Sleater-Kinney "The Woods"

That first song is extremely shrill and noisy. You might want to skip ahead to the second song, which is the best/most accessable song on the record.

How does Carrie's singing sound? She's never been that good, but she was godawful on parts of "One Beat". Any better on the new one?

As for the loudness--I thought that was a problem with "One Beat". It seemed to me they had fewer ideas musically on that album, so they went for volume instead. I found the production "heavier" than the previous albums (though what you're describing sounds different than that).

Carrie sounds okay. Pretty much as she always does, but with less of her haughty One Beat affectations.

Seriously, One Beat isn't half as loud as this record. This is cartoonishly loud. I think that this record is stronger in terms of songs compared to One Beat, but it's not as tuneful as Dig Met Out/Hot Rock/All Hands. There are no obvious singles on this album a la "Oh!"/"You're No Rock N Roll Fun"/"Get Up"/"One More Hour"/"Little Babies"/"Good Things"

yes...and we match 401k contributions up to 5%.

I'm really worried that my wife won't like this new wierd Sleater-Kinney album....she loves them but she likes the poppier stuff....

"Jumpers" and "Entertain" are immediate favorites on the record.

I know why I don't like the first track, it sounds like PAVEMENT.

LVDH: richardgin @ (g (m(a(i(l etc

yay I hope it's true

on the strength of a single listen, half-asleep on the bus this morning, my verdict is: um...not sure. i think i will like it. no songs very obvious or immediate, but there's nothing wrong with that. i am one of those crazy kids that thinks One Beat was their best record since Call The Doctor, so what the hell do i know? and it definitely doesn't seem to take that record's lead.

"Rollercoaster" is one of those songs like "Satisfaction" or "Jumpin Jack Flash" where the only damn thing that matters is the riff, really Carrie is Keith Richards and this is her Exile on Main Street (except that she's also Mick Taylor and this is her Sticky Fingers.

seems like she's traded in Sonic Youth for a bit of Hendrix as well, esp. "What's Mine is Yours."

also I love "Modern Girl" - I think you could read it as a little self-satisfied and smug, but you'd be missing the desperation and longing that's in there too.

It almost sounds more like a record PJ Harvey would have made post Rid of Me than a Sleater-Kinney record.

If anything, it's more of a Sonic Youth circa Goo/Dirty thing at the beginning of "The Fox."

rgin35

I'm sorry, but our love can never be.

xo

Yeah, it feels like if they took a different turn way back after "call the doctor" and never took the "dig me out" road at all.

Listen to Rollercoaster again...

(also, it would prolly be Entertain, but, y'know... fun factor...)

plus drum rolls and carefree, don't-know-better shrieking

They are so cool; I'd like to meet them.

Anyway it's totally the obvious single coz it has the big ol chorus. the whole johnny and gun thing is a sorta tired lyrical trope tho, doncha think? it's like the default patti smith improv move in grrl-rock.

"Rollercoaster" doesn't sound like a single at all to me!

my expectation for the album now is something like the 2003 Throwing Muses record; big, distorted, not-quite-proggy, and full of energy. Obv it'll be more S-K than TM, but with the same renewed vitality. The show was really quite incredible, heavy on new songs and full of big distorted guitar noise, instead of the old clean bobbing-and-weaving lines. to quote Annie Hall, it achieved total heaviosity.

Also, tour dates!

I think that I like "Entertain" a lot more if I don't pay attention to the lyrics.

Is that the Olympic rainforest?

So buy the record

they'll sell through 25,000 no problem.

and xpost smartguy, iTunes + ysi is not gonna work too well.

http://www.fastnbulbous.com/rock.htm

If anything has become clear to me after repeat listening is that aside from some really loud bits, it's really not much different from what they were already doing, the old formula is largely unchanged.

i could have made it clearer but yeah this album's songwriting is a logical progression from One Beat. As I note the songs have been getting longer consistently. This is just a big step further. My point is more that they're TRYING to change their ways and doing a mediocre job of it - see DVD rental metaphor.

Anthony, don't fret. You made your points pretty clearly in the review.

Second, this is not a band to whom long instrumental passages come easily. "Let's Call it Love" is unnecessary, and needs to be heard only once.

Third, the humorless sentiments of "Entertain" (ironic title, har har) bother the fuck out of me. "Reality is the new fiction these days"? "We are not here to entertain"? Ever since "Combat Rock" Carrie's assumed the role of SK's cultural commissar, and it's hell on her sense of fun.

Nothing on this album matches the high points on "One Beat," but there's a few contenders. "Jumpers" is sweet, and "Night Light" and "What's Mine is Yours" are cool.

As as I've no doubt said before in this thread, I do my best to tune out the lyrics when I listen to this record because I think they are pretty awful. When I got the cd with the lyric sheet, it kinda spoiled it a bit more.

*bows*

Lance Bangs should be shot. I mean, if you don't want to bother to do justice to your WIFE...

Also, I got an album pin in my bag... I'd rather have a Carrie pin, natch...

i'm really, really digging this album. i haven't paid much attention to the lyrics yet, but i never really do with S-K. and the production works much better than i was expecting - only in a few spots do i wish it was cleaner.

i miss titles/concepts like oh, say, .."Dance Song '97" ...is that SK good as dead?

i miss things like, oh, subtlety and nuance and letting the words sting for themselves instead of burying them under doses of dusty, ugly heaps of guitar crap. even though Call the Doctor is still my fave album if I had to pick just _one_ maybe The Hot Rock really was their pinnacle? (even though I really liked the refinement of One Beat, as their most accomplished, even if it didn't have the the visceral impact or coherence of CtD or DMO). I mean...going from "The Size of Our Love" to any of these chest-beating monstosities seems like a pretty obvious decline. why do otherwise intelligent bands need to conflate mere volume with emotional intensity ?

and why do (so many mainstream?) crits immediately associate increased volume with having "more power," or some shit? this is exactly like all those idiots who embraced Polly's interminably bland Stories album since it was a "return to form" ( yea the RAWK is back!! ) while underrating the infinitely superior Is This Desire? since it was a quieter affair (but no less intense!)

it's sad. if i wanted to listen to Physical Graffiti - and sometimes i do - i would...but if they're going to try and create their own, it would help if they'd bring something unique to it, rather than 9 minute solos. i don't like the production either: it would help if one could hear all the lyrics, for starters. i don't really see why they wanted to change their entire aesthetic anyway...but retain the arrogant snobbishness that Matt admirably called them out for upthread

this is also the first album in which Corin's vocals are really starting to grate. just how deaf is this woman?

but in everything from the hot rock to all hands, to one beat they were refining their textures, improving their vocal pitches, strengthening the songwriting - personalizing the polemics (which still annoyed occasionally) to approximate an expression of private injustice, anger or grief

now this one doesn't even seem like a "regression," since they haven't really been in classic-rawk aping mode before, so it's as if they're going to new, inferior places on purpose...actively seeking out brand new and exciting lows. relistening now, and it's sounding even more sterile and boring, and i don't just mean the loud-LOUD wanky songs. "Night Light" is boring, even at its core with all the junk scraped off; "Steep Air" doesn't really go anywhere. "Modern Girl" sounds like a throw-away...

and "Jumpers" is nothing of note, really, if you go back and realize that they're playing "Pompeii" all over again - almost the same riff! - without the awesome climax that "Pompeii" provides that blasts like a revelation, mid-song. it's static, monotone - perhaps an apt metaphor for the jumper's one-track mind, but lacking any discernable catharsis that a song like this would greatly benefit from

And I can't say enough about the packaging.

Maybe the key to really liking the album is in willfully misinterpreting the lyrics. Because it would be so much better if she were singing about herself rather than the shallow masses who watch tv and eat donuts instead of doing really valuable self-actualizing things like listening to sleater-kinney and going hiking in the pacific northwest.

this new lumpy bulky clod of an album sucks so hard compared to all that. why couldnt they have discovered keyboards rather than going in the opposite direction

I think the new one is definitely an improvement on the last one musically, and I'm not annoyed by the gratuitous distortion as I thought I would be, but the limitations on the, um, conceptual level are getting in the way as never before (well "combat rock" was a low point, but the music sucked too). As musicians they've matured, Tucker's developed this classic rock-god wail, and that's one ace drummer, but way too often they shoot themselves in the foot w/the lyrics.

Wilderness - This one is ok, not very good but not horrible

What's mine in yours - Good

Jumpers - Good

Modern girl - Sounds like a classic

Entertain - Made me buy the record

Rollercoaster - Boring

Steep air - Don't like this one

Let's call it love - Don't like this one either

Night light - Good

S-K is a band I want to like much much more than I actually do. Although a handful of their singles are very good.

"taste test" is absolutely one of the two best songs on CTD.

Oh, and
My read of "Modern Girl" revolves around a sort of yearning that things could be so simple; it's a sincere wish for naivete.

"I wish things could be simple, but I know they are so very complex. I am burdened by consciousness, unlike those others who watch tv and eat donuts. Hence the out-of-control distortion on this track. Oh how I wish I could be stupid like those others."

like the in the red production and great sounding pounding drums.

lyrics are a bit of a let down but doesnt really matter when the record has such an energetic sound.

All lyrics about eating pussy are base: it's the Brown Sugar Clause.

Say no way
We won’t let them grow up that way
Things have changed
But some things have stayed the same
Hold on to what you want to
But some things are passed down anyway
Hold on to what I want to
I don’t think I know what I just

Leave me without a God without belief without a cause
Without a path that I should take
Without a choice that I should make
Such an easy thought and now I had it but I lost it
I guess I need your help and now i
Guess I need your help and now i

Say no way
Don’t let things go on this way
A clean slate
But it don’t work that way
Hold on to what you want to
But some things are passed down anyway
Hold on to what I want to
I will have to own what I have

Leave me without a God without belief without a cause
Without a path that I should take
Without a choice that I should make
Such an easy thought and now I had it but I lost it
I guess I need your help and now i
Guess I need your help and now i

It’s not my stuff it’s just too much
It’s just my stuff it’s just my

Leave me without a God without belief without a cause
Without a path that I should take
Without a choice that I should make
Such an easy thought and now I had it but I lost it
I guess I need your help and now i
Guess I need your help and now i

don't get me wrong, i agree with the sentiment, it's just the virulence of the response seems a little put-upon, that's all.

That's true, but I DO feel there is some truth to what Josh is saying wrt ILM in general.

Matthew is OTM about S-K's elitism propagating the negative (but sadly sometimes true) stereotypes of libs, I was just commenting on the general hyper-scrutiny of this kind of rhetoric compared to the free pass hip-hop is often given for its relative malignancy.

My own personal loophole - rationalize everything! though in seriousness i am trying to be more personally vigilant with hip-hop

good point.

I agree, the jam-aspect, guitar solos etc. are being exaggerated in the reviews.

Yeah, but they aren't even remotely persuasive, and their message is about as effective as your average issue of Adbusters. It doesn't mobilize a base, it just makes some people pat themselves on the back for agreeing.

It was more like 15 minutes! And it went into "Entertain" instead of "Night Light!"

OMG BEST SHOW EVER.

"Let's call it love" into "Entertain" was very impressive. Someone started a pit during an encore of "Oh," and I was a little confused...but then they did a cover of "Mother," and all became clear.

Haha. "Entertain" is just as sententious as "We Are The World," innit, Gear?

they did that at the NYC show as well... it's a conspiracy!

Carrie has always been, for me, a disappointing guitarist (as in, not living up to the massive amounts of hype). That's not to say that she sucks -- she's very very good -- but she always seems to lose me midway through some of her wanky solos.

But that 15 minute freakout going into "Entertain" was epic.

And the cover of Danzig's "Mother"......wow. Great show. Unfortunately I was behind a freaky dancing long-hair, but still a great time.

I'd kill for an extended version of "Rollercoaster" where the two minutes before the silence break were stretched out into, say, 15 minutes.

Yeah. Look at Sonic Youth!

anyway, i like it...def. better than one beat.

i feel that way too. when i listen to their music the words wannabe, hoax, forced edginess, and gender-strapped come to mind.

Well, it's noisier than the last couple, obviously, but it's not some radical sonic departure from the S-K canon. Their earlier stuff was pretty frikkin' noisy (e.g. crazed shrieking choruses on "Joey Ramone" and "Stay Where You Are"). This one's got more oomph on the bottom end, and some of the songs are more Zep-bloozy than anything they've done before, but it seems more natural than unexpected. I'm just surprised there's been so much focus on the production, is all.

This hits home when you're out at a gig and Generic Female-Fronted Indie Band who are blatantly trying to rip-off Sleater-Kinney take to the stage and you realize how ridiculous they sound.

the put on i feel --is in the music, the guitar playign in particular, the singing, the lyrics. if you've ever seen the movie "Live for rock 'n roll" - they're music/persona kinda strikes me that way.

I don't think I answered your question.

Eye cream and thigh cream
how ’bout a get high cream?
Nothing do smoothes out the feelings
of being used
The Ballad of a Ladyman

Freak that I am
Live in Japan
Let’s rock with the tough girls
in this part of the world
Take a photograph
Portrait of a Ladyman

Are we holding on to our pride a bit too long
Are we breaking you apart
Are we breaking on guitars

They say I’ve gone too far
with the image I’ve got and
they know I’d make a mint
with new plastic skin
and a hit on the radio!
Oh, tempations of a ladyman

I could be demure like
girls who are soft
Or boys who are fearful of
getting an earful
but I gotta rock!
I’d rather be a ladyman

how many times will you decide
how many lives will you define
how much control should we give up of our lives
(You sit at home with an alibi
in case they call and ask you
why all you do is go
“ooh ahh ohh”
you’re out of control but saying
“ooh ahh ooh”)

The production sounds like a big departure from their earlier (and earliest) material - yeah they were noisy but it was riot grrl/punk noise, whereas The Woods is closer to stoner metal noise (what with the bloozy bottom-end and all).

On substance (sort of): I am having exactly the same reaction to this record that I had to A Ghost Is Born last summer. I keep thinking that in 15 minutes I'm going to be tired of it, but that point never comes, and after a couple of months I have to admit to myself that I like it, even though it's not what I wanted or expected. I don't particularly like "Jumpers," I hate the cutesy distortion at the end of "Modern Girl," and "Let's Call It Love" is approximately the equivalent of "Spiders" (with a little of "Less Than You Think") -- a semi-interesting idea that doesn't always repay actually having to listen to it repeatedly. But in general, the songs are awfully good.

The sublimation of politics is fascinating here. S-K has always been about the co-existence of rage and joy, and this record is no exception, but the rage has been mostly de-politicized and the joy transmuted from punk to classic rock. Miccio's line about objections from the audience turning into speeches from the podium is apt, but now I think they're staking a claim to the whole effing building. Successfully or not, I'm not sure. But they have definitely gone from "I wanna be your (feminist, lesbian, other, marginalized) Johnny Ramone" to "I am The Rock; deal with it."

Not that many groups survive more than a decade, and not that many of those that do get to keep growing in their second decade. S-K is trying damn hard to be among the Elect. If this record had been Two Beat, I would have been done with them; as it is, I am going to be paying attention for a few more years at least.

Kind of OTM, but I wouldn't call it the end. "Sympathy" (someday I'm going to figure out why almost every S-K fan but me dislikes that one) and several others on One Beat were personal, "You're No Rock'n'Roll Fun" certainly wasn't a weighty tome, etc. And the best songs on The Woods, too.

This is part of the problem with rock bands aging, isn't it? Thinking you have to stop singing about girls and make a difference/grand statement.

x-post that's why I said "beginning of the end," the introduction of an unrewarding pomposity. I'm not a fan of "Sympathy" (musically just insufferable) but "Oh," "Step Aside, "Leave You Behind," "The Swimmer," most of The Hot Rock and others since are really rewarding.

but it seems as if they are stereotyping a masculine sound and i don't understand that as a tool for what?

mm, "better RAWK". What exactly do you have in mind? You mention Creed in the review. I'm willing to believe that Creed's guitarist(s) is/are more talented guitarist than Tucker/Brownstein. Does that mean I should want to listen to it? I think a lot of S/K fans like a lot of rock music, much of it politically unenlightened (as most is), and appreciate S/K for its particular mix of (often half-baked) politico-feminist attitude and unique sound (active guitar interplay, Brownstein's caterwaul, ace drumming etc., I'm not going to be able to sum it up but I don't think there's another band that sounds quite like them.

I think it's symptomatic of a particular rock critic perspective to flatten the landscape and say, look at Metallica, look at Creed, there's lots of more competent rock, S/K are out of their league, their fans love the emperor's new clothes. S/K fans are interested in S/K (and not Creed, whom they will never have to review), who have their own sound and history at this point, of which the new album is an interesting chapter, and much more successful (as you noted here) than the last one... and, even as I find it problematic in ways rehearsed in this thread, to me quite a bit more exciting than most of the rock I hear being released today... just ranting here but what exactly is the superior 'rawk' you think would reveal to S/K fans how wrong they are?

A list of rock bands who have made albums I prefer to 'The Woods' wouldn't prove to S/K fans they were wrong and I never said it would (you really do basically repeat what I said and throw in a few claims that I didn't in that 'rant'). If anything I just was making the same point you were, a lot of fans are basically saying 'Sleater-Kinney, right or wrong.'

What's so disgusting about these lyrics? I agree that Sleater-Kinney can get it very wrong lyrically - 'Entertain' and 'Modern Girl' strike me as big examples of this, which is why I'm very apprehensive about the new album - that and the abysmal Rick Moody sleevenotes, irritatingly purist Brownstein music columns, and rumoured bloated-rock-sound. But I don't see what's so self-evidently awful about 'Ballad Of A Ladyman' (even before the lyrics are coupled with their delivery).

Cheap, but not entirely irrelevant, shot: is "beat the pussy up, beat the pussy up" less vomit-inducing, lyrically?

I could be demure like
girls who are soft
Or boys who are fearful of
getting an earful
but I gotta rock!

In asking which bands are s/k fans missing out on I was responding to your statement in this thread that I quoted at the beginning... which was perhaps not your main point but I thought was connected to the impetus of your review, which seemed aimed as much at scandalizing s/k fans with Creed and Metallica references as evaluating the album (again, that rock-critic perspective that can be irritating to ordinary listeners who want to think about the album). If S/K fans are really saying "ignore the lyrics, this band rawks", that is indeed lame. But I think your review was written before most fans had actually heard the album, and I'm responding to your dismissal of it there as well.

As for "you can't overthrow the patriarchy while emulating the Who," this is an insanely reductive assertion on a topic that has plagued proponents of revolutionary art for at least 100 years. Can you use the forms/style of the ruling class's art to subvert/overthrow it, or must the proletariat create its own new forms, Vertov Godard etc. This is hardly something that has been resolved, since while the effort to create new forms has yielded some pretty interesting results, they are so non-populist as to have had little to no effect on the targets they set their sights on. Meanwhile one can argue that some pretty subversive art has been made in dominant forms e.g. the 19th-century novel, 70s film etc. Who knows what really works, claiming some work of art as "subversive" is usually pretty dubious, but my point is that to say that employing some of the styles/signifiers of masculine/sexist hard rock/arena rock/cock-rock by its very nature undercuts whatever subversive goal s/k are setting themselves is just an arbitrary assertion, along the lines of "the 4/4 beat is the beat of sex" or whatever racist things people were saying about rock 'n roll back in the 50s. S/K may be failing, but let's try to focus on the reasons they are failing (which, to me, really does seem to lie in the lyrics, which are too foregrounded to be ignored) rather than saying feminist hard rock is inherently folly.

Again, sorry, a rant, I just haven't heard any "hard-edged" rock albums this year that are as impressive as this one even with its flaws, maybe A Frames, hm.

You can't reaffirm the worth and sancticty of the Rock God and strike a blow for liberalism and equality.

This is basically saying the form undercuts the political purpose. Because this reaffirmation is done how? By playing a particular style, with guitar solos (again, not as many as you imply in the review!!), rocking out, etc... Why is it an inherently patriarchal Rock God rather than one open to change as things develop? I see the point you're making, I just think it's a bit circular. This is in fact the issue I raised above. Can you use the tools/forms of the oppressor to subvert/revolutionize etc. And again I'm not saying they're a smashing success in this dept., just objecting to your line of attack, which I think forecloses certain directions blah blah oh what do I care really...

You just answered your own question.

I'm struggling for a language to defend the band's cheesily direct gender-political lyrics, even "Ballad of a Ladyman," which I like and think is funnier than y'all are giving it credit for. Maybe a little snobby-funny, but not snobby like "Modern Girl." Anyway, I guess I admire Sleater-Kinney for risking cheesiness in just spelling out their take on x political issue. Their lyrics are often inelegant as a result, but I think they're genuinely powerful in their explicit-ness. And I guess I even sort of like that their politics, as interpreted from their corpus of song lyrics, are contradictory. It makes the individual songs seem very much of-the-occasion that inspired them.

I am troubled by the lyrics of "Modern Girl" and "Entertain," not least because I always find myself seduced by the way those songs sound. But I guess I just wanted to add my voice to the "Sleater-Kinney are not a put-on" chorus. Also, what's so bad about All Hands on the Bad One, dammit?

"Can you use the tools/forms of the oppressor to subvert/revolutionize etc." i doubt anyone would argue against this "And again I'm not saying they're a smashing success in this dept.," -- ... but THIS well...for one thing, it reminds me (in a silly way) of Howard Sterns' female sidekick...who also suffers in this department IMO somewhat similarly to SK; partly a capability-with-tools issue, but also partly and more seriously maybe an ideological issue (admittedly, up to debate); in both cases I sense a moderate-strong desire to leave the fight and join the establishment, albeit bitterly - and couldn't this well be the natural source of the contradiction in their lyrics and sound. And secondly, if your M.O. is this twisting/re-treatment,you better know your craft and achieve your outcome - b/c failing creates issues; part of me cringes at what message they might be passing along about women's abilites/reasons being in rock etc.

And not to be so nasty, I'm sure after all these years SK can probably rock out and enjoy it, I just wish they'd leave the political stuff to folks better-equipped.

When they were on KEXP that were saying how at one of their Pearl Jam's concerts in Denver they were dishing out their "usual Sleater-Kinney schpiel" about the war and were booed. That's always how I took all of their Evergreen College femi-posing, it's just their "schpiel", a way of selling themselves, and certainly the least important element of their music. Feminism, liberalism, anti-corporation-ism don't have all the answers to society's problems so the band's lyrics sometime fail in their very lack of contradiction, that is if you feel (incorrectly) that Sleater-Kinney have ever tried to "change the world." Imagining a better world is the only political thing they do. I've seen them live 12 times (yes I admit I like the band a little) and heard maybe 20 political spoken-words out of them total. Seriously. They rarely say anything of consequence at all. Perhaps I've been lucky in my show selection, but to me they never fell into the trap of boring the hell out a club with 5-minute speeches on gentrification like so many punk-type bands around here do.

I could be wrong, but I feel the true motivation of Miccio's Metallica reference was some silly revenge for the over-publicized file sharing freak-out on that weekend in February or March (which he INEXPLICABLY brought up in the review). They apologized for that and aren't one of those bands against downloading music, which they do themselves. I think it understandable to temporarily act unreasonably when it comes to such a loss of power over control of distribution of their music. After all, this is a band that was defined by many by substandard songs such as "Write Me Back, Fucker" and "More Than a Feeling" which dominated file-sharing networks for years.

Whatever, but - 1- If Miccio is serious about "The Woods" being over-bloated (and all that Metallica/Who stuff), he has seriously misrepresented the album to further his arguments about the contradiction thing. Come on dude, I went to arena rock shows in the 80's. I know what bloated rock music is. 2-Pitchfork and some folks here are OTM with their underplaying of the production. 3-Umm, Lo-fi, it shocks me any music critic (not just Anthony Miccio) would say that about this album and would love an explanation as to why that happens. Is this maybe a speaker/headphone issue? (Repeat after me, stock Ipod earbuds, bad.) 4- The entire opening paragraph of Miccio's review and several other lines are complete throw-aways. Stylus seriously needs a more different editorial approach- so many pieces they do are not fit for publishing. 5-"Way up in the sky/that is where am I" - now there are some cring-inducing Sleater-Kinney lyrics. 6-Critiquing lyrics in isolation is kind of pointless anyway. What do you do with Deerhoof's pandas and flowers? It's just sound- unless, I suppose, it's about beating pussies up. Not to say that good lyrics don't matter, or hell, maybe I did say that. But at the very least it's critically problematic to stick rock lyrics on a website and piss on them. Poetry doesn't have that pitfall. 7-Please see S-K live if you haven't. If you think "The Woods" is a jammy change of direction, it really started in 2002. So why all the fuss now?

(p.s. the first paragraph is indeed wack)

Hooray video for "Jumpers"! And Carrie looks hot!

I hear you on a personal level, but critically this is bullshit! How this works out = a band that doesn't know shit & consequently doesn't say shit will be more likely to get a passing grade from you than a band that knows something but doesn't hit the nail squarely on the head every time - how is that any good? Reward the incompetent for succeeding on a small level, punish the ambitious for being generally successful but not utterly triumphant? Wtf, I say!

and in conclusion, the Woods is fucking excellent

I thought all of SK were wearing business attire, which would've been HOTTT, but only Carrie was wearing pants, which was merely hott.

i always thought this band was some lillith fair shit 4 some reason...this album is unbelievable tho

i listened to this a lot when i got it, haven't really revisited it. i should, it's good.

(but if it's your s-k gateway, there's at least 4 other ones you really need...)

i always thought this band was some lillith fair shit 4 some reason

!?

lol! Yeah I know. Wtf did that come from?

idk...yea i figured. which other records shd i check out

All! Seriously you can go wrong with NONE of them. But my fave will always be Call the Doctor.

I wouldn't go out of my recommending the s/t first one, but yeah...all the others are great!

if you like this album you'll love the other ones, because this one kinda sucked.

for somebody discovering them via the woods, i'd go:

dig me out -> call the doctor -> the hot rock

and then the rest, if you like all those.

all of which makes makes me think there needs to be a dig me out poll...

if you like this album you'll love the other ones, because this one kinda sucked.

Agreed. Actually for me, nearly everything after The Hot Rock sucked.

But I will say this - when I saw them on their farewell tour, the live versions of songs from The Woods blew me away. Why it doesn't work on record, I don't know.

If you go from the Woods, I'd say Call the Doctor should come next, then the Hot Rock, then the super amazingness that is Dig Me Out. The other 3 are pretty cool but not essential.

So glad I got to see them live, even if I had to watch the whole show with only 1 lense in my glasses (at Reading a couple years ago, a fucking Pixies fan elbowed me in the face, cunt). I met a cute S-K hardcore fan who took pity on me and we hung out for the rest of the weekend. Love this band.

one beat is an incredible album - have heard a couple others by SK but not got into them as much.

I'm not much of a fan of All Hands On The Bad One but I like all the others.

Colonel Poo are you available by instant messenger?

I'm not much of a fan of All Hands On The Bad One but I like all the others.

That's my favorite one!

why do people dislike all hands on the bad one so much? genuine question; i've always liked it.

i like it too. i think it mostly suffers from coming after that incredible three-album run. lots of good songs on it tho.

but back to the woods, coupla killer live videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAmIm3XFPuY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYAitpi6Dhg&feature=related

(just try not to wince when letterman says, "thank you girls!" at the end...)

God, I love watching Janet play the drums!

(not enough to see her do it with Malkmus, tho)

Never got this band's appeal. I sold back The Woods. I should try again, I suppose, but eMusic only has a limited selection of their discography.

not so limited -- they have the 4 albums from dig me out to one beat. i'd at least try dig me out or the hot rock before you write them off.

Checking out the soundscans to Dig Me Out now.

Dig Me Out is their best album, if you don't like that you won't like them. I was about to call it the first great album of this decade until I realized it came out over ten years ago! It doesn't seem that long.

I wonder if they'll reform in a few years' time? SK were probably the best live band I've ever seen; I saw them five times, every time I could when they came to SF.

This is still their worst album.

Worse than the self-titled?

Don't own it.

yes it is worse than the debut

one beat is my least fave. it's not awful, just never grabbed me.

You can't say enough great things about Sleater-Kinney. I must have seen them live 15 times.

If you were to make an SK awesomeness graph of their 7 albums, The Woods would fit nicely in the middle. Ahead of the debut, All Hands On... & The Hot Rock, but behind Dig Me Out, Call The Doctor & One Beat.

This is still their worst best album.

Fixed.

If you were to make an SK awesomeness graph of their 7 albums, The Woods would fit nicely in the middle. Ahead of the debut, All Hands On... & The Hot Rock, but behind Dig Me Out, Call The Doctor & One Beat.

Dead OTM!!

i dont get that at all, hot rock is my fav forever

sounds like there's a bass player on the Letterman clip. Is there? If so, who's hiding? Doesn't seem possible to have that much bottom end without one.

corin's playing the bassline in that clip. it's just fuzzy low-end guitar.

so ive listened to dig me out, the hot rock, & one beat and would rank them in that order..im not sure where they stand in relation to the woods that album just seems like a different animal 2 me

didnt really like 'one beat' too much aside from the remainder > light rail coyote > step aside stretch

gonna seek out call the doctor nxt

wow, this thread is so weirdly permeated by condescension

20 today

not so modern, girl

20 today

Not possible, because that would make me 20 years older than I was then.