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 Sleater-Kinney was formed in 1994 as the band of Corin Tucker (left, words and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (right, guitar and vocals), both members of the riot grrrl bands Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17, respectively. Janet Weiss (middle, drums) joined after their second album and has been with the band since. In 2006, after the universally praised album "The Woods" came out, they broke up. But just last week Sub Pop released a box set, Start Together, which contained a new single. This week, they announced their reunion and will release a new album in January. They've been one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the last two decades, but always remained without a huge commercial breakthrough. Which is a shame, since they're one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Not just one of the greatest punk bands, or one of the greatest indie rock bands. Nope. They belong in the great pantheon of rock bands. Part of their lack of commercial success probably has to do with some of their lyrics, which regularly are about politics and feminism (and their lyrics aren't superficial), which is not an easy sell. Another part is that they're women who rock, and that's not an easy sell in a male-dominated music industry. But the new album will likely be a huge success, and they've earned it. Musically, they're known for the fact that they don't have a bassist. Corin Tucker usually plays a baritone guitar, and sometimes plays a guitar downtuned to C, so she fills that role. But it really adds a unique sound that hasn't been replicated, and you may think you'll miss the low-end. But you won't. She fills that role perfectly well and it's really neat to hear. You'll also probably hear her very distinctive singing voice, which is hard to describe. Carrie also has a very distinctive style, and she's got some great riffs and leads. Really, they don't sound like anyone else (especially after their self-titled). Sleater-Kinney (1995), Chainsaw Records  Their first album was their self-titled. In many ways it's just an artifact of 1990s riot grrrl, sounding more like Heavens to Betsy than later albums, but it's still a good album today. It's some very aggressive, angry punk, but Corin Tucker's vocals here are a bit different and harsher than later albums. It's probably not anyone's favorite album, but if you like riot grrrl you could do worse than this. But I'll be rather blunt: it ain't much like their later stuff. But I'm a fan of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7xMphneYxo Call the Doctor (1996), Chainsaw Records  "Call the Doctor" is the first time we really hear the Sleater-Kinney that we all know and love. It's still got the raging punk energy that the self-titled had, but there's a bigger dose of melody and vocal harmony here, along with generally better songwriting that makes it a killer album. The title track is loving killer, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a real stinker here. It's a more diverse album than the self-titled, too. Corin's vocals are a lot less harsh here, and Carrie steps up in some songs with lead vocals on songs like "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTHpfZhfQbk Dig Me Out (1997), Kill Rock Stars  This is the first album with Janet Weiss on drums. And it's probably their first great album (spoiler alert: they're all great from here on out). The first two are good, but this is where their melodic sensibilities come through clearly and they've got some great riffs. Carrie Brownstein's really developed as a guitarist and puts it all to good use here. The biggest thing to hear here is the catchiness that they're working on. They're more melodic, but this doesn't stop them from rocking really hard here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMxbSi7bvcA The Hot Rock (1999), Kill Rock Stars  One of the candidates for their best album, it's more toned down than their prior work. But this doesn't mean it's not a great album. It's got some more intricate and interesting songwriting than their earlier work, and they even throw in some things like strings and synths at places. Corin does some of her best singing on this album, I think, and the riffs are fantastic. They may be on the top of their game with the lyrics on this album, too, though I think "All Hands" gives it a run for its money in that department. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sTmJEMxnyk All Hands on the Bad One (2000), Kill Rock Stars  Perhaps their most commercially successful album, it's also their poppiest. They've embraced the melodic tendencies they had earlier in their career and are a lot less hard-rocking here. This doesn't mean the album doesn't rock--it's a great album. It's catchy, fun, and the lyrics don't stray too much from classic Sleater-Kinney themes. Also, it's their first music video. They aren't good with music videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCy1VIy8Hj0 One Beat (2002), Kill Rock Stars  They return in a lot of ways to a harder-rocking sound here. Janet's drumming is really the driving force here, but they've toned back some of the pop tendencies they'd messed with after "Call the Doctor," without really abandoning the melodies and harmonies. It's perhaps their most political album (which is saying a lot) and I don't think the lyrics are their best, though it's got some great individual lines and they're pretty good. It's a great album, but to my ears it's more of a transitional album between their earlier work and the sound they embraced on their last album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibrXJRfhsNs The Woods (2005), Sub Pop  I'm incapable of being objective about this album, since I'm convinced it's perhaps the greatest album ever released. But here they get a new guitar tone, drench everything in layers of distortion, and kick you in the teeth. It embraces a lot of classic rock influence that you probably wouldn't expect based on their prior albums, and if you listen to their self-titled followed by this you'd be hard-pressed to think they're the same band. But it's easily their most critically-acclaimed album, and their swan song. I'm not linking to the music video for "Jumpers," but to "Let's Call it Love." Because if you can't handle an 11 minute song about sex with crushing riffs and a loving wicked guitar solo I don't know what's wrong with you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV3m4PH5Hhw Post Sleater-Kinney In 2006, they broke up. Corin Tucker went on, some years down the line, to form the Corin Tucker Band and released two quality albums which are absolutely worth listening to. Carrie Brownstein went on to an acting career and writes and stars in Portlandia, and Corin and Janet both have cameos in it. She also released an album with Janet Weiss and some other non-Corin people in the band Wild Flag. Wild Flag's self-titled is a fantastic rock album, and is really a kind of extension of the work they were doing on "The Woods" (WARNING: has a bassist). Janet Weiss also worked with The Shins and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. Start Together  A few months back, Sub Pop announced that they were releasing remastered versions of all seven Sleater-Kinney albums in a box set called Start Together, to be released on 10/21. Well, some people got it a bit early and discovered something quite strange.  What was it? It had a date (1/20/15) and no other information. Pop it on the record player and...it's a new song, "Bury Our Friends." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRNDB9VqI3Q I'll be honest, I thought they were releasing a rarities collection. Well, it turns out Sleater-Kinney is getting back together motherfuckers. No Cities to Love (2015), Sub Pop  Also a tour. 02-08 Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory Spokane 02-09 Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Boise 02-10 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot 02-12 Denver, CO - Ogden Theater 02-13 Omaha, NE - Slowdown 02-14 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue 02-15 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall 02-17 Chicago, IL - Riviera 02-22 Boston, MA - House of Blues 02-24 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club 02-26 New York, NY - Terminal 5 02-28 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer 03-01 Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE 03-18 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof 03-19 Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Paradiso 03-20 Paris, France - Cigale 03-21 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix 03-23 London, England - Roundhouse 03-24 Manchester, England - Albert Hall 03-25 Glasgow, Scotland - O2 ABC 03-26 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street So this is a thread to discuss their music, the tour, etc. Ghost of Reagan Past fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Oct 24, 2014 |
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Oct 24, 2014 03:37
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Good post, and I'll add that I miss the heck out of Carrie regularly contributing to NPR Music (perhaps because Ann Powers annoys the poo poo out of me, but still). See you at the Slowdown in February. Tickets purchased all of 10 minutes ago.
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Oct 24, 2014 16:12
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'Let's call it love' just made me a fan.
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Oct 24, 2014 16:52
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Super excited! Buying tickets in 45 minutes when they go on sale for the Minneapolis show! EDIT: Sold out in less than 10 minutes. Wish I bought more tickets now Kaini Industries fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Oct 24, 2014 |
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Oct 24, 2014 17:14
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I got tickets for Chicago so I'm super happy.
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Oct 25, 2014 03:21
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skycake posted:'Let's call it love' just made me a fan. Kaini Industries posted:Super excited! Buying tickets in 45 minutes when they go on sale for the Minneapolis show!  They're still available for Omaha, Boise, SLC, and Pittsburgh. Get your loving tickets people. EDIT: I just learned that Corin and Peter Buck are in a band? I obviously love Corin, and I also love Peter Buck, so that's cool. Ghost of Reagan Past fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Oct 25, 2014 |
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Oct 25, 2014 04:57
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Well that was a hard fought battle, but I finally got a floor ticket in Boston after 15 minutes of refreshing ticket page.
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Oct 25, 2014 15:18
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Stating the obvious here but The Woods is a real noisey fucker of an album. Great stuff. Hopefully a Toronto show gets announced. Only got a chance to see these guys once, and that was opening for Pearl Jam. Great show, but an arena is not the ideal venue. They did come back on stage with Pearl Jam to sing a bunch of songs though.
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Oct 25, 2014 18:03
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DirtyCheeseburgers posted:Stating the obvious here but The Woods is a real noisey fucker of an album. Great stuff. no kidding, but i suppose 2005 was about the peak of the loud mixing 
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Oct 29, 2014 15:23
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Yeah but the compression there is coming from the sheer amount of distortion on everything (including the drums), not someone cranking a Waves limiter to get that consistent pop radio sheen
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Oct 29, 2014 19:31
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I always thought I'd got into the riot grrrl (and related bands) scene too late, and would never get to see any of my favourite bands play. Needlesss to say I'm thrilled that they will even be touring the UK, and the new song sounds promising. That's a really good write up of the albums - I've only ever listened to odd songs, so I might try listening to them in order sometime. I adore Corin's voice, seconding the recommendation to listen to her separate band (see: Neskowin).
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Oct 29, 2014 19:53
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ThePutty posted:no kidding, but i suppose 2005 was about the peak of the loud mixing "The Fox" is probably the best intro to an album. It's basically their mission statement: we're going to be loud, we're going to rock harder than you, and if you don't like it gently caress off. Greyish Orange posted:I adore Corin's voice, seconding the recommendation to listen to her separate band (see: Neskowin). Omaha is sold out now. EDIT: Here's "One More Hour." It's a fantastic breakup song, and it was actually the last song they've ever played live. Can't imagine what being in the building for that would've been like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VoWc3yypHs Ghost of Reagan Past fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Oct 29, 2014 |
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Oct 29, 2014 22:49
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Love SK. All their original records were on heavy rotation in my car for years. I also really love the album Sleater-Kinney recorded with the Go-Betweens: The Friends of Rachel Worth. It doesn't sound much like SK at all; but they're all over it and it's a beautiful record. I'm a grown-up but I still get giddy whenever I see Carrie or Corrin (or even Corrin's husband Lance) around town at concerts and comedy shows.
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Oct 30, 2014 01:35
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Hey cool a S-K thread! So I snagged a ticket to the Denver show, my buddy procrastinated and didn't get one. So if there's any goons in Denver going to S-K and don't mind a tag-along (who is a generally pretty decent guy and also good for a few rounds of drinks), shoot me a PM 
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Nov 24, 2014 21:37
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Great writeup, OP. The Woods is a goddamned masterpiece; my personal favorite album of that decade. Just got 2 tickets for the Riverside show!
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Nov 24, 2014 23:02
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I don't know if this was announced earlier, but I just saw it. Track listing!quote:Price Tag I hope they bring back the "Show Me Your Riffs" shirt on the tour, I've wanted one for well over a decade at this point. And I'm going to see if I can find my high school transcriptions of some S-K songs (mostly from "All Hands"...you know how you had to go out and buy CDs? one of my early CD purchases!) in all my old childhood things when I visit family next month, so I'm crossing my fingers. They probably weren't particularly accurate, but whatever, memories.
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Nov 25, 2014 06:40
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Ghost of Reagan Past posted:I don't know if this was announced earlier, but I just saw it. Track listing! Theres an NPR interview with the band here http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2014/11/20/365464686/sleater-kinney-2-0-the-band-talks-about-its-first-album-in-10-years which contains little snippets of two album tracks - "Surface Envy" at about 19 mins, and "No Cities to Love" at about 32 mins. The whole interview is a pretty good listen, and I really like the sound of the new tracks. Still remember being blown away by One Beat in about '06 and then buying everything they'd ever done not long after. I missed seeing them live the first time around, so I'm massively excited to see them at the Manchester show in March 
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Nov 25, 2014 15:26
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drat, January 20th can't come soon enough!
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Nov 25, 2014 16:57
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"Surface Envy" — https://soundcloud.com/sleater-kinney/surface-envy
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Dec 2, 2014 19:53
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This is a really, really good song. This is shaping up to be a really worthy follow-up to The Woods.
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Dec 3, 2014 02:55
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I like Bury Our Friends better but this is a solid tune as well. If it can even come close to The Woods, I'll be giddy with glee. (Yes, I know I need to change my avatar)
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Dec 3, 2014 06:51
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Sleater-Kinney is going to be on The Chris Gethard Show, a public access TV show that probably requires some kind of explanation that I'm too lazy to give at 11 PM EST tonight. You can watch it right here. It'll probably be good/funny/awkward/weird, or maybe a disaster in an interesting way. I think there is probably a better than even chance if you like Sleater-Kinney you'll like The Chris Gethard Show.
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Dec 3, 2014 18:22
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Bunch of April-May tour dates through the South into California and the Pacific NW were added. On sale tomorrow. http://www.sleater-kinney.com/
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Dec 9, 2014 16:07
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No Cities to Love leaked (thanks to Sub Pop, good job guys). It's really good. Also, have a live video from 1997, where Carrie tries to sell their 'new album,' Dig Me Out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZWW5ZsYpU EDIT: Also, I couldn't find my high school tabs, sorry 
Ghost of Reagan Past fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Jan 4, 2015 |
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Jan 4, 2015 03:40
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NPR stream. http://www.npr.org/2015/01/11/376085344/first-listen-sleater-kinney-no-cities-to-love
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Jan 12, 2015 07:06
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Right as I was getting into it, it was over. 32 mins is all? Gottdamn. Still might try and StubHub a ticket for Minneapolis though.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:36
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I saw that the opener for the tour from February 8 to March 2 (the first US leg), Lizzo, was announced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L28RmCK3bL4 Seems fun. ^burtle posted:Right as I was getting into it, it was over. 32 mins is all? Gottdamn.
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Jan 14, 2015 02:01
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Ghost of Reagan Past posted:NPR stream. Hrm. Very different. Their take on an AOR / Stadium Rock sound?
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Jan 14, 2015 04:00
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Ghost of Reagan Past posted:I saw that the opener for the tour from February 8 to March 2 (the first US leg), Lizzo, was announced. She opened for Har Mar Superstar at the Waiting Room in October 2013; it was a lot of fun. Odd choice but I'm all for it.
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Jan 14, 2015 15:01
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the new album is kind of like if you flipped the woods around and had it be pop with distortion instead of distortion with pop, so i think they managed to pull it off. i feel there's a lot of prog rock influences, bury our friends sounds like they were listening to jethro tull when they came up with the bassline
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Jan 15, 2015 06:50
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ThePutty posted:the new album is kind of like if you flipped the woods around and had it be pop with distortion instead of distortion with pop, so i think they managed to pull it off. i feel there's a lot of prog rock influences, bury our friends sounds like they were listening to jethro tull when they came up with the bassline Sleater-Kinney has no bass. The gypsies have no homes, and Sleater-Kinney has no bass. But don't let that frighten you, my man, let that liberate you. After all, what do you need a safety net for when you're high-flyin' with Sleater-Kinney? Viva Sleater-Kinney!
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Jan 17, 2015 01:33
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Happy Hippo posted:Sleater-Kinney has no bass. The gypsies have no homes, and Sleater-Kinney has no bass. But don't let that frighten you, my man, let that liberate you. After all, what do you need a safety net for when you're high-flyin' with Sleater-Kinney? Viva Sleater-Kinney! well, baritone guitar that's effectively a bassline. it does sound a lot more bassy on this album
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Jan 17, 2015 01:38
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ThePutty posted:well, baritone guitar that's effectively a bassline. it does sound a lot more bassy on this album They decided to fill out the low-end a lot more here, though. Listen to "New Wave", because seriously! That has an honest-to-god bassline. I think a lot of it was production decisions on their part to go with the guitar tones they picked out for this album, more than playing decisions or style (though again, "New Wave"). Someone with better ears and a desire to turn up their amps at night (and downtune...ugh) could probably explain it better EDIT: A great example! Here's them playing "Jumpers", and Corin is definitely playing the bassline, but that's just a Les Paul she's doing it on. No baritone action anywhere to be seen, at least live. The emphasis on the bass isn't really a big musical change, but probably more of a production choice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9H3d1vjsvQ Ghost of Reagan Past fucked around with this message at 07:33 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 17, 2015 07:09
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So Sub-Pop got me the No Cities LP early and I've run through it a couple of times. I feel like there's a lot of anticipation and righteous indie fervor at work here, but is the best thing they've ever done? i came into the SK camp after The Woods and one of the things I like about them most is that they've had such a satisfying "character arc" as a band. Dirty garage punk into pop-friendly musicality that lost none of the incisiveness or drive. Growing up on All Hands without petering out or becoming something else. I'm still not sure I know how good One Beat is, and then going bonkers in the best way with The Woods. Then ten years. Then No Cities. This record feels like everything above distilled into one of the most consistent and thrilling albums... ever? I love the relentless pace, the conciseness. The guitar sound that manages to not give a poo poo and still be perfectly focused. There's some really J Mascis-level riff work here, but never on a self-indulgent scale. Corin has only gotten better as a singer, somehow, perhaps not a surprise hearing her solo outfit. I get as much of a thrill hearing Carrie lead vocals. She's taken a hushed monotone made it into her own punk-pop dialect that drips confidence. Janet, who I'm convinced leapt fully formed, sticks in hand, from the head of Zeus after he ate a pile of metronomes, or something. No slow tracks, no filler. Most of side B gives me goosebumps. Like, I'm a shameless superfan and all that poo poo but goddamn. Just buy this poo poo if you haven't.
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Jan 17, 2015 19:20
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ThePutty posted:the new album is kind of like if you flipped the woods around and had it be pop with distortion instead of distortion with pop, so i think they managed to pull it off. i feel there's a lot of prog rock influences, bury our friends sounds like they were listening to jethro tull when they came up with the bassline Feels like the opposite to me, The Woods has a lot of pop songs like earlier albums, just turned up with more grit and bombast. I've only listened to this one once so far, but it sounds a lot more raw and angular - there's pop hooks in there for sure, but on top of something edgier and more punk. I was pretty surprised how different everyone's voices were! I know Carrie was doing something different with Wild Flag, but Corin's voice sounds a lot lower too. It's hard to pick out who's singing sometimes
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Jan 17, 2015 20:30
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Two more tracks here: http://www.stereogum.com/1730172/sleater-kinney-heavy-when-i-need-it/mp3s/ It's the two songs that appear on the Deluxe LP version of the album, which Sub Pop is telling me my copy won't be here until Saturday.  Seriously love this album though, and I'm incredibly excited to be able to see them in Boston in about a month.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:45
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Album owns, Surface Envy's hook Sleater-Kinney is back
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Jan 21, 2015 01:28
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Ghost of Reagan Past posted:Corin usually plays a standard tuned I think to C (the story, if I remember, was that she'd tuned her guitar to her voice, when she was in Heavens to Betsy, and when Carrie figured this out they just stuck with it) or a baritone tuned to A (I think? I don't know where I remember reading about the tuning. Last baritone I touched was in B so I'm guessing S-K downtunes even more?). The production seems to get a lot more of the low-end, but Corin doesn't play it like a bass. Usually, she plays the chords (or appropriate fragments...sometimes I think she quickly picks out a bassline of sorts, though) under Carrie's riffs, though sometimes she plays the riff (it sounds like she's playing the verse riff of "Bury Our Friends" which after some quick experimentation probably sounds right on a guitar in C, but it's sometimes VERY hard to tell with them). On "Surface Envy" you hear more of the 'classic' formula that you hear on albums like Dig Me Out. Compare "Turn it On" to "Little Babies" for some ways they fill out the low end with Corin's guitar. A lot of the time they rely on Janet to fill out the low-end, which is why you can hear a marked shift in how they sound from Call the Doctor to Dig Me Out. As far as I can figure out, the baritone is a studio-thing only, but god only knows since good live videos (or even audio recordings) are hard to find. They've said that they're tuning to C# for No Cities to Love, but some of their stuff sounds just fine in C as well (the Coachella version of "Let's Call it Love" sure sounds like it's in C, for example). You wouldn't necessarily need a baritone to tune to C as much as just proper intonation and heavy strings, but it isn't out of the ordinary to tune a baritone to C, either. Corin definitely had a Danelectro baritone for a long time. From The Woods on, it seems like they've really beefed up their pedal collections - some of the bass-like tones that Corin gets are from octave pedals (in fact, between Corin's suboctave riffs and Carrie's pitchshifted leads, "Price Tag" is a HOG/POG/Blue Box/PS-6/Bass Synth showcase).
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Jan 21, 2015 01:29
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had never really listened to sleater-kinney before "bury our friends" was released but good lord I've burned through "no cities to love" three times today and it keeps getting better. where do I go from here? listened to "dig me out" and loved it. i love "the fox" off "the woods" but i wasn't feeling the rest of the album as much
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Jan 21, 2015 03:15
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CRINDY posted:had never really listened to sleater-kinney before "bury our friends" was released but good lord I've burned through "no cities to love" three times today and it keeps getting better. where do I go from here? listened to "dig me out" and loved it. i love "the fox" off "the woods" but i wasn't feeling the rest of the album as much If you loved Dig Me Out, give The Hot Rock a spin next.
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Jan 21, 2015 04:38
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