In 1997, Kathleen Hanna — the no-holds-barred frontwoman of the influential ’90s band Bikini Kill and later of the band Le Tigre in the early 2000s — released a solo album under the moniker Julie Ruin. The self-titled album was a lo-fi but fierce collection of bedroom ballads and socially-charged songs that touched on feminism and politics, all in Hanna’s distinctive ecstatic voice.
Now, 16 years after that album — and seven years away from music dealing with a long-undiagnosed case of Lyme disease — Hanna is back with a new record. This time, what was once a pseudonymous side-project is a full-fledged band — The Julie Ruin.
Continue reading The Julie Ruin: Kathleen Hanna’s Noisy And Empowering Return