I like it, it's obviously not the greatest-ever SK album, but it's a good SK album in 2019, which I'm glad to have. What Annie Clark does for them, productionwise, reminds me most immediately of what Flood did for PJ Harvey -- provides a new sonic landscape for songs and ideas that still basically sound like Sleater-Kinney songs and ideas, but also the landscape itself helps shape the songs in ways that they wouldn't have found without it.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 16 August 2019 17:48 (four years ago) link
Having a *Name That Tune* fail on the beginning on the chorus in "Can I Go On." Wish I could put my finger on the song that reminds me of.
― timellison, Friday, 16 August 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link
It's a better album than NCTL, which, for obvious reasons, played it safe.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 August 2019 18:40 (four years ago) link
It was probably a good idea to have a producer inject some creative decisions this time. A friend of mine did NCTL and he’s a great engineer and a great guy but he’d never dream of doing that with this band (and I’m sure they didn’t ask), which I’m sure is why that album sounds safe.
― akm, Friday, 16 August 2019 19:21 (four years ago) link
― timellison, Friday, August 16, 2019 2:06 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
Hmm I don't know and this is unrelated but my first impression of that song is that overall the tempo is just a little too slow?
― Evan, Friday, 16 August 2019 19:43 (four years ago) link
Bad Dance intro sounds like Passtime Paradise.
― ☮ (peace, man), Friday, 16 August 2019 20:14 (four years ago) link
Carrie sounds like she's singing "Bat Dance" on "Bad Dance."
First impression is that it's... fine. Don't really care about any of the songs until "RUINS," then there are a couple of good ones. It's not bad just mostly who cares - way more than the supposed St. Vincent influence (I only hear that on "Can I Go On") it sounds like an album where the two songwriters weren't in the same room while they wrote. Corin sounds fantastic on the songs where she takes the lead like "The Future Is Here."
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Saturday, 17 August 2019 02:19 (four years ago) link
haven't heard the album yet, heard "LOVE" on the radio today, before the singing came in I got a Sprockets flashback
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 17 August 2019 02:21 (four years ago) link
Sprockets then into B-52s, it's awesome
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Saturday, 17 August 2019 02:27 (four years ago) link
way more than the supposed St. Vincent influence (I only hear that on "Can I Go On") it sounds like an album where the two songwriters weren't in the same room while they wrote.
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Friday, August 16, 2019 10:19 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
according to interviews this is in fact the cse
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Saturday, 17 August 2019 02:55 (four years ago) link
It's just an ok effort, kinda uneven (some good moments)
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 17 August 2019 17:55 (four years ago) link
I love most of it -- their best since One Beat.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 August 2019 17:56 (four years ago) link
I also like this a lot. My appreciation also extends to the fact that they could easily have coasted with another NCTL type effort (I like that album but it is exactly what you’d expect from their comeback but Alfred otm in that it was understandable). They obviously aren’t fools, they remember some reactions to The Woods, they know any shift away from their expected sound would be met with some pushback. I admire the exploration.
― omar little, Saturday, 17 August 2019 18:41 (four years ago) link
Ooooof, Janet posted a note on Twitter with a gnarly photo of her post-crash leg.
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Sunday, 18 August 2019 01:02 (four years ago) link
Back to basics on the next one 4 sure
― calstars, Sunday, 18 August 2019 01:45 (four years ago) link
It's a better record than the shaky Fallon performance and advance tracks advertised. And it's much more interesting than just another wheelhouse-type record
The experimentation, when it works (RUINS), is good - other times it is trainwrecky - a couple Brownstein vocals (Hurry... and Can I Go On) are just tics upon tics
ditto some of the cutesy Basement Jaxx-ish bells and whistles - sometimes show-offy in a bad way
Tucker only rarely pulls out her big vocals - her lack of polish and vulnerability is especially marked given what we know she can do
Restless, Ruins, The Dog/The Body, Broken are pretty great
― Freeze Instr., Sunday, 18 August 2019 02:38 (four years ago) link
Ruins channels some remain in light sh1t
― calstars, Sunday, 18 August 2019 03:07 (four years ago) link
I've tried it twice now and can't vibe with this shit at all. The problem (for me) isn't just that it's a shift away from the S-K formula, but that it's an out of date shift. I'd have eaten these songs up ca. 2007-08, but now I couldn't give less of a fuck about anything that sounds like this...from any band.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 18 August 2019 05:50 (four years ago) link
S-K has a formula?
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 18 August 2019 11:14 (four years ago) link
See: all the albums except this one and The Woods.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 18 August 2019 15:38 (four years ago) link
wow like to don't hear an evolution from the first album to the hot rock?
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 18 August 2019 16:10 (four years ago) link
I said formula, not carbon copies.
They certainly stretched the edges the deeper they got in their career, but this one and The Woods are outliers. C'mon, don't be cheeky.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 18 August 2019 16:44 (four years ago) link
Hot Rock almost as much of an outlier imo!
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 August 2019 21:04 (four years ago) link
i think of hot rock as kind of an inlier
― j., Sunday, 18 August 2019 21:07 (four years ago) link
but Hot Rock is still a guitar record (and their best)
― flappy bird, Sunday, 18 August 2019 22:11 (four years ago) link
And the idea that Sleater-Kinney had a formula!
(Kisses, Johnny)
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 18 August 2019 22:29 (four years ago) link
Hot Rock let me down at the time, but loved One Beat and The Woods. Not sure I've ever given HR a fair return listen.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 18 August 2019 23:00 (four years ago) link
What do I know? My favorite S-K album is AHOTBO, which everyone seemed to hate then and also now. One Beat was a big disappointment and then The Woods was a big dud.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 18 August 2019 23:11 (four years ago) link
i agree about that, the disappointment. probably in the long run i suppose i most preferred hot rock, although there's no preference for that that can do without the highs of dig me out / call the doctor
― j., Sunday, 18 August 2019 23:42 (four years ago) link
Call The Doctor thru AHOTBO is band's sweet spot.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 19 August 2019 00:02 (four years ago) link
I super love Ballad Lady Man on AHOTBO and just referred someone to You're No RnR Fun for something poppier to start with.
― Yerac, Monday, 19 August 2019 00:26 (four years ago) link
I think Hot Rock/All Hands is the peakAll Hands is probably my fav, I know lots of ppl who love it, I didn't know people didn't like it
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 19 August 2019 00:27 (four years ago) link
Ugh, The Bsllad of a LadyMan. I feel obligated to correct this somehow.
― Yerac, Monday, 19 August 2019 00:27 (four years ago) link
or Hot Rock is the best, I go back n forth
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 19 August 2019 00:28 (four years ago) link
I think Call the Doctor, Dig Me Out and The Hot Rock came out during an optimal time period for indie. Once the century turned over, it was fast churning over.
― Yerac, Monday, 19 August 2019 00:30 (four years ago) link
I am listening to Ballad of a Ladyman and those lyrics. Ugh. so good.
― Yerac, Monday, 19 August 2019 00:32 (four years ago) link
Huh, I forgot All Hands existed, not because I didn't like it because I only listen to this band so often, and when I do I usually go Dig Me Out or One Beat. Dunno when or if I'll listen to the new one, but I like your collective enthusiasm.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 01:01 (four years ago) link
Like I said, I love the album. I relished how well they wrote about their bodies, and the arrangements reflect this development.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 01:04 (four years ago) link
after two listens i'm with JF, it never lets you forget that it's been *produced*
― call all destroyer, Monday, 19 August 2019 01:08 (four years ago) link
It's not even that. It would've sounded great to me in... 2007, where it lives.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 19 August 2019 01:29 (four years ago) link
as that era of indie rockers matures it makes sense to expect that a lot of them would start to lag the times, wouldn't it? like 70s rockers who release albums in the 80s that affected 5+years dated sounds maybe
― j., Monday, 19 August 2019 01:37 (four years ago) link
Yep.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 19 August 2019 01:38 (four years ago) link
I love AHOTBO and One Beat - from Call the Doctor through One Beat I don't think there's a peak, they're all great and pretty different.
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Monday, 19 August 2019 03:19 (four years ago) link
I've always said the closest point of comparison may be Fugazi. All the albums are very different, but it's not a linear evolution so much as an ... expansion?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 03:32 (four years ago) link
finally listening to the new one for the first time and...it's really not that huge a departure? it's certainly still primarily guitar-driven!
― Simon H., Monday, 19 August 2019 06:55 (four years ago) link
And generally speaking the synths tend to be doing guitar-like things.
― Simon H., Monday, 19 August 2019 06:58 (four years ago) link
yes, otm
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 11:03 (four years ago) link
agreed
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 19 August 2019 11:04 (four years ago) link
Here's a review that gets it wrong.
But on the new album, the guitars are constrained, ceding space to keyboards and electronic beats; often, they’re content to repeat neatly deployed hooks. Instead of tense, fluctuating human friction, there’s layered pop architecture.
Bullshit. Flesh and blood vs machines, inspiration vs craft. I thought Pareles was too wise for these binaries.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 15:25 (four years ago) link
breihan struggling with a record is a pretty sure sign i'll like it and think he's a wiener, reliable as the sunrise
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, August 15, 2019 1:24 PM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink
i like the record, and i think it's funny that the one song Breihan singled out as "the one true miracle" (LOVE) is probably my least favorite song on first pass
― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 19:02 (four years ago) link