Le Tigre

Bikini Kill’s leader, Kathleen Hanna, sensed the pending dead end of releasing more guitar-based punk rock records. So she formed Le Tigre around amateurish electronic instrumentation to turn the male-dominated electroclash field on its head. Working with Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning and producer Chris Stamey (formerly of The dB's), the trio nailed it: poppy melodies and call-and-response ‘60s girl group–type vocals delivered up-to-date commentary on the paradoxes of art and artists (“What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes”) and the eventual warp that commercialism brings to art (“Deceptacon”). Rarely has a drum machine helped a band groove as well as on this inspired debut.