Sleater-Kinney breaks up

"kinda refreshing to see a reunited band book a bunch of the same-sized venues they were playing before instead of going straight for the festival payday"

well, they're pretty clearly playing Coachella (over that Boise fest I'm assuming) and, probably, Sasquatch (after some NW shows, perhaps) and maybe others to follow. and Terminal 5 is bigger than any NYC club I remember them playing.

and good for them. is there a reason the best (rock) band in the world (or US, among their age cohort, whatever) shouldn't get paid accordingly?

LOL @ Lefsetz. That he has no idea who SK is says it all about him.

Oh, and this is great and all obv, but what ever happened to that Carrie/Peter Buck/Scott McCaughey PNW supergroup? That would rule.

i'm not begrudging the festival payday at all. but it seems like there have been a lot of groups reuniting/returning from hiatus the last few years who do only festivals, or do a bunch of festivals before any club/theater gigs, and it always seemed like such a clear decision to prioritize profit over giving the diehard fans the headlining sets they've been waiting X years for.

More like only festivals can dangle the cash it takes to get these bands to reunite. Does piss me off when the only way to see the Replacements or Outkast or whomever is to pay for a festival ticket. It's sort of like being made to buy a crappy burger to get the awesome fries.

The last place S-K played here, after they announced the end of was nigh, was Lollapalooza, fwiw.

There's also the fact that they're putting out a new record before the tour which feels more admirable than coasting totally on nostalgia

I only ever saw them as an opener for Pearl Jam, but they got pretty close to a full-hour set iirc.

Saw them four times, once opening for PJ in April 2003, which did not go over well with the crowd. The open air amphitheater acoustics were hell on their dynamic too.

Not even one Canadian date. Sigh.

They've already said more dates are coming. This is just the first leg.

Glasgow tickets bought. Saw them at Leeds Festival after 'The Woods' came out and thought they were great, much more powerful than I'd expected based on the records (pre-'The Woods'). Hadn't expected the way they played off each other, they were tight but the songs didn't feel rigid.

Yeah they were a fantastic live band, and I expect they will be again.

Just got tickets for Glasgow. Saw them myself just post-The Woods at Oran Mor and they were fucking amazing. So psyched to see them again.

Xgau on box & group's appeal, pretty apt:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6289241/sleater-kinney-material-girls

I posted it upthread. It's def worth a read.

Janet's one of the best live drummers I've seen.

It's a sad day when there's an it's/its mistake in a Christgau column. Not his fault, I'm sure, but still.

Finally listening to the new song. Rocked. Very One Beat but the Zep-ness of the front riff and general fullness of the sound is very Woods. Totally stoked, I'll buy this album.

thread title should be changed to Sleater-Kinney un-breaks up

I like S-K fine but their records sound like shit, especially the last one. Brick-walled to hell.

yeah the Woods sounds like ass

It's weird, because it's *supposed* to sound like that, you know? Most of the things I think sound terrible probably were put out by people who wished they sounded different than they do. (I actually kind of like the in-the-red-ness of The Woods).

Anyway - tickets now bought for the London show!

Distorted, "it's totally in my face!"-production is one thing; brickwalled mastering is quite another. They could have still achieved the former without it being ruined by the latter.

yeah i don't doubt it's purposeful (the mastering), i mean i'm sure they used a pro and i'm sure he knew it was slammed to hell

i brickwalled a mastering job in one of my bands once, and it's kind of initially "exciting" and makes other approaches seem staid, then the guy advised that we live with it for a couple weeks and we realized it was completely tiring

that guy's a prize. re daft punk:

I guess that one observation about this song "Be Lucky", is that it does sound somewhat "derivative" of The Who's earlier material.
~ HOWEVER -, other than that minor shortcoming -, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this song from the opening chords ! It's music and lyrics are "catchy". The music has lots of "pop" "energy". Simply put -, it "KICKS ASS" !
~ Every-now-and-then it will occur to me, "I wonder what it would sound like if we had musicians who would capitalize on the marvelous digital-recording capabilities of the modern era -, and yet STILL make INSPIRING Rock music, like bands did during the 1970s ?" Well -, HERE IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE !!
~ TO THINK -, that a couple of guys around the age of SEVENTY -, that were the "stars" of the ORIGINAL Woodstock Festival -, can "put to shame" 90% of the other Rock that gets made these days. There again, I'm not sure if that is so-much a compliment to The Who, or just a sad commentary the state of contemporary Rock music. ... what meager "real Rock" that gets made these days, anyway.

fyi he's talking about a new Who song called "Be Lucky," not Daft Punk

I despise Lefsetz and everything he represents.

But I like that Who song, and I kind of hope S-K opens some shows on the Who tour (and I'm fully aware that I may be the only person hoping for this, aside from Carrie Brownstein).

yeah i don't doubt it's purposeful (the mastering), i mean i'm sure they used a pro and i'm sure he knew it was slammed to hell

i brickwalled a mastering job in one of my bands once, and it's kind of initially "exciting" and makes other approaches seem staid, then the guy advised that we live with it for a couple weeks and we realized it was completely tiring

― u2 removal machine (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, October 24, 2014 10:27 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've always found "The Fox" to be notably a bit tiring production-wise but the rest of the record didn't bother me quite as much in this way.

xxp lol yeah I meant to say re: the who, crossed my signals when typing bc of the daft punk headline

Re mastering and re-mastering, Xgau compares in the piece linked upthread, likes the changes.

damn is the terminal 5 show sold out through presale? went on ticketmaster at noon sharp and no dice so far

fuck a presale for real tho

No 10s in that PFM reappraisal?

Got tickets for Philly. Excited to not have to deal with T5.

fuck it on a whim i just got tickets

Finally got tickets, think it sold out in 15 minutes this time.

no tickets :(

I'm sure people overbought- I'm sure someone will be trying to get rid of a few in the meantime.

No California dates. :(

They promised to add dates! Did that already happen?

Obvious Coachella (and more, very likely) is obvious

No Southern dates at all, although that doesn't rule out a second leg built around Bonaroo or ACL fest later this year.

I mean, later NEXT year.

http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/three-hard-way-return-sleater-kinney

stopped reading at

As in Susan Sontag’s appalling statement, before anyone had claimed responsibility, that 9/11 was the result of “specific American alliances and actions” (none specific enough for Sontag to actually mention),

As did I.

Be glad you both missed the next sentence, then.

omg

have never been able to shake the feeling that this band was strictly for people who missed the first wave of riot grrl bands

Be glad you both missed the next sentence, then.

― Οὖτις Δαυ & τηε Κνιγητσ (Phil D.), Wednesday, November 12, 2014 3:47 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just read it. Holy shit. Fuck that fucking guy.

yeah editor should have flagged that as totally unnecessary

lol sorry guys, i posted that before reading beyond the first few paragraphs

also failed to notice the byline which should have alerted me that what initially appeared to be a pleasant celebration of a band i like would inevitably devolve into random toxic potshots from a notorious crank