Riot grrl, anyone?

mos dan

mos dan

fact music
I looked but couldn't find an existing thread.

I have been re-listening to Kathleen Hanna's pre-Le Tigre album, the self-titled 'Julie Ruin' record. It is fantastic. Casio keyboards and guitarrrrrrrs. Easily the equal of the first Le Tigre record, which of course got picked up by hipsters everywhere.. the kind of irony Kurt Cobain would've appreciated I think.
 
nomos

nomos

Administrator
julie ruin was a great album. i was a big bikini kill fan (also bratmobile, slant 6...) and followed that electronic offshoot of riot grrrl (starting with JR, then LT, tracy + the plastics, lesbians on ecstasy ) quite closely for a while. i had high hopes for it as a next step on from riot grrrl, taking (electronic) territory that boy rock couldn't bring itself to enter. the le tigre show i went to in 2001 had more good energy than anything i'd been to for years before. then i kind of OD'd on the stuff. i wish there had been more engagement of contemporary dance musics and less ironic distancing from things perceived as black and/or club/rave related (though, early on at least, lesbians on ecstasy were really good for ackownledging those kinds of links and confronting their characterization as being an ironic take on electronica).

one complaint i alaways had though was with that ethic of "it's good because we (i.e. grrrls) did it." of course, in one sense this was what made riot grrrl powerful (i.e. defusing male-centred definitions of authenticity, and the anal-retentive fixations on virtuosity ). at the same time it did nothing for quality control and completely undermined any sort of fwd» sensibility.

have you heard tracy + the plastics, dan? highly recommended if you like julie ruin.
 
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mos dan

mos dan

fact music
i haven't heard tracy and the plastics, no. will investigate!

i had the same problems with it, in terms of the ironic distancing/retarding of dance music. but i also got to see le tigre rock the (fairly small) 'highbury garage' in 2001, that was a real privilege.. so much energy, like you say. they were fucking hardcore in their political earnestness of course - doing an actual out-loud count of the number of black people killed by cops in the US that year.. even though it went on for ages (sigh).

but they seemed to get away with that earnestness more than any male bands i can think of ever did.
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
As much as I like to support the gal dem, Kathleen Hannah's voice makes me want to put something sharp through the side of my head.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
remember Chicks on Speed? With that cover of Warm Leatherette? I used to listen to that all the time when I was like 17
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
nomadologist said:
remember Chicks on Speed? With that cover of Warm Leatherette? I used to listen to that all the time when I was like 17
Click to expand...

remember them? i saw them live more times than i care to recount :rolleyes: me and my gf at the time even checked out their shop in berlin when we went there on a citybreak once. they weren't bad, really. like if nathan barley was a girlgroup...
 
P

petergunn

plywood violin
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mos dan

mos dan

fact music
"i'll give you fish" eh? wicked though, cheers.

if we're turning this into a riot grrl video thread..

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swears

swears

preppy-kei
Chicks on Speed did a Peel session once where all the songs were made up of samples of previous Peel sessions by other musicians.

*mind blown*

It was quite fun to play guess the sample, tho...
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
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N

nomadologist

Guest
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R

ripley

Well-known member
Seeing them in London was a transcendent experience. actually, much better than this video. I used to mix this song with jungle when I dj'ed back then

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mos dan

mos dan

fact music
actually, isn't there something deeply ironic about this thread being video-orientated? does no-one want to talk about the male gaze? no? okay then ;)

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i don't think the amps were especially riot grrl tbh, but they kicked ass.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
don't know if this really fits here, but i always think of a lot of downtown 81 type stuff as being the direct precursor to riot grrl. this isn't as good as the soundtrack version, but it's all youtube has:

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P

petergunn

plywood violin
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