Less than a month after a spate of state legislatures voted to enact sweeping abortion restrictions, 3,000 people, mostly women, swarmed Kings Theatre in Brooklyn to bang their heads, shake their hips, and scream. It wasn’t a protest, but the audience was angry. Bikini Kill, one of the preeminent feminist punk bands of the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s, was playing one of four sold-out shows in New York—their first since they broke up in 1997, the year that I was born.
Bikini Kill have been performing their first shows in 22 years, and Joan Jett recently was featured as a special guest on a stop in true riot grrrl fashion.
Bikini Kill delivered a true cherry bomb to their fans in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. For their third show at King’s Theatre, the reunited outfit brought out longtime friend and collaborator Joan Jett for a performance of “Rebel Girl” off 1993’s Pussy Whipped.
Bikini Kill aka Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail and Kathi Wilcox disbanded in 1997, but the world never stopped talking about them. Their legend status has only become more crystal clear in the past few years, as we’ve entered a spell of post-Trump Riot Grrrl fever, and young people look to the past for protest music that speaks to their anger and anxieties.
Last night, June 4th, at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, riot grrl pioneers Bikini Kill continued their reunion tour in perfect form by treating the sold-out crowd to an extra-special version of their hit “Rebel Girl” featuring the legendary Joan Jett on guitar and backing vocals.
Rock royalty Joan Jett joined legendary punks Bikini Kill onstage Tuesday night, for a live performance of their anthemic 1993 single, “Rebel Girl.” Set in Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, it was the band’s seventh stop on their prodigious reunion tour.
Bikini Kill performed their third of four reunion NYC shows in Brooklyn last night (their final one is tonight). At the concert, the band brought out Joan Jett to perform the single version of “Rebel Girl,” the 1993 Bikini Kill track on which Jett plays guitar and sings backing vocals.
Earlier this year, Bikini Kill got back together and announced their first shows in 22 years. By all accounts, those reunion shows have been great experiences. It’s not easy to stage a nostalgia trip that still feels fresh and vital and important, but that’s been the Bikini Kill reunion so far.
From the balcony of Terminal 5, a mother and her daughter are dancing to Bikini Kill’s “Feels Blind.” Down below in the pit, people with candy-color hair are moshing. A person with a long green mane rams her body into someone who has stripped down to their bra.
Bikini Kill are in the midst of a four-show in NYC, part of their reunion tour; they played their first proper NYC show in over 20 years (other than a brief surprise 2017 reunion at The Kitchen) on Friday (5/30) at Brooklyn Steel, and second on Saturday at Terminal 5. The third show of the run happened Tuesday night (6/3) at Kings Theatre, where Bikini Kill invited a special guest to the stage: Joan Jett, who played guitar on “Rebel Girl” (the single version of which Joan produced and contributed guitar and backing vocals to). Watch that happen below.
Twelve Nudes, his new and “spiritually queer” punk record, continues this same wavelength, and is an incendiary and inspiring follow-up. Across the album, Furman channels pent-up energy, distinguished by sharp, lacerating observations, confessions and proclamations
Nobody queers classic rock purposefulness with anxious punk frenzy quite like Furman, who firehoses lyrics at you like he’s desperately trying to bail out his flooded brain.
As is typically the case with Furman’s songwriting, “Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone” just shreds. Furman has always been able to bridge this gap between pop-rock and garage meltdowns with a particular punk-rock sensibility; the immediately laid-back and groovy bass line that kicks the song off paves the way for an absolute ripper of a bridge that finds Furman yelling, supportively, at the listener to calm down. —Harry Todd
Still mourning the death of his friend Mac Miller and nursing a two-day hangover, the yacht-rock guitarist dropped by “The Tonight Show” and reflected on Michael McDonald, Volvos, and bone broth.
In the front row of Bikini Kill’s first show in 22 years is a child sitting on her father’s shoulders. She is watching women of various generations form circular mosh pits across the floor as lead singer Kathleen Hanna belts out the lyrics to “Rebel Girl.” “Is this everything you dreamed of?” says one woman in the crowd to another. Her friend’s response: “Everything — and more.”
Ezra Furman has announced a new “spiritually queer” album called Twelve Nudes. It’s out August 30 via Bella Union. Today, he’s dropped the LP’s lead single “Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone.” It arrives with an animated video directed by Beth Jeans Houghton (aka Du Blonde).
Home / News / Ezra Furman Announces New Album, Twelve Nudes, Due August 30th Via Bella Union, And North American and European Tour
Ezra Furman Announces New Album, Twelve Nudes, Due August 30th Via Bella Union, And North American and European Tour
RJ Frometa 1 week ago News Leave a comment 35 Views
Ezra Furman is pleased to announce his new album, Twelve Nudes, due August 30th via Bella Union. 2018 was a championing year for Furman – since the release of the “layered, baroque pop melodrama” (Billboard) Transangelic Exodus, Furman has garnered immense praise, both forTransangelic Exodus and the soundtrack he created for Netflix’s Sex Education (he and his band also appeared in an episode). Twelve Nudes, his new and “spiritually queer” punk record, continues this same wavelength, and is an incendiary and inspiring follow-up. Across the album, Furman channels pent-up energy, distinguished by sharp, lacerating observations, confessions and proclamations. Additionally, Furman shares the lead single / video, “Calm Down” (aka “I Should Not Be Alone”) and announces a North American and European tour.
Ezra Furman has announced a new album, Twelve Nudes, and shared a video for its first single (and opening track) “Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone.” He’s also announced some tour dates. Twelve Nudes is due out August 30 via Bella Union. Beth Jeans Houghton (aka Du Blonde) directed the animated “Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone” video. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as the tour dates.
Furman had this to say “This is our punk record, we made it in Oakland, quickly. We drank and smoked. Then we made the loud parts louder. I hurt my voice screaming. This was back in 2018 when things were bad in the world. The songs are naked with nothing to hide. Desperate times make for desperate songs. I wrote this in the summer of 2018, a terrible time. It’s the sound of me struggling to admit that I’m not okay with the current state of human civilization, in which bad men crush us into submission. Once you admit how bad it feels to live in a broken society, you can start to resist it, and imagine a better one.”
Perpetually underrated indie-rock mainstay Ezra Furman has shared the lead single from his forthcoming album Twelve Nudes, out Aug. 30. It’s accompanied by a colorfully macabre music video that visualizes the song’s panic attack-driven narrative, as Furman dances, falls and smokes through the anxiety.
Ezra Furman, has revealed his new full-length, Twelve Nudes, will arrive on August 30th via Bella Union. Twelve Nudes, is described as his new and “spiritually queer” punk record. Along with the news, Furman, has shared the lead single and video, “Calm Down” (aka “I Should Not Be Alone”), with new tour dates
On May 21st Ezra Furman announced their new album Twelve Nudes, while also dropping lead single ‘Calm Down AKA I Should Not Be Alone.’ Coming out on August 30th through Bella Union, the album is the singer’s follow up to 2018’s Transangelic Exodus.
Ezra Furman has announced a new album, Twelve Nudes, due out August 30 Via Bella Union. The follow-up to 2017’s Transangelic Exodus features 11 new tracks, including the lead single, “Calm Down” (aka “I Should Not Be Alone”). It comes with an animated video directed by Beth Jeans Houghton. It was recorded in Oakland during the fall of 2018.
A year and a half removed from releasing his Transangelic Exodus album, Ezra Furman has shared the details behind a follow-up effort.
Titled Twelve Nudes, Furman’s latest arrives August 30 through Bella Union. Eleven tracks in length, Twelve Nudes was mixed by John Congleton and is referred to by Furman as “our punk record.”
“We made it in Oakland, quickly. We drank and smoked. Then we made the loud parts louder. I hurt my voice screaming,” Furman recalled. “This was back in 2018, when things were bad in the world. The songs are naked with nothing to hide.”
Ezra Furman is back with a new album Twelve Nudes, which will be out August 30 via Bella Union. For it he worked with in-demand producer John Congleton and Ezra calls it a “spiritually queer” punk record and “a slice of pure agitated rage.” You can hear what Ezra means on the “freaked-out banger” of a first single. “Desperate times make for desperate songs,” says Furman. “I wrote this in the summer of 2018, a terrible time. It’s the sound of me struggling to admit that I’m not okay with the current state of human civilization, in which bad men crush us into submission. Once you admit how bad it feels to live in a broken society, you can start to resist it, and imagine a better one.” Watch the animated video for “Calm Down AKA I Should Not Be Alone,” made by Beth Jeans Houghton, below.
