December 4, 1999

Le Tigre : Hot topic

A great record which critiques itself before anyone else can...

Kathleen Hannah, once of Bikini Kill, joins forces with videomaker Sadie Benning and fanzine editor Johanna Fatemen for
this
appealing exercise in conceptual beatbox grrrltronica and prickly political discourse. The main track sounds like Althia & Donna's 'Up Town Top Ranking' remixed by Clinton and namechecks an army of fem-rock heroines and gay cultural icons from Sleater-Kinney to The Slits, Angela Davis to Aretha Franklin, James Baldwin to Billie
Jean
King. Then the Fall-style arhythmical clatter of 'Yr Critique' dismisses the "fake rebellion" of "well intentioned assholes",
while
the majestically titled 'They Want Us To Make A Symphony Out Of The Sound Of Women Swallowing Their Tongues' is a cut-up collage of hesitant, faltering female voices. You can read countless academic theories about the sampler as political weapon, but here is the evidence in pure-pop form: simple, blunt, witty, effective. A great record which critiques itself before anyone else can.

Stephen Dalton