Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

An 11 year stint as one of the most influential and important bands in the post-grunge era should have introduced you to Sleater-Kinney by now, as the femme-trio has released 7 critically-acclaimed records on three highly-respected independent labels. The Woods is their Sub Pop debut, and with the help of Dave Fridmann’s production, the group has discovered some power that was missing, at least in this way, from their other work. This album is rougher and heavier, but everything about the band that’s pulled in fans over the past decade is still intact. Pulling on classic rock influences and more experimentalism, The Woods is a showcase of ten, and it would be an understatement to say that Fridmann played an important role in the album’s birth. You may know him for his work with the last couple of Flaming Lips records, and he’s done as much for Sleater-Kinney as he’s done for anyone else. Not that they needed it, of course, but help never hurts. Every song is powerful and dense, as guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker take turns on the mic. Tucker’s tremendous vocal abilities often take center stage, especially on opener “The Fox” and “Jumpers,” two of the record’s finer offerings. The guitar interplay is more muscular than ever before, the songwriting is more finely-tuned, the lyrics, as good as ever. “Modern Girl” takes the cake as my favorite, as Brownstein belts out the vocals before drummer Janet Weiss lends some harmonica skills. “Entertain” is an assault on technology and television; “Let’s Call it Love” is about a relationship set to the stage of a boxing arena, with an 11 minute round. Whether you’re new to Sleater-Kinney or you’ve been a devoted fan over the past decade, The Woods is one of the strongest records of 2005, hands down. [www.subpop.com]