Anyway, back to the Pipettes... If they are so popular, and their latest single is in the top 50 singles this week, how can they still have copies of their 2nd 7" (ltd to 1000 copies) still available for £3 at their shows? Is everybody just downloading them?

marianna (mariannapm), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 09:40 (eighteen years ago) link

the transgressive 7"? i'd take a guess that it's not as limited as it claims.

john p. irrelevant (electricsound), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 10:36 (eighteen years ago) link

anyone who wants to download some songs:

go to yahoo and sign in with the name the_pipettes and password abc123

Lovelace (Lovelace), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 15:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Glad you enjoyed the show Marianna. The record they were selling at the show is actually the *third* singe, a US-only single on Total Gaylord (oh yes).
As I'm sure you're aware, you probably only need to sell 1000 records to get a 49 midweek.

harvey.w (harvey.w), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 18:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Yes, sorry, I meant the 3rd single, but I think they are hand numbered and say out of 1000 on them as well.

marianna (mariannapm), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link

As I'm sure you're aware, you probably only need to sell 1000 records to get a 49 midweek.

St. Etienne to thread!

Also, "Dirty Mind" is very awesome.

James.Cobo (jamescobo), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:26 (eighteen years ago) link

does anyone know how old these ladies are?

Lovelace (Lovelace), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:54 (eighteen years ago) link

i'm sure it's legal to be attracted to them

jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:02 (eighteen years ago) link

and im sure they're younger than me so that's not why I asked :)

Lovelace (Lovelace), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:15 (eighteen years ago) link

eh, i meant to say im sure i am younger than them. sorry

Lovelace (Lovelace), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:16 (eighteen years ago) link

anyways i don't actually know. i speculate early 20s.

jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:21 (eighteen years ago) link

It's kinda crazy how much I love "Dirty Mind." One of my favorite singles of the year, no doubt.

It seems pretty clear that those girls are early to mid 20s. About my age, but slightly younger maybe.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. Fabulous live but if anything I think their recorded stuff is better. "Simon Says", "Judy" and "It Hurts To See You Dance So Well" are perfecto pop tracks and really short as well so perfect for ADD aflicted musos.

Once interviewed Becki for a radio station back in Brighton. Why they are not more successful is beyond me.

uptoeleven (uptoeleven), Friday, 25 November 2005 19:27 (eighteen years ago) link

possibly something to do with the limited nature of their releases

jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Saturday, 26 November 2005 02:21 (eighteen years ago) link

truly. that may have irritated a large part of their potential fanbase.

keyth (keyth), Saturday, 26 November 2005 15:41 (eighteen years ago) link

They are also totally unknown in the United States!

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Saturday, 26 November 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link

not really. they'll probably makes tons of money in japan.

keyth (keyth), Saturday, 26 November 2005 15:53 (eighteen years ago) link

i think they should do a version of s club's "reach for the stars"

jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Sunday, 27 November 2005 08:06 (eighteen years ago) link

pipas should get this much attention

keyth (keyth), Sunday, 27 November 2005 17:57 (eighteen years ago) link

six months pass...
i heard the winter song and really liked it. was excited. then I saw this video and heard this song and puked a little bit in my mouth.

gimmick central.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/37049/Video_The_Pipettes_Pull_Shapes#37049

oh amy, this is your favorite song of the year?

kevin barking (arghargh), Thursday, 22 June 2006 17:03 (seventeen years ago) link

I like exactly two Pipettes songs -- "We Are the Pipettes" (but not the album version, which is ruined by the injudicious application of synthesizers) and "Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me" (but only the album version). "Judy" is not awful, but it invariably reminds me of "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken", and then I think, "wait, why am I not just listening to that? It is way better than the Pipettes."

The album is maybe the worst production job I've heard in a while -- I was mostly pretty indifferent to their singles, but hoped they would pull things together for the full-length, and then that comes out -- turns out it's a synth-laden disaster. Like somebody decided, "you know what we have to do with this band? We have to make them into radio-pop!" And first of all, no, and second of all, the finished product doesn't even work by radio-pop standards. So now I actively dislike them.

Also, the album's full of really blatant filler.

Also also, the whole exercise strikes me as kind of sexist, and some of the lyrics are really questionable. A song like "Sex", in which the protagonist(s?) more or less revel in the fact that some guy is not actually interested in talking to them but just wants... well, you know... I mean, perhaps it's ironic? Should be clearer if so. Worst appropriation of the "Be My Baby" drum intro ever, at any rate.

In closing, eh.

Pessimist (Pessimist), Thursday, 22 June 2006 17:57 (seventeen years ago) link

"Pull Shapes" Is certainly my favorite song of the year - I played it eight times in row, when I first heard it. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for about twenty minutes afterward.

Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Thursday, 22 June 2006 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link

my mind cannot comprehend how anyone could like that song.

kevin barking (arghargh), Thursday, 22 June 2006 18:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, I find it lively and sweeping and an utter delight, w/ the background voices meshing perfectly w/ the lead during the chorus ("Dance w/ me...") and the strings accelerating toward ths song's end and the girl's trading off voices during the "personal preference" verse (all apologies for my rather crude descriptions)...

...But I suppose (and this certainly seems like a cop out on my part, doesn't it?) it just comes down to personal aesthetic taste doesn't it? There's a part of me that really hopes this song becomes as big as "Dancing Queen" - and another, more irrational, part of me that KNOWS this song will become as big as "Dancing queen".

Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Thursday, 22 June 2006 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link

You must be retarded then.

everything (everything), Thursday, 22 June 2006 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link

"Dancing Queen"? I don't like the band, but that's just cruel.

Pessimist (Pessimist), Thursday, 22 June 2006 19:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Pull Shapes

davelus (davelus), Friday, 23 June 2006 00:50 (seventeen years ago) link

ok

electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Friday, 23 June 2006 01:38 (seventeen years ago) link

"Pull Shapes" is classic for the following reasons:

1. It is very happy.
2. The strings, they are quite good.
3. You can hear "There's a whole floor before us" as "There's a whole floppy forest", and that's quite silly.

edward o (edwardo), Friday, 23 June 2006 02:23 (seventeen years ago) link

they're kinda like musical equivalent of halloween candy. good, but after too much, you get a stomach ache.

pinder (pinder), Friday, 23 June 2006 03:04 (seventeen years ago) link

more like musical equivalent to a big pile of dog shit

boonah (boonah), Friday, 23 June 2006 03:09 (seventeen years ago) link

i like "ABC"
and...that's about it.

Christopher Costello (CGC), Friday, 23 June 2006 03:27 (seventeen years ago) link

u guys so wacky

electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Friday, 23 June 2006 03:35 (seventeen years ago) link

I like some of their stuff but boy the drummer on the album needs to calm down. He's just banging away in the background like he's in The Go Team or something. Completely innapropriate to the songs.

mms (mms), Friday, 23 June 2006 07:34 (seventeen years ago) link

The bit where one of them goes "I like to hip hop!" is pretty cringe-inducing, isn't it?

Flyboy (Flyboy), Friday, 23 June 2006 07:55 (seventeen years ago) link

the fact that the new video is a shot for shot "homage" to the party scene in russ meyer's beyond the valley of the dolls appalls and impresses me in about equal measure. it also forcibly underlines how inferior the pipettes are to the fictional kerry nations.

the go! teams producer worked on the rcord i hear, so that might explain the resemblance. they sound like my life story with even less panache to me.

cw (cww), Friday, 23 June 2006 09:44 (seventeen years ago) link

They needed to be produced by Alan Braxe.

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Friday, 23 June 2006 09:55 (seventeen years ago) link

"kerry nations" = the carrie nations

mms (mms), Friday, 23 June 2006 10:06 (seventeen years ago) link

ooops. quite right. have you seen the video? it's pretty spooky. z man's pretty good but harris doesn't quite make it. the gurning toothless woman is pretty much spot on.

cw (cww), Friday, 23 June 2006 10:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Seriously, I don't get the hostility. There are so many things to like about The Pipettes, but even if you don't they're not a big pile of dog shit by any means.

daavid (daavid), Friday, 23 June 2006 17:01 (seventeen years ago) link

Seriously, I don't get the love. There are so many things to hate about The Pipettes, but even if you don't they are a big pile of dog shit by all means.

zappi (joni), Friday, 23 June 2006 17:53 (seventeen years ago) link

The bit where one of them goes "I like to hip hop!" is pretty cringe-inducing, isn't it?

and then there's the little "scratching" sample? that's great! it's funny. that song is neck and neck with "what you know" for single of year for me.

how much fun would a fun-hater hate if a fun-hater hated fun?

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 23 June 2006 19:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh please! My problem with them is that they sound as if their brand of fun is very... prim.

Flyboy (Flyboy), Friday, 23 June 2006 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Not prim enough, really.

Pessimist (Pessimist), Friday, 23 June 2006 22:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Best single I've heard this year. The one who sings lead on this one has a really good voice.

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 23 June 2006 22:34 (seventeen years ago) link

In an a time where we have Girls Aloud and Sugababes, liking the Pipettes is a bit like being nostalgic for Herman's Hermits.

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Friday, 23 June 2006 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, as ridiculous as Herman's Hermits were, they're by far the best of the bands you've mentioned.

Pessimist (Pessimist), Saturday, 24 June 2006 00:00 (seventeen years ago) link

"In an a time where we have Girls Aloud and Sugababes, liking the Pipettes is a bit like being nostalgic for Herman's Hermits."

It begs question whether taste need be an either/or proposition. Frankly, I feel that one may be openminded enough to enjoy both Wong Kar-Wai and Howard Hawks, Dostoyevsky and David Foster Wallace, and, in terms of mainstream pop music, Sugababes and Herman's Hermits. The past shouldn't be treated as a foreign country, after all.

ALSO: Yay Pipettes!

Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Saturday, 24 June 2006 01:16 (seventeen years ago) link

I can't remember where i nicked the "past as a foreign country" bit from...works well within the argument, I suppose.

Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Saturday, 24 June 2006 02:14 (seventeen years ago) link

What about not being particularly nostalgic per se for Herman's Hermits? What about just realizing that they were often really good? Is that okay?

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 24 June 2006 02:37 (seventeen years ago) link

This album is very good. Bit Talk Talk-y at times, kind of a languid Soul feel to others.

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Wednesday, 7 June 2023 19:27 (ten months ago) link


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