"Okay, so like, we've been a band

for five years now, and I swear, after every show, some guy comes up to me,"

Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill and widely heralded as one of the

founders of the riot grrl movement said Saturday night during Bikini Kill's set

at Cambridge's T.T. the Bear's. "And they always say to me, 'You know, I'm not

the type of guy who you're singing about in your songs, and your work has

really affected me,' like they need me to validate their feminism." Good point,

indeed, which got me thinking about the whole label of riot grrl music.

Saturday night was a good time to think about it; in addition to Bikini Kill

and Team Dresch, Cold, Cold Heart (ex-Bratmobile) and locals Shiva Speedway

rounded out the bill, all female-led bands, all very vocal in their feminism

and belief in woman made and produced music.

Which is undoubtedly a good

thing, but, as Hanna pointed out, it's been five years since Bikini Kill first

hit the scene, and powerful women making powerful punk-oriented music is no

longer such an anomaly; in a way, arguing that it is a perverted brand of

sexism in itself: Hey, they're women, and they rock! Not the original riot grrl

message, mind you, but one that seems to be the most common understanding.

So, despite Hanna's proclamations, which included admonishments to members

of the audience who may or may not have seen her in her former incarnation as a

dancer at a strip-club, I decided to put politics aside for the evening, and

concentrate on the music instead.

And, musically speaking, it was Team

Dresch that came out on top, outplaying, outperforming, and outclassing

headliners Bikini Kill. Drawing largely from their late '94 debut, Personal

Best, (one of the best albums of the last year or so) and throwing in a handful

of new tunes to round out their 50-minute set, Team Dresch personified

skillful, melodic, tightly wound, top-notch music. With blond-haired Donna

Dresch bouncing around stage with her bass, Kaia Kangaroo and Jody Coyote

sharing singing and guitar duties (Coyote also joined Dresch on bass on a

number of tracks) and Marci Martinez on drums, Team Dresch, above all, deserve

to be known as a top-notch punk band, beautifully blending harmonic changes,

melodic intervals, and no-holds barred punk rhythms. Bikini Kill, while

obviously beloved by the crowd (which, incidentally, was made up of equal parts

men and women) demonstrated neither the technical proficiency nor the absence

of attitude that Team Dresch were so skillful at delivering. Hanna, despite her

Kill Rockstars label and attitude, feels only too comfortable preening for

cameras (as she did numerous times) and preaching from her soapbox. (I've often

wondered, since the Courtney Love/Hanna spat at Lollapalooza fight last summer,

what Hanna was doing hanging out with all those rock stars anyway.)

Furthermore, her voice, while capable of a rough-hewn elegance, too often

descended into shrieks and wails that sound much better in the produced

confines of a studio. This is not to say Bikini Kill didn't have their moments:

"Feels Blind" remains just as powerful a diatribe against anorexia as it ever

did, and "anti-pleasure dissertation," from the new single of the same name,

packed a rhythmic, well-timed wallop. But on the whole, Bikini Kill, even when

joined by Coyote on vocals, was no match for the fast-sprinting Team Dresch. An

addendum: I am not saying, as I have been accused of in the past, that politics

and music don't mix. I think they do, and should. What I am saying is that as

long as Hanna keeps pushing the riot grrl agenda, the same agenda that her

indisputably active position in the indie rock world demonstrates she, and many

other women musicians, have come a long way toward achieving, she will continue

to sound like a broken record, her music muted by her message.