Le Tigre

Fierce Preachers!

Le Tigre @ Highbury Garage, 27/11/2000

Le Tigre mean it. Three woman with a cutting feminist agenda fuse the punkier aspects of Bis with the non-stop one note riffing of Sleater Kinney to create their own up front shell shocked statement of perceived truth on the world at large. Every song carries a message, and every message is supported by a barrage of imagery on the projector screen. A good deal more political than the American elections they lambaste, certain tracks exist to be etched into the more socially conscious of minds. '41' counts the years of an unarmed black man shot by police, whilst 'Political Critique' jabs at the false politics of personal smears. Then they throw in a rehearsed dance routine and it's relieving to find they're not so immersed in the seriousness of it all as to lose the concept that they're fronting a gig and not a rally. As a break from the pity-me tedium of American metal and as a shot in the arm to music with a message it's strange to find the ideological successors to Rage Against The Machine distinctly lack balls and come instead with breasts attached.

Andrew Thomas