Run Fast

In 1991, feminist punks Bikini Kill published their second eponymous zine, and inside it the manifesto that defined riot grrrl.

It made their mouthpiece, Kathleen Hanna, into the movement's leader - a position she tried to refuse because, she learned, the problem with spelling out your beliefs means the second you change your mind you're dismissed as a traitor, a phony.

After Bikini Kill ended in 1997, Hanna formed Le Tigre, who went on hiatus in 2007. After finding out that she had debilitating Lyme disease, Hanna founded The Julie Ruin in 2010 with the intention of making music for herself, rather than living up to anyone's expectations.

'Run Fast', their debut, contains songs about art, activism and survival - Hanna's former calling cards - alongside songs that explore marital love, hedonism and feminist myths; there's no single agenda.

Most of Hanna's lyrics are bawled with a lusty disregard for making herself immediately understood, buzzing within the bright, ragged recording of the band's mind‐destroyingly catchy B‐52s‐style surf‐punk.