The Pipettes

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The Puppini Sisters are the lowest of the low.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 28 July 2006 10:48 (seventeen years ago) link

In 2006, when you hear cheerleader-style shout vocals, are they immediate and relevant?

I don't understand what you mean by "immediate." What is something in pop music now that is immediate in a way the Pipettes are not? It is of no concern to me whether those vocals are *relevant*.

Do you take them and enjoy them for what they are with no added weight from musical or cultural history?

Of course not, but the same could be said for any specific style-connoting element in any contemporary cultural object. Am I supposed to find them all ironic? They seem to be more standard course now.

Or, do you understand them through a lens that creates a distancing effect, as in "oh isn't it funny that pop music sounded like this once and now someone is doing it again."

That's the thing - I don't find it funny. Was it funny when Tracey Ullman did it? I suppose the Pipettes are a little more goofy, but I don't see as that this makes them ironic. My response to them is not, "Oh, that's ironic that they are doing something with a little sort of '60s girl group style. Who would have imagined?"

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 July 2006 17:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Irony is the gap between apparent meaning and intended meaning.

I would dispute that. There are surely plenty of things with gaps between apparent and intended meaning that one would not identify as "ironic."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 July 2006 17:14 (seventeen years ago) link

If girl-chant vocals are intrinsically ironic, then guitars are intrinsically ironic.

When I see/hear a longhaired pretty boy hammer a distorted guitar, I automatically think, "This music and image are intended to conjure up all kinds of associations to the past, and lead me to eventually agree that he is just so cool." Right?

'Cuz all musical choices must be read as meta-recursive signifiers pointing to the fact that they're pointing while also pointing to other things. Right?

God, that's exhausting...

― fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Friday, 28 July 2006 17:20 (seventeen years ago) link

In the present context, irony is the way an [i]awareness[/i] of the gap between ostensible meaning and "real" meaning can be used to transmit coded information to a select group.

Ba-dump-bump.

How come no one's laughing?

― fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Friday, 28 July 2006 17:30 (seventeen years ago) link

As one of my grad school professors used to say, "Talk straight."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 July 2006 17:34 (seventeen years ago) link

>>The Puppini Sisters are the lowest of the low.

Retro/gimmick/kitsch novelty or no, their version of "Wuthering Heights" just gave me the biggest smile I've had in days.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Friday, 28 July 2006 17:34 (seventeen years ago) link

That's the thing - I don't find it funny. Was it funny when Tracey Ullman did it?

We can only wish the Pipettes had a "They Don't Know" on this album. There's an example of a girl group pastiche that actually works.

Re "Pull Shapes" - I think the "I like to disco/to rock & roll/to hip hop" is a key to what I don't like about this album. It's way too Spice Girls/"Wannabe." It's like they're trying their hardest to get everyone up and dancing, but everyone's just staring blankly.

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 28 July 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link

the whole "can we admit that the spice girls were crap" turn of ILM lately is disheartening

― tom west (thomp), Friday, 28 July 2006 20:08 (seventeen years ago) link

they were crap and so are the pipettes, except the pipettes are marketed to hipsters

― kevin barking (arghargh), Friday, 28 July 2006 20:22 (seventeen years ago) link

"are marketed"

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 July 2006 20:24 (seventeen years ago) link

"using quotes to be snarky"

― kevin barking (arghargh), Friday, 28 July 2006 20:29 (seventeen years ago) link

"can we admit that the spice girls were crap"

I'm just saying that it's an approach that doesn't suit this particular project.

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 28 July 2006 20:31 (seventeen years ago) link

But maybe you have a different idea of what the project is, then.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 July 2006 20:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Album rating: 7/10

2 brilliant songs (pull shapes and judy). but the rest range from good to blatant filler.

― Aditya (dan138zig), Sunday, 30 July 2006 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link

http://subculturemagazine.com/interviewdetails.php?id=32&PHPSESSID=3740daef8a83d4c79e697e104d81c24d

― uptoeleven (uptoeleven), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:02 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.andybiggart.com/Pages/Journal/2004/06-June/quagmire.gif

Everyone who has reviewed the Pipettes album, yesterday.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:14 (seventeen years ago) link

at least the Puppinis won't get the 'only where they are cos they look good' thing [/quasi-sexist]

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes, I wonder how many posts that thread would have got had they been the Puppini Brothers.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:25 (seventeen years ago) link

the Puppini Brothers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zihW7WCYMs

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:26 (seventeen years ago) link

this is a pipettes thread, so that's going to take some serious math.

― Bashment Jakes (Enrique), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Robson & Jerome: oh you've gotta be kidding me... (4871 new answers, last at 11.27)

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:27 (seventeen years ago) link

the pippinis have better production innit.

― Bashment Jakes (Enrique), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:31 (seventeen years ago) link

is it better production or is it just a more preferable style of music? Puppini sisters music seems insipid but otoh a relatively faithful reproduction of an old style?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:33 (seventeen years ago) link

well, it's thicker production. r&j were tinny, cheapo MIDI hell.

― Bashment Jakes (Enrique), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:35 (seventeen years ago) link

ha ha sorry i thought we were comparing Pipettes production with Puppinis production.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 09:47 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...

ok 'Judy' is REALLY badly sung on record (let alone live).

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:17 (seventeen years ago) link

I'd forgotten all about the Pipettes.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:20 (seventeen years ago) link

I really really like their album, my girlfriend is called Judy so she is a fan of that song, albeit not for how good it is and more because she likes songs with her name in them.. but then so do I really..

― Rowlando for the kidz (Sam Rowlands), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:26 (seventeen years ago) link

I'll wait for the Pipettes Platinum Collection on Warner Classic in 2029.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:29 (seventeen years ago) link

the album is definitely less appealing than the demo / early singles

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:31 (seventeen years ago) link

xxpost: Judy Teen? Making Judy Smile? Both classics regardless of name (yes, anything on GBA is IMO a 'classic').

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:32 (seventeen years ago) link

GBA? Gaye Bikers on Acid?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Going Blank Again, but I like your thinking.

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Get her 'Punch & Judy' by Marillion.

― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Ha ha loving the recommendations for my lady friend

― Rowlando for the kidz (Sam Rowlands), Thursday, 14 September 2006 12:05 (seventeen years ago) link

chris ott's village piece on them in the village voice is just ... uh ...

― tom west (thomp), Thursday, 14 September 2006 13:03 (seventeen years ago) link

like hey we all feel guilty about our masturbatory fantasies sometimes but v few of us get to go on about it in depth in the alt weeklies

― tom west (thomp), Thursday, 14 September 2006 13:04 (seventeen years ago) link

ott's review brilliantly has the phrase "self-penned biography".

what you or i might call an "autobiography".

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Thursday, 14 September 2006 13:11 (seventeen years ago) link

hey, he has a point. most autobiographies are written by ghost-writers nowadays, so it's good to draw a distinction. ;-)

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Thursday, 14 September 2006 13:24 (seventeen years ago) link

-- Rowlando for the kidz (samonkeyuk...), September 14th, 2006.

What songs have the name Rowlando in them?!

― Rombald (rombald), Thursday, 14 September 2006 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

"can you hear the drums rowlando...?"

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 14 September 2006 13:47 (seventeen years ago) link

chris ott's village piece on them in the village voice is just ... uh ...

it was pretty good as a review of their website. didn't see much in it about the music. maybe he thinks the website is more important, which could be true, i don't know since i haven't looked at the website. none of which dislodges "pull shapes" from my singles-of-the-year list.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 14 September 2006 14:19 (seventeen years ago) link

ok the go! team shouldn't be allowed near another band's multitracks ever again. the production on this record (ok, well, the vocals mainly) is FUCKING TERRIBLE. bad bad vocal production. big mistake.

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Saturday, 16 September 2006 00:21 (seventeen years ago) link

i'd never heard a real pipettes song until finding the album used, i quite like it. it's all one speed, they could use some nuance.

― keyth (keyth), Saturday, 16 September 2006 00:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Jim OTM. I don't especially like this band but anyway but the production ruined this record completely. This may have already been mentioned elsewhere some time or other...

I like "Simon Says" though. A B-side somewhere, I only have it on mp3.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 16 September 2006 01:10 (seventeen years ago) link

I've only heard a bit of The Pipettes but it sounds as though they're doing something similar to a band out of NYC called Tralala. Essentially it's a bass/guitar/drums outfit that features I believe three (maybe four) girls who sing and play keys to some extent. Very Doo-wop or at least Spector-ish, but also with a Slits/postpunk angle. The music isn't anything revelatory but altogether it definitely works. They have an album out on Audika Records (label that primarily exist to release archived material of Arthur Russell) and I believe they are working on a new album as we speak. Check 'em out.

― Randall Weeber (yoyoweb), Saturday, 16 September 2006 01:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Tralala >>>>>>>>>> Pipettes

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 16 September 2006 01:21 (seventeen years ago) link

still can't.....

― ()()()---()()() (internet), Saturday, 16 September 2006 02:33 (seventeen years ago) link

eleven months pass...

I'd forgotten all about the Pipettes.

― everything, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 22:58 (sixteen years ago) link

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