Men's JD Samson Mixes Sexuality and Politics on 'Talk About Body'
Even though Le Tigre have been on hiatus for sometime now -- their last album was 2004's 'This Island' -- JD Samson hasn't stopped making music. This week marks the debut album from Samson's Men project, an electro-dance trio that she formed along with Ginger Brooks Takashi and the Ladybug Transistor's Michael O'Neill. After 'Limited Edition Disco,' the band's first and only EP, they continued laying down the tracks over the next three years for their first full-length, 'Talk About Body.'
It's not just a fancy title, either. "We talk a lot about sexuality," Samson tells Spinner. "Sometimes it's not as apparent as other times, but we really think about bodies a lot. We think about the power we have over our bodies. That comes out in a lot of the songs."
But that's not all. With a majority of 'Talk About Body' written during the financial crisis, Samson notes that a lot of the songs delve into issues around capitalism, making this one politically charged dance record.
"It's funny -- you don't think that it's affecting you in a way that you're going to write music," Samson reflects "But then you go through the record and see, 'Hey, this song's about money also.'" One example is the album's opener 'Life's Half Price,' where Samson croons over and over, "Life's half price/for suckers in love."
Or take the song 'Credit Card Babie$.' You might think that it's simply taking on the notion of the trust-fund kid and calling them babies, or the idea that we're all dependent to the credit card corporations as if they're parents. But it's neither, as Samson explains.
"It started as this really depressing song about how people have to spend money on adoption or different ways they want to have a baby," she says. "I thought this song shouldn't be depressing, and more [about] people uniting about this, like an anthem. It's an awesome contrast."
We agree: no one wants to be depressed while dancing.
http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/01/men-jd-samson-talk-about-body/