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Kathleen Hanna: Bikini Kill / Le Tigre / The Julie Ruin

Per Wikipedia: Born in Portland, Oregon, Hanna moved with her family to Calverton, Maryland in 1971. As Hanna's father changed occupations, the family moved several more times. Hanna's parents were divorced while she was in high school. Hanna first became interested in feminism around the age of nine, after her mother took her to a rally in Washington D.C. where feminist icon Gloria Steinem spoke. Hanna attended The Evergreen State College in the late 1980s. Hanna during this time began doing spoken word performances that addressed sexism and violence against women, issues with which she became concerned after volunteering for a domestic violence organization over the next two years. Eventually she abandoned spoken word in favor of music.

Hanna began collaborating with fellow Evergreen student and punk zinester Tobi Vail after seeing a performance of The Go Team, (a band made up of Vail, Billy Karren, and Calvin Johnson) and recognizing Vail as the mastermind behind the fanzine Jigsaw, which Hanna greatly admired and loved. Hanna and Tobi Vail's first collaboration later lead on to the creation of a second project titled Bikini Kill, a response to sexism in the punk rock scene, written with fellow Evergreen student and friend Kathi Wilcox. The three women decided to form a band to personify their ideals and recruited Vail’s bandmate Karren as the fourth member, naming the band after their zine. Bikini Kill soon became part of the seminal Olympia, Washington music scene of the early 1990s, which was characterized by political awareness, a strong artistic do-it-yourself ethic, and an emphasis on local collaboration and support.

After the breakup of Bikini Kill, Hanna pursued a solo project called Julie Ruin which started incorporating electronic into her traditional sounds with Bikini Kill. Afterwards, Hanna began working with friend and zine editor Johanna Fateman and filmmaker Sadie Benning, creating another band called Le Tigre. This band continued to pursue a more electronic style of music similar to the sampler-driven sound Hanna had begun to explore with Julie Ruin. Le Tigre is currently on hiatus. In 2010, Hanna announced she was reprising her 1997 act Julie Ruin into "The Julie Ruin" with Kenny Mellman and Kathi Wilcox, and that they would be creating a new record.
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Azealia Banks

From last.fm: Azealia Banks is a 20-year-old lyricist from Harlem, New York City. Since her first steps as a child in off-broadway theatre productions to her training at La Guardia High School of Performing Arts -a breeding ground for stars- she’s been steadily perfecting her craft and making a name for herself.

Her very first recording “Seventeen” placed her on the radar of many record labels right away. Word about Miss Banks kept spreading online and in the streets until she caught the eye of several record labels and tastemakers. Classically trained in the Performing Arts, Banks is a truly versatile artist, as showcased on tracks like the infectious Fader co-signed “L8R” and her celebrated cover of Interpol’s “Slow Hands”. A collaboration on the Major Lazer EP and her appearance in the Nike Sportswear 1Love video series upped her profile in the past couple of years and kept fans waiting in anticipation for her next release.

Now prepping her debut album, Azealia has been teasing her audience with gems like “212” - a certified club pleaser on rotation in dance floors around the globe- in addition to a slew of other records that showcase her range as an artist and will let people know what all the buzz is about. Whether her music hits you with seasoned bars or her angelic voice and hooks, Azealia Banks gives everybody a reason to rewind that track.

  

Surprised there hasn't been a thread about her yet, she's just absolutely phenomenal. I didn't discover her until 212 dropped but since then she has been in heavy rotation. I cannot wait for her album to drop some time this year. It's just rumours, probably not true, but allegedly Kanye West has taken an interest in her music. So if she were to sign with him...oh my fucking god. Anyway, what do you guys think of her?

From last.fm: Based in Brooklyn, NY, Sleigh Bells is the musical collaboration of Derek E. Miller (songwriter, guitarist, producer) and Alexis Krauss (vocalist, lyricist). The two met and formed in 2008, when Miller was waiting tables on Alexis and her mother at a neighborhood Brazilian restaurant. When Miller mentioned that he was looking for a female vocalist for a new musical project, Krauss’s mother immediately volunteered her daughter.

Sleigh Bells’ unique sound is likely the result of Miller and Krauss’s contrasting musical backgrounds; Miller was formerly the guitarist for the post-hardcore band Poison the Well and Krauss was a member of the teen pop group RubyBlue as a teenager. After steadily gaining popularity throughout 2009, Sleigh Bells signed to M.I.A.’s label N.E.E.T. in Spring 2010.

On May 11th 2010 Sleigh Bells released their debut full-length album entitled Treats. According to Songfacts, Miller wrote the bulk of the record before he began working with Krauss. The album’s immediate popularity and the band’s reputation as an energetic live act have helped solidify the duo’s widespread popularity. Amidst blown-out drum beats, fuzzed guitars and synth-pop sensibilities, Krauss balances each song with a voice that is both forceful and elegant. After playing Pitchfork’s summer music festival, Sleigh Bells set out on their North American tour in July 2010.



Their new album just leaked and I'm liking it so much. Demons is perhaps the best song they have come out with to date.

In the Western world, you can't escape a political campaign without the word immigration spewed out every which way. What to do about immigration laws? How do we solve illegal immigration? What do we do with illegal emigrates?

No matter country, these discussions always have in some ways conversations of preservation of culture, protecting national resources, the ethics of nationalism conflicting against a foreigner's presence. Boiled down, new people changes cultures, new people consume, and new people are employed in jobs that would otherwise go a national born. So firstly, how to do you feel about the affects of immigration, both legal and illegal?

Next, the emigrate. This is a person who has abandoned their culture, usually their language, have submerged themselves in a land of new beliefs. They've essentially change every aspect of the humanity they are surrounded by only for the promise of something better. Better how? Economic opportunity, lack of conflict, less discrimination against their intrinistic properities whether it be a homosexual in Nigeria, a woman in Afghanistan, etc. Does their struggle and oppression measure into your views on immigration, both legal and illegal?

Lastly, illegal immigration is usually the hottest issue in regards to immigration overall. So given the last two question, what about them? How should they be treated while within the country? Forbidden from everything like the typical GOP platform, or given access to services of health care, education, etc. like how the Jospin early 00s government enshrined under the concept of equality within French borders? Should they be given amnesty and a structured path to legal residence, or should they be deported and blacklisted on the records?

So, France isn't special enough to have its own thread for its Presidential race or just in general. I recognise this. However, the recent developments in the Presidential race is enough to make my eyes pop from excitement and there is a total lack of continential European politics in this thread. Nothing about Greece, the Eurozone, the Spanish election, the Danish elections, nothing. So I'd figure I'd make a catch-em-all thread where we could talk about seperate national interests, like the French elections, and Europe-wide problems like the currency situation. I hope this thread isn't just me spazzing out over François Hollande! Anyway, let's talk Europe, yeah? Ja.