ATMuse> The Music of Multicultural America 
 
from "Constructing Communities and Identities: Riot Grrrl New York City." by Theo Cateforis and Elena Humphreys, pg. 395-418
In The Music of Multicultural America, 

Edited by Kip Lornell and Anne K. Rasmussen

 

1995, Selena Wahng.

Selena Wahng sings and plays all bass parts, drum beats and samples on this track. The song was engineered by Tommy Sakon at Music House Studio. Completed in 1995 after she was no longer directly involved with Riot Grrrl NYC, this recording nonetheless bears the strong hallmark of Riot Grrrl's feminist punk politics, particularly in Selena's piercing reverbed screams, which she describes as "the sound of rape repeating over and over." The insistent screams combine with another influence in this song: the imitated chanting of the Korean shaman, a powerful female authority figure in traditional Korean society who communicates with spirits through ritual incantations. Horror and power are thickly interwoven in this song, and the emotive wordless sounds offer many avenues for different listener identifications.

Magazine cover with drawing of Alice in Wonderland and the words, "Riot Grrrl!"
Riot Grrrl NYC fanzine cover. Photo by Elena Humphreys.
Permission Information: recorded by Tommy Sakon at Music House Studio

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