sleater-kinney

Certain Songs #2248: Sleater-Kinney – “No Cities To Love”

December 19, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: No Cities To Love
Year: 2015

. . .

Of course, just because Sleater-Kinney broke up doesn’t mean that the individual members dropped out of the world. Janet Weiss joined Stephen Malkmus’ band The Jicks, and played on a couple of their albums in the 2000s, Corin Tucker put out a couple of solo albums, and of course Carrie Brownstein re-teamed with Weiss in the one-off Wild Flag project, and almost immediately afterwards became an indie TV star.

That was, of course, in the show Portlandia, which she co-created with former SNL cast member, Fred Armisen, and ran for 77 episodes over eight seasons on IFC, and far more people saw her in it than ever bought a single Sleater-Kinney album. For my part, while I only watched the first couple of seasons, I remember her as a low-key, reliably funny presence, especially against Armisen’s ongoing over-the-topness.

Certain Songs #2247: Sleater-Kinney – “Modern Girl”

December 18, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Woods
Year: 2005

. . .

Coming a whopping three full years after One Beat, Sleater-Kinney’s 2005 album, The Woods reflected the inevitable slowing down that happens with any band as it enters its second decade and making music becomes not the only passion, but one of many.

However, “slowing down” doesn’t always mean retreating to your past, and The Woods was probably the most experimental Sleater-Kinney album to date, as they tried out blown-up song structures (“What’s Mine is Yours”), 11-minute big rock extravaganzas (“Let’s Call It Love”), and straightforward indie (“Jumpers.”)

Certain Songs #2246: Sleater-Kinney – “Combat Rock”

December 17, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: One Beat
Year: 2002

…

To the extent that I have a favorite Sleater-Kinney album, it’s 2002’s One Beat, which features big guitar and voice songs like “Oh,” “Step Aside” and “O2.” One Beat has always been framed as an album that was their response to the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Or, more accurately, their response to our country’s response. Twenty years later, it’s hard to overestimate just how fucked up both 9/11 and the way we instantly went into bloodthirsty, jingoist mode really were. Fuck this century.

Certain Songs #2245: Sleater-Kinney – “You’re No Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun”

December 16, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: All Hands on the Bad One
Year: 2000

As a follow-up the more complex songs on The Hot Rock, Sleater-Kinney celebrated the new millennium by getting back to basics with All Hands on the Bad One, the lead single of which was easily my favorite Sleater-Kinney song up to that point.

And why not? “You’re No Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun” is exactly the opposite of its title, a sunny blast of everything that makes rock ‘n’ roll the funnest thing in the world to me.

Certain Songs #2244: Sleater-Kinney – “Start Together”

December 15, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Hot Rock
Year: 1999

. . .

One of the things I haven’t really discussed is just how totally unique Sleater-Kinney actually were. Sure there were historical precedents for bits and pieces of them: the Doors didn’t have a bassist (though they did in the studio), Led Zeppelin had a drummer who flowed in the songs; the Go-Gos & Bangles were all-female bands; Television had a twin guitar tangle; R.E.M. had vocals smooshed into vocals and X had front people who were ex-lovers.

And Sleater-Kinney sounded like exactly none of these precedents. They were sui generis from the start, and only got more so after Janet Weiss joined the band.

Certain Songs #2243: Sleater-Kinney – “Little Babies”

December 14, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Dig Me Out
Year: 1997

. . .

If the sound of Sleater-Kinney has always been a never-ending conversation between the guitars and voices of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, then the drumming of Janet Weiss was an ongoing commentary, if not a moderation, of that conversation. Weiss joined for the recording of their third album, 1997’s Dig Me Out, and the impact of her endlessly inventive drumming was instant: somehow she found the spaces in between the guitars and voices, and her drum parts both exacerbated and released the tensions in the songs.

Certain Songs #2242: Sleater-Kinney – “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone”

December 13, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Call The Doctor
Year: 1996

. . .

Call The Doctor was where I first heard about Sleater-Kinney, as their self-titled debut didn’t quite hit my radar. Recorded in five days because their drummer was going back to Australia. Call The Doctor was where they began to hone their attack: a never ending conversation between the guitars and voices of Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker.

Medialoper Bebop Episode 26: Washing Your Mouth Out With SOPA

December 20, 2011 by Jim Connelly

The week, Kirk, Jim & Tim take a look at the Stop Online Piracy Act, and how its destroy-the-net-to-save-it approach towards internet piracy (or “piracy,”) threatens pretty much the entire internet as we know it.

Thank the gods that the United States House of Representatives is on the case!! (05:19 – 13:29)

Meanwhile, Louis CK (whose name I inexplicably mispronounce) shows exactly how stupid the screams of “piracy is killing our business” are by releasing a DRM-free, consumer-friendly concert. (13:31 – 24:22)

Then, it’s my latest Barry Bonds theory: he’s the Gaius Baltar of MLB! (24:23 – 27:06)

Finally, what’s in my mix? Real Estate, Wild Flag and a great single by Yuck. (27:07 – 30:36)

All that, and pot-smoking raccoons!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:43 — 55.9MB)

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Why Pitchfork Scares Adults

August 29, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

We talk a lot about the decline of reviewers at mainstream publications. We have a lot of thoughts on the matter. Luckily, we have lots of server space, thus room for one more.

What is truly missing in today’s review world is passion. Good, old-fashioned, “I loved this so much I had to tell you about it” passion. There is a whiff of the academic in the work of many reviewers. Great, if you’re trying to write your master’s thesis, not so great if you’re trying to inspire your readers.

Let us take this lead from the Los Angeles Times’ review of the final Sleater-Kinney show: