The Punk Singer

On Saturday I re-watched Jamie Babbitt's amazing Itty Bitty Titty Committee, a film inspired by the energy of riot grrrl, starring Melonie Diaz. The first time I watched it the Nicole Vicious character, Sadie, really annoyed me but, watching it again, I think I appreciated much more the role that her character plays within the group.

The film proved to be a good companion piece to The Punk Singer, which is the Kathleen Hanna story. Watching it made me realise just how much the Bikini Kill songbook is seared into the patterns of my brain. The film began with footage of Kathleen performing a startling and absorbing piece of spoken word in 1991, then went on to discuss her meeting with Kathy Acker when she was at Evergreen College, and how Kathy Acker effectively told her to form a band instead of doing spoken word. It was great to see so much archive footage of Bikini Kill, it really brought home what a force of nature she was in that band, similarly, the footage of her performing as part of Le Tigre displayed her ability to command an audience and own the stage.

The later stages of the film concern Kathleen's life after 2005, when she contracted Lymes disease, which went undiagnosed for five years, and her retreat from performance and from music as she dealt with what were very serious health problems. This part of the film reminded me, to a certain extent, of parts of Viv Albertine's memoir Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys, specifically those chapters where she described battling cancer. Both women were pioneers, but very different characters I think.

I really liked the moment when Kathleen was talking about her post Bikini Kill, pre Le Tigre solo project, Julie Ruin. The Julie Ruin album was a bedroom album, and Kathleen talked about how girls have traditionally created art in their bedrooms but that most of the art goes undiscovered, unreleased, and never sees the light of day. This is because each bedroom is like an isolated satellite with no connections, so the girls get discouraged and destroy their work rather than share it. By releasing the Julie Ruin album, she was hoping to inspire such girls. I really love this observation because it directly challenges the idea held by cultural historians and sociologists that girls consume culture but do not create it, and I love that Kathleen was challenging this, perhaps unwittingly.

Perhaps the most moving part of The Punk Singer was Kathleen's return to performance, leading The Julie Ruin Band, as part of a Kathleen Hanna tribute night. Even though she seemed frailer, once onstage she showed she still had the energy and the voice, and she was able to own that stage and be inspirational all over again.

Paying tribute to punk women, by punk women

It's always nice when artists you like make art you not only like but that also pays sweet tribute to those who have gone before.

Recently, we've seen Ex Hex, whose 'Don't wanna lose' is currently out as a single, providing a video salute to the cult 1982 film Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains!

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains! tells the story of Corinne Burns, a teenage fry chef sacked live on TV who goes on to form an all girl punk band with her sister and cousin, the eponymous Stains. The film charts the bands rise from bedroom band to ramshackle support act, to rock pop superstars via the power of TV.

A couple of years ago Corin Tucker's 'Neskowin' also had  a video that harked back to the late 1970s, and referenced punk, particularly X Ray Spex.

Given that both X Ray Spex and Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains! were formative influences on Riot Grrrl, it's a nice example of passing the compliment now that the grrrls are grown up now and playing in post riot grrrl, post ladyfest punk bands.

End Of Year Round Up

The famed Levenshulme murals

Welcome to my 2014 music round up!

Due to laptop problems, it very nearly didn't happen. But, where there's a will there's a way, as they say, and although the year is almost over I was still hellbent on sharing my favourite songs of the year with you.

Best Single: Peggy Sue - Idle

Coupled with a video largely comprised of vintage burlesque clips, this deceptively simple start of year release by Peggy Sue captured a sense of restlessness that felt very 2014, but at the same time also seemed timeless. A taster from their Choir of echoes album, 'Idle' should last and last.

In a particularly strong year for singles, it's inevitable that there were quite a few Runners up:

Salt Ashes - Somebody

Coming straight out of nowhere, 'Somebody' and its flipside 'Little Dove' made for a particularly stylish calling card. Whereas 'Little Dove' was brooding minimalist electro, 'Somebody' combines the best elements of recent years Swedish electro pop with the more shimmering, hypnotic aspects of handbag house, meaning that if you missed dancing to this in 2014, you missed a stunning pop moment.

Lose the ropes please though.

Ex Hex - Don't wanna lose


Technically a contender for 2015, as it's only just out as a single, this slice of reverb heavy punk attitude served time earlier this year as an excellent album teaser for the acclaimed Rips album. New York punk swagger, reverb'd guitars and lots of rock'n'roll attitude.

Andrea Balency - You've never been alone

Almost too vocally slight, this slice of R&B tinged pop shows slightly more muscle than her other more ethereal wanderings, and features a catchy refrain which is coupled with post FKA Twigs inspired musical experimentation. It works well, and once it's in your head, it's there to stay.

Best Album: Hollie Cook - Twice

A classic, and very classy, album of lovers rock from Cook. Twice followed a very strong debut album but manages to both complement and surpass it. You can read my full review of the album here.

Runners up: 

La Roux -  Trouble in Paradise

Whereas La Roux's debut saw Elly Jackson seeking inspiration in early '80s electro pop and, it was suspected, everything from Nightrider and Miami Vice to the Blitz club, Trouble in Paradise seeks its inspiration from the slower, more funk infused, rhythmically complex sounds of Grace Jones and the Tom Tom Club. The result is a series of slick, sophisticated pop songs in a mid '80s vein which when combined with Jackson's trademark sharply observational lyrics make for a pop classic.

Owlle - France

Released late in the year, Owlle's debut will probably have missed out on the majority of end of year listings but this subtle and sophisticated album of classy electro pop deserves to be listened to. It occasionally flirts with full on pop ('Ticky Ticky') and R&B ('Creed'), but the moody 'Fog' reveals Owlle as one to watch in the coming year, and France is a strong set of songs that should endure.

Ex Hex - Rips

An audience primed by Wild Flag, Corin Tucker's solo work and the reformation of Sleater-Kinney will have been more than ready to devour this latest project from Helium's Mary Timony. Newcomers will love Rips for what it is: Full on New York punk rawk in a late '70s vein. You can read my full review of the album here. 

Best came to it late album: Jessie Ware - Devotion

Stylish left of centre soul stylings from a singer/songwriter who seems to be going from strength to strength. "If you're never gonna move" is a lovely slice of dancefloor friendly pop, and 'Running' a fantastic brooding soul anthem. Well worth re-discovering.

If you'd like to listen to more of my tracks of 2014, you can also listen to my Spotify playlist.

Dabbling in 'Muso' music journalism

Polydor have, over the past six months or so, been re-releasing a number of Siouxsie and the Banshees albums.

I remember getting an email alert a while back when 1986's Tinderbox got its re-issue, but I didn't feel strongly enough to pitch a review of it to anyone.

But on October 13 the bands final four albums, Through The Looking Glass, Peepshow, Superstition, and The Rapture were reissued, with extra tracks, and I thought it would be a nice task to write a long, detailed, 'muso' type review about the four Banshees albums that are, I think, probably the least written about and lionised.

I suspect my interest in those four albums reflects my age, and the fact that I discovered the Banshees late into their career. I don't have the same emotional attachment to, say, The Scream, than I perhaps would have had if I'd been alive when it was released. As it is, I prefer the 1977-1978 Peel Sessions versions of many of those songs, probably because I encountered those versions of the songs, and came to love those versions, first. It probably helped that the 1977-1978 Peel Sessions LP was My First Punk Record.

I don't really do long, detailed 'muso' reviews of albums. There are a number of reasons for this, including never really having been given the opportunity to write them, but also not really having the technical vocabulary to do it convincingly and rarely getting the opportunity to write about a band that I'm passionate enough about to be geeky enough on the tiny details to do it. For various reasons, I'm just not that kind of music journalist.

So I quite enjoyed getting the opportunity, via Holly Combe at The F-Word, to dabble in that kind of music journalism. Doing it for a feminist website also makes it a more interesting task, and it also means that if I don't quite carry off the muso-ness sufficiently that it doesn't matter as much as it would were I writing a A4 sized featured review for, say, Mojo. (Which would never happen....)

It was interesting to re-listen to the four albums again, as it made me realise how initial reactions and responses to music can change, as well as how specific songs that you hear at specific times can still jolt you back to the time you first heard them, even years later.

I really enjoyed writing the piece, and listening to the albums, and hopefully that comes across.

The girls are back in town

The debut album by Ex Hex, a US 'power trio' comprised of Mary Timony, Laura Harris and Betsy Wright, is released on Monday 13 October. I reviewed the album for The F-Word and it went up on the site yesterday.

Some reviews come together very easily, and in some cases I know almost immediately how the finished thing will unfold. This wasn't quite like that... Because Ex Hex have connections to the US riot grrrl scene, and we do get a lot of riot grrrls and ex riot grrrls reading The F-Word, I knew there would be an audience for it but, as it turned out, the album itself owes a lot  more to the likes of Richard Hell, New York Dolls and Go-Go's than it does to Tuscadero, Helium, Bikini Kill or Bratmobile. Which doesn't make it a disappointment so much as a surprise.

The opening track, 'Don't wanna lose', still sounds amazing and, overall, the effect was of effortless cool as fuck punk rock with a definite swagger to it. If this had been released when I was 16 would have loved it but, as it was, I had Kenickie at the time and they served a similar purpose. In both cases, it's the sort of music that makes you want to stomp around town in short skirts and doc martens (other boots are available...)

What also interested me though was the extent to which it, consciously or unconsciously, seemed to be striving towards a classic rock album, an area of music not particularly open to women. I found this basic contradiction intriguing to say the least.

Undone quotes #6: The death of Get Out!

Carlo: Get Out! has gone out. Maybe we should have called the last issue Went.

(Episode 6, series 2, Undone by Ben Moor)

You can here this final episode of series 2 of Undone on iplayer until the end of Friday

Undone quotes #5: The lost temple of Nefergeeky

(Edna sulks in her teenage bedroom and recalls her main teenage solace)

"Go To Your Room!, the magazine for petulant teens. It was always full of tips on how to cover your face with your hair, how to write embarrassing poetry, posters of bands that were so obscure they hardly even showed up in their photos. And there, in the corner was my treasured pile of every single issue. The rest of my room contained other treasures, as if it was the lost pyramid of Nefergeeky, the pharaoh that did the most losing."

(Undone, series 2, episode 5 by Ben Moor)

This episode is available to listen to on iplayer until the end of Friday