October 26, 1999 by A.S. Van Dorston

After being consistently misunderstood about the Riot Grrrl movement and feuds with celebrities, one can’t blame Kathleen Hanna for ending her band Bikini Kill and not looking back. Her first step forward was a partially successful solo album under the name Julie Ruin. Le Tigre fleshes out the best ideas from that and runs with it like a cat out of Hell. No longer hindered by issues of punk “authenticity,” Hanna recruited the fresh talents of compatriots with backgrounds outside of rock ‘n’ roll — Sadie Benning is an indie filmmaker and Johanna Fateman a zine publisher — and let her tastes run free. Le Tigre will have you popping to new wave keyboards and girl-group harmonies, grooving to electronic boogaloos and shaking your moneymaker to on-the-one Motown beats. “Let’s Run” is their statement of purpose — “Oh we could rock/ Or we could bomb/ Or we could try/ Like super hard/ Or we could come/ Or we could lose/ Or we could totally totally, totally freak you.” Of course, Hanna’s involvement isn’t totally selfless, as she coyly states, “I wanna spread my dementia…Give me attention…Don’t want no crusty bullshit…Just wanna get electric tonight you know with you you you you.” The song ends with “Or we could fail…So!?” So far the ride to potential failure is already worth the price of admission. “Deceptacon” is a cleverly sarcastic tease, asking, “Wanna see me disco?/ Let me hear you depoliticize my rhyme,” and then into a goofy chorus with either irony or joyful abandon — “Who took the Bomp from the Bompalompalomp?/ Who took the Ram from the Ramalamading dong?” “Hot Topic” puts a jump-rhythm to a roll call of several generations of female heroes, including Yoko Ono, Angela Davis, Nina Simone, Julie Doucet, and The Slits, pleading them to “don’t stop…we won’t stop/ I can’t live if you stop.” “What’s Yr. Take On Cassavettes” is one of the most intriguing cuts in which they open discussion about the infamous filmmaker with “Genius? Misogynist? Messiah? Alcoholic?” “The The Empty” is the punkiest track that addresses musicians and celebrities whose hype-machines promise everything but give us nothing, “All that glitters is not gold/ I went to yr concert and I didn’t feel anything”. “Phanta” one-ups Elastica with a riff Wire would be proud to claim if they could. “Friendship Station” takes on swinging cocktail-jazz in the mode of Cibo Matto and Luscious Jackson. The last four songs continue in the same vein, eschewing hooks and melodies for cool electronic-lounge rhythms and spoken words. One is left wanting for just one more hot headed burst of energy. All the better, Ms. Hanna, to prime your audience for Le Tigre’s world domination next time out.