Video Librarian:Ways to Traverse a Territory, The Return - Family Separation, The Warriors[Blu-ray set], and Witness [Blu-ray].
Unassigned: Barbarella[Blu-ray set], The Bat[Blu-ray], Blood Money: $10,000 Blood Money, Find a Place to Die, Vengeance Is Mine, and Matalo![Blu-ray set], Borsalino[Blu-ray], Exact Revenge: The Eunuch and The Deadly Knives[Blu-ray], Fighting Back[Blu-ray], Hong Kong 1941 [Blu-ray], I Start Counting [Blu-ray], The Iron-Fisted Monk [Blu-ray], Last House on the Left[Blu-ray/UHD set],Legend of the Eight Samurai[Blu-ray],New Fist of Fury [Blu-ray], The Prodigal Son[Blu-ray], Savage Guns: Four Classic Westerns: El Puro, Four of the Apocalypse, I Want Him Dead and Wrath of the Wind[Blu-ray set], and The Tattooed Dragon[Blu-ray],
Here is a revived version of a 2013 Line Out post about Kathleen Hanna's band, the Julie Ruin (these posts were purged from the internet after The Stranger pulled the plug on their music blog in 2014).
"Peppermint Schnapps and super-sized sundaes with chocolate sauce." --the Julie Ruin, "Run Fast"
There's a reason Kathleen Hanna disappeared for six years after the end of Le Tigre and before the beginning of the Julie Ruin (the band, not the solo record she released on Kill Rock Stars in 1998).
If you've seen Sini Anderson's documentary The Punk Singer, you know about her struggles with Lyme disease, and if you missed it, this Spin interview will catch you up. She may have also needed a break from music-making—as well as the adoration of some pretty intense fans—but she's back now and sounding better than ever.
If Le Tigre seemed like an odd fit for a major label, Hanna returns to her riot grrrl roots by putting out the first Julie Ruin album on her own.
Nonetheless, it plays more like an extension of Le Tigre's electro-pop than Bikini Kill's agit-punk (the five-piece includes bass player Kathi Wilcox from Bikini Kill and keyboard player Kenny Mellman from Kiki and Herb). The emphasis on rubbery party grooves reminds me of the early B-52's, especially since Mellman handles the vocals on one song, "South Coast Plaza," while adding counterpoint to others. My favorite Mellman moment: when he contributes to the "Girls Like Us" chorus.
Though I've been following Hanna's career for a couple of decades, I was never one of her adoring fans (I've written about several documentaries in which she appears, but I've never actually reviewed any of her recordings). If anything, I was always a little skeptical, particularly after I caught Bikini Kill opening for Fugazi at St. Joseph's Hall in 1992, where the group made me uncomfortable—and not in a good way. I wasn't really feeling it, and after Hanna called out a male audience member who didn't appear to be doing anything wrong, I wondered if they might not be for me. Shows should offer a safe space for women, but I wasn't sure this was the best way to go about it.
But I always liked Le Tigre—"Get Off the Internet" seems even more relevant today than it did 13 years ago—and my appreciation for Bikini Kill grew after seeing The Punk Singer, which makes a case for their musicianship and not just for their third-wave politics or for their influence on most every female-driven act to follow in their wake, which includes the Vivian Girls whose bassist, Katie Goodman, opened for the Julie Ruin last night at Neumos with her band La Sera.
If Run Fast is less overtly confrontational than the projects with which Hanna has been involved in the past, it's just as spirited and energetic. Though it hews closer to pop than rock, Hanna yells, shouts, and swears: she's gotten older, but she hasn't gotten old.
In the live context, the album took on more of a garage-punk dimension. The grooves still abounded, but there was more punch to Sara Landeau's guitar work, though Mellman proved to be the band's secret weapon with his singing, his playing, his moves, and his quips (as with Justin Vivian Bond's Kiki, he's a great foil for Hanna).
If I had to choose between the Julie Ruin live or in the studio, I would call it a draw. Both have their merits, but in different ways. If it took awhile for Mellman's recorded vocals to grow on me—he's a bit of a grumbler—I was frustrated that I couldn't hear him properly at Neumos (no such problem with Hanna). I also grew restless during the ballad the band played toward the end of the set, but then they came out for an encore and performed the dreamy, keyboard-driven "Run Fast," which concludes the album—and it sounded just as good live.
Right: Hanna described her skirt-free look as a "business outfit"
I'm glad Hanna is feeling better, I'm glad she's back, and I love the Julie Ruin.
Run Fast is out now on TJR Records through Dischord. Sundance Selects, a division of IFC Films, will be distributing The Punk Singer (release dates TBA). Images from Amazon (Run Fast album cover), Sara Landeau (Kathleen on the mic, Sara on the guitar), and Philip LaRose via Flickr (Kathleen and Sara at Neumos).
As a music and film writer, I try to be forgiving.
We all have our off days, and expecting perfection from an artist--however you choose to define that term–isn't really fair. Growing and maturing also involves taking risks, and not all risks pay off, so I can forgive an artist for a film or music performance that isn't up to their usual standards. Or maybe it is, but it just isn't to my taste.
Nonetheless, despite their human frailties, and the ups and downs of their lives, some artists always deliver. In preparation for a 2022 Rock and Roll Globe piece about Jane Birkin, I listened to every album she released during her 43-year career (most all of them are on streaming).
I liked some more than others, and some songs didn't quite work for me, but to my surprise, she never released a bad studio recording, even as she mixed things up with different languages, collaborators, and the like. This is all subjective, of course, but I was impressed, since a lot of my favorite artists have released some real clunkers. It happens.
It's also true of Jane's daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg. Granted, I don't count 1984's Charlotte For Ever, the record she made as a child, because that was her father Serge Gainsbourg's doing; the songs, the arrangements–everything except for her tentative vocals. Since resuming her recording career as an adult, however, she hasn't set a foot wrong.
I would say the same of Kim Deal. I'm not counting the Pixies, not because she wasn't an integral part of the band, but because that always felt more like Frank Black's project, and towards the end of their initial run, she was more like a guest than a full-fledged member.
As a fan of her contributions as both writer and singer, I expected good things from the work to come, but the Breeders' 1990 debut, Pod, was better than I expected--better even than the Pixies at their best (your mileage may vary, but for me that means the pre-Elektra material).
To prepare for Kim's show at the Neptune last night, I revisited all five Breeders full-lengths, in addition to the 1992 Safari EP, and I enjoyed them all. If anything, 2002's Title TK and 2008's Mountain Battles sound better now than they did at the time. I can't be the only one who hoped they would sound more like Pod or 1993's Last Splash, but there was a lot going on at the time, with lineup changes, Kim in and out of the Pixies, and care duty after her mother's dementia diagnosis.
Nonetheless, the band sounded revitalized on 2018's All Nerve, and that's the last time I saw Kim in concert. The show was at a venue, Showbox Sodo, that leaves a lot to be desired, but it was really good. Not great, necessarily, and I don't recall any surprises, but I left happy.
Last fall, Kim released her first solo album, Nobody Loves You More, at the age of 63 (she turns 64 this June). There are only so many artists who wait that long to strike out on their own, and it isn't always worth the wait, but it's among the best things she's ever done–possibly the best–and she's been pulling out all the stops for her tour. In the Pixies, the Breeders, and the Amps, Kim was mostly playing with three other musicians. Last night, she was joined by nine. Maybe even 10.
I should backtrack, though, to mention the opening act. I wasn't familiar with Morgan Nagler, but my friend Tony and I made sure to get there in time for her set, and it was totally worth it. A former child actress with dozens of credits at the IMDb, Morgan is a charming presence with a voice and vibe that reminded me of Susannah Hoffs in her early Bangles days, though with less of Susannah's mod '60s style.
Though her name didn’t ring a bell, Morgan has played with or written for a number of acts with whom I have some familiarity, including Haim, Jenny Lewis and/or Rilo Kiley, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. In 2014, she and Kim released the single "The Root," which they performed as part of the headliner's two encores. Their voices work beautifully together, and I like the way the song recalls the spirited sound of Holly Golightly with or without the Headcoatees.
Perhaps because Kim had such a sprawling ensemble, Morgan played as part of a drum-less trio, including her friend and producer Kyle Thomas of King Tuff–Tony and I saw him at the Neptune just a few weeks ago opening for Ty Segall– and author and musician Orenda Fink from Azure Ray. Beyond the guitars and bass, Orenda played melodica during one number and multi-instrumentalist Nick White, from Kim's band, added keyboards to another.
Like Kim, Morgan did her time in bands, mostly Whispertown, before striking out on her own. She turned 47 last night, and her Kyle Thomas-produced debut will be appearing sometime later this year. On the basis of the material she performed, it should be quite good.
Kim and company then proceeded to play every song off Nobody Loves You More, and everything sounded fantastic. I'm not certain whether she retained the sequence from the album, but I think she did.
Tony and I agreed that the title track recalled Love, circa 1967's baroque-rock masterpiece Forever Changes. I had expected a rock combo, but the horns, strings, and backup singers, including twin sister Kelley, made everything richer, fuller--more special--than it would've been otherwise. Due to the Neptune's fuzzy acoustics, I couldn't hear everything she said, but that had no effect on the sound of the music or her voice--which hasn't changed since her 20s.
The venue was packed, possibly even sold out, and there was a lot of yelling between songs, which Kim took in stride. Tony speculated that it's probably been happening at every show, and that seems likely. When she mentioned the Pixies, for instance, a woman yelled, "You were the Pixies!" (Well yes, and no.) Sometimes it was a bit much, but I understand the impulse. She just means that much to so many of us.
Towards the end of the evening, she acknowledged that her album only provided around 35 minutes of material, not enough for a full set, so she performed other songs from throughout her career, both solo singles and Breeders songs, like "Safari," which Tony and I were thrilled to hear. If anything, I prefer the Safari EP to Last Splash, the slightly more polished, platinum-selling album that followed.
At various times, Kim introduced members of her band, rather than all at once. I could make out some of her introductions, but not all. She introduced Kelley by saying she's from Dayton, Spencer by saying he's from Cincinnati, and "Allison is from Albini–she's from Chicago." It was the second Steve Albini reference of the night, and he really was one of the Breeders' best engineers–one of the Pixies' best engineers, too.
Though I took notes, I won't list every song she played--I counted around 20--because I'll probably get it wrong, but the last one was "Do You Love Me Now?" from Last Splash, and it's been stuck in my head ever since, especially the line, "C'mon c'mon come back to me right now," mostly because it's so catchy, but maybe, just maybe because the whole show was so good, I wouldn't mind doing it all over again as soon as possible. Kim Deal really is one of the all-timers.
Update: set list here (they count the first encore as a second set).
Morgan Nagler will be opening for Kim Deal's next four California engagements. Find more tour dates here. All photos by me.
I write about popular music and film and the relationship between the two. I'm Irish on one side, Italian on the other—British on both. I was born in Connecticut (Far From Heaven), raised in Alaska (Northern Exposure), and I've lived in Seattle, WA (Trouble in Mind) since 1988.
