Album Review: Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (2005)
Track Listing:
1. The Fox
2. Wilderness
3. What's Mine Is Yours
4. Jumpers
5. Modern Girl
6. Entertain
7. Rollercoaster
8. Steep Air
9. Let's Call It Love
10. Night Light
Weren't Sleater-Kinney supposed to be an indie band? Well, I think they started out that way, but then roughly five years into their career, they released All Hands On The Bad One and became the perfect punky poppy band. Five years after that, here comes The Woods, an even more insane departure that transforms S-K into some sort of death metal 'n grunge meets the Jimi Hendrix Experience garage band. In the process, they somehow managed to make the rest of their catalogue seem like an afterthought.
Although, to be fair, The Woods might actually alienate many existing S-K fans with it's (balls to the) wall of sound and psychotic seizures of feedback. At the same time, the Spinal Tappers out there that this record might appeal to are going to be automatically put off by the band's previous output or perhaps the Sub-Pop record label alone. Apparently, the band could not give a flying fuck about either circumstance. They've made the album they wanted to make, catchy singles and potential record sales be damned.
Of course, it takes that sort of rebellious attitude to create rebellious music, and The Woods is the rebel's tour de force. Whether it's a pulse-pounding militant call to arms ("If your art is done/Johnny get you gun/Join the rank and file/On your TV dial.) on "Entertain" or the so-sickly-sweet-it's-absurd sarcasm ("My baby loves me. I'm so angry. Anger makes me a modern girl.") on "Modern Girl", you get the feeling these ladies are a little ticked off at the state of affairs in the world today. The album is so loud, obnoxious, and anti-establishment... it's begging 15 year olds everywhere to BLARE it from their speakers just to piss their parents off.... and more power to 'em I say!
It's absolutely incredible how a three-piece can sound so powerful behind their instruments. Obviously, producer Dave Fridmann has helped them out a wee bit by supplying an '11' on all the amplifiers. The soundscape is so rough and raw you may as well call this album a long-lost relative of St. Anger. However, the lion's share of the credit should be given to the players themselves. Try - TRY to listen to that self-indulgent instrumental break in "What's Yours Is Mine" without throwing the devil horns up in the air. While Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker attempt to blow their amps with wailing guitars and teeth grinding feedback, Janet Weiss comes in with these drums that THUD! like freaking Godzilla stomping his way to town... it's one of the many examples of the mind-blowing, ass-kicking punishment (pleasure) that The Woods dishes out.
Let's not forgot about the ELEVEN MINUTE "Let's Call It Love", which is basically one long jam session that puts the most experimental Zeppelin and Sabbath material to shame, and makes "Brighton Rock" sound like geezer music. This segues masterfully into the closer, "Night Light", which by song title alone, might indicate the band is letting up on the gas a little to end things on a cooler note. Of course, that's all moot anyway, because S-K have officially burned through the atmosphere and destroyed everything with a strike to the planet's core with the previous nine tracks. Seriously... as a lifelong headbanger, it brings a genuine fucking tear to my eye to listen to a record this immersed in the pure, unadulterated RAWK. It is simply impossible for another band to top The Woods in terms of air guitar playing brilliance...
They even manage to bust out the cowbell for "Rollercoaster". THE COWBELL! You can't get anymore late 70's than that! Brothers and sisters, look no further... THIS is the Holy Grail of rock 'n FN roll. Mighty Odin, I think I'm gonna faint...
10/10
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