On the face of it, rage and joy are not an easy aesthetic fit. Rage is engaged, rope-veined; joy is free and light – frivolous, even. And yet the collected works of musical activist Kathleen Hanna – across three bands: 1990s punk outfit Bikini Kill, her electronic bedroom pop project the Julie Ruin, and Le Tigre, a multimedia collaboration alongside Johanna Fateman (mostly guitar) and JD Samson (mostly synths) – dance along the tightrope between fury and fun.
Now on a reunion tour – they’re in the UK for the first time in 18 years – Le Tigre began as an intersectional feminist pop project in 1998 before folding, three albums later, in 2007. Then as now, they dive headlong into what seem to be contradictions but aren’t, having a mischievous, righteous good time all the while. Hot Topic, a particularly tuneful, finger-snapping anthem, thanks a long call sheet of inspirations for their work.
