"Lots of rock music was converted into a question of the virtuosic command of an instrument. I, on the other hand, am interested in researching the trade side of guitar playing", said Kathleen Hanna some time ago. She is the co-founder of the bold New York trio Le Tigre and former in Bikini Kill group, which was the cause of some radical interventions in the map of female popular music at the beginning of the 'nineties. In many ways, Hanna transferred the philosophy and aesthetic of many radically feminist views from this Riot Grrrl group to the work of Le Tigre: Do It Yourself, Energy Before Expertise, Ideas Are Worth More than Skills…a decade ago, Bikini Kill inspired hundreds of girls to take up the guitar. Today, Le Tigre encourages women to turn on their samplers. On their web-site, Le Tigre use words and pictures to present the entire collection of instruments they use, with the intention of demystifying the creative process and encouraging girls to set fear aside, take hold of their musical instruments, and start expressing themselves through music.
I prefer to think of Le Tigre as conceptualists willing to take any expressive means to materialise their own feminist-rooted art-political intentions and realise their goals. Conceptualists in music – 'non-musicians', so to speak – have always been the ones who used fresh ideas to open up new horizons and venture where no one has dared before (remember Brian Eno, Yoko Ono…). Le Tigre are the same; they combine the political in feminism and the frankness of punk with likeable, eclectic-electronic dance pop, while refusing to get caught in question of what is more important: music or politics. Both are equally essential to their concept. Today, each Tigress has her very own identically configured computer at home, which enables them perfect compatibility from a distance and thus equal shares in creating music.
Katarina Višnar
