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June 05, 2005

sleater-kinney :: the woods

(buy)

Sleater-Kinney is an outfit that I've always found a little better in theory than in practice. I love their approach - a balls-out version of some of the artier distaff punk from the golden years, such as The Raincoats and X-Ray Spex. I'm fine with the wailing vocals; they tend to be the dividing point between fans and foes. I just don't think they've written quite enough great songs in any one batch to make a class-A record.

It's the same on The Woods, although they come within spitting distance of their first masterpiece. They've tried a great leap forward in production courtesy of Dave Fridmann, who is known more for his lush work taking off from Mercury Rev and his job behind the desk on The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin. Famously, he told S-K that he didn't really like them, but that he'd be up to the challenge as long as it was his way or the highway. His way was to give them a roomy, super-saturated sound that's not dissimilar to recent White Stripes discs or old Led Zeppelin. Most times this treatment adds a perfect measure of body (Sleater-Kinney has no bassist); sometimes it's simply distracting, and you wish for their days of jamming econo.

For their part, the band has dialed up the compositional scope of their songs, with similarly mixed - but mostly positive - results. Tunes like "The Fox" and "Night Light" are broader, huger than almost anything they've done in the past; "Modern Girl" shows a straight pop sensibility they've only hinted at before. Then there are tunes like "Jumpers" and "Entertain" that kick and scream with every bit of the classic style intact. But there also a few long, unfocused tunes that lose my attention, and even some of the good ones feel lengthy.

There's a DVD that came with my copy containing live performances of 4 songs before the album was recorded. Sleater-Kinney are apparently an essential live experience - I keep missing them - and the DVD gives good reasons why. It's well-made, raw-sounding, and a good look at the songs without their Fridmann studio touches.

While a few fans and critics have dismissed the new, expansive Sleater-Kinney, most are calling this the band's best album to date (Mojo Magazine gave 5 stars), and on balance I'd agree. It has a lot of legs - I've liked it more with every spin, and I now know it's good enough to find its way into the top 20.

Jumpers (mp3)
Modern Girl (mp3)
(distortion intentional; your stereo is OK)
Stream the entire disc at www.sleater-kinney.com (click on Downloads)

Posted by borrowed_tunes at June 5, 2005 09:58 PM

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