Sleater-Kinney reunion

[neuartillery]

It took me a minute to remember who made Everything Now

[mystery meat]

they sacrificed janet for this album kinda wild to think about

[Jefferson Zeppelin]

Janet's injuries are quite gnarly. Get well soon!

[antoine]

Jesus

[neuartillery]

That looks like the leg of a cadaver

[struttin' evil mushroom]

man fuck

super glad she is recovering

[saranclaps]

this is really bad.

[saranclaps]

if they wanted to break aesthetic get grimes to produce.

might've still sucked but would've been interesting.

[saranclaps]

Anna Meredith maybe btter idea 4 producer

[Paul]

Holy shit I just wrote a lengthy post and the power went out right before I was about to hit submit. I guess I'll do this again.

I just finished listening to this on some good earbuds and felt compelled to share my thoughts on this album, something I'd normally stray from. I will never be the album review or even ranking guy.

For the record, I only got in the Sleater-Kinney ~5-6 years ago, I think someone uploaded The Woods vinyl rip here and my adoration for them snowballed from there. I went on iTunes and purchased every record and they skyrocketed in to one of my 5 favourite bands of all time with ease. I listened to Dig Me Out back in the mid 2000s during the indie explosion when I'd listen to every band posted about on a message board trying to convince myself they were all amazing. I didn't get it at the time, but maybe it was a bad starting point.
I also don't ever want to knock artists for skewing from their comfort zone, even with resistance from their fans. Artists are supposed to be eccentric and extraordinary, it's what evolves music and cinema and everything else. They're the ones who inspire us to push boundaries out in the world and of ourselves.

My summation is that this feels like a Carrie Brownstein solo album, and with her production could easily be swapped to feel like a new St Vincent album. Corin is essentially subjected to back up vocals until track 9 (!) in which she's finally featured prominently and then shows up one more time on track 11. This isn't the Corin we know though, this is a sedate Corin who just feels like she's along for the ride, not driving the locomotive that Sleater-Kinney always has been. There are two tracks that don't feel like they could be St Vincent songs, Restless and Broken, but they don't sound like Sleater-Kinny songs either, they're just nice tracks that offer up a little bit of balance.

I miss the counter choruses between Carrie and Corin, the ones Carrie even wrote about in her book (which I loved for the record) and made Sleater-Kinney so uinique and what they are. I miss them singing so abrasively over each other that it makes your average 9-5 top 100 radio listener ask "what the fuck are you listening to?" when walking by my desk one day. "Sleater-Kinney" I replied. "That lady needs to learn how to sing!" he replied before I turned it down just to end the conversation.

I miss Janet's drumming on nearly every track that made my eardrums feel like her snare while her drumsticks were inside my head turning my brain to mush.

I miss the guitars assaulting my senses, and the rhythm of them on Night Light pounding on my chest like a Paramedic trying to ressusitate me after Janet just ended my life.



I didn't hate this album, it just feels forgettable, something I'll maybe listen to once or twice and then move on from completely. No Cities to Love was different, but still retained enough of what they're known for to have me come back to once or twice a year. Sorry, this was long.

[struttin' evil mushroom]

I don't think I'd miss any of it if they just wrote good songs for the new record.

Unfortunately they did not.

[Paul]

Well that's a valid point as well

[Swelling Itching Brain]

Good post Paul
Both the assessment of the new one and why their previous work is so fantastic

[quilty]

i'm listening to no cities to love in preparation for this

it's okay. the dancey quality i'm picking up on isn't convincing to me. i guess the fact that it took me this long to re-listen is kind of a judgement in itself

oh well. this band used to be great!

[Smiling Penner-Lite]

I don't think I'd miss any of it if they just wrote good songs for the new record.

Unfortunately they did not.

I do wonder how often this drives bands changing their sound. The well is dry. Let's mess around a bit and see if we can come up with something.

[black mamba]

so i listened to this and you guys made it sound like it was all techno beats or something but it's just like professionally produced rock music. what's the big deal tbh?

[bobble]

It's pretty good, S-K has just set a really high bar.

I may have calmed down enough to enjoy the tour!

Did anyone read this review on stereogum?

https://www.stereogum.com/2057329/sleater-kinney-new-drummer-concert-review/franchises/sounding-board/

We'll see!!

[loaf angel]

very humble beginnings for their new drummer. Angie is a mutual friend, happy for her!

unfortunately not close enough to ask for guest list or anything

[light rail coyote]

a few songs on this have grown on me but overall I'm not hugely into it. the title track could've been incredible with better production, and "can't go on" has really grown on me quite a bit.

so actually it's just two songs

[lostintheair]

00:12 The Center Won't Hold
3:17 Hurry On Home
6:18 Price Tag
10:20 The Future Is Here
13:35 Jumpers
17:48 Reach Out
21:20 Bury Our Friends
24:44 Ruins
30:49 What's Mine Is Yours
37:32 Ironclad
40:02 One More Hour
43:15 Bad Dance
46:15 The Fox
49:24 Love
51:56 Can I Go On
55:11 A New Wave
58:50 Animal
1:0132 The Dog/The Body
1:05:08 Entertain
FIRST ENCORE:
1:11:28 Broken
1:14:57 Oh!
1:18:50 Words and Guitar
1:21:57 Modern Girl
SECOND ENCORE:
1:26:19 Step Aside
1:29:48 Dig Me Out

[smartphone]

that crowd is dead

[gauchebag]

setlist actually looks pretty good..Ironclad, Dig me out, words and guitar. still don't care enough to see them.

[Julius Sumner Miller]

“The rules changed within the band, and they told me the rules changed,” she explained. “I said, ‘Am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘Can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left.”

https://pitchfork.com/news/janet-weiss-opens-up-about-leaving-sleater-kinney/

[Jefferson Zeppelin]

that crowd is dead

to be fair, crowd was dead on the No Cities tour too

[Paul]

I think that's your average rock concert crowd these days.

[lunatic96]

I saw them when they were in San Diego and I thought they were still quite good live. Can I Go On actually sounded pretty good live.

[Swelling Itching Brain]

“The rules changed within the band, and they told me the rules changed,” she explained. “I said, ‘Am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘Can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left.”

https://pitchfork.com/news/janet-weiss-opens-up-about-leaving-sleater-kinney/

to be fair the full text seems pretty ... i dunno, adult, in a adult relationships/family relationships are hard way
like sometimes people have different wants and shit sucks as a result

Janet Weiss has given her first interview since her departure from Sleater-Kinney in July, as Rolling Stone notes. In an interview with drummer Joe Wong for his podcast, The Trap Set With Joe Wong, Weiss discussed her role on Sleater-Kinney’s latest album, The Center Won’t Hold, which was produced by St. Vincent. “The rules changed within the band, and they told me the rules changed,” she explained. “I said, ‘Am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘Can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left.”

“I thought about it a lot,” Weiss continued, noting that the band went through counseling prior to her departure. “I mean, I will never play with two people like that again. They are totally unique, incredible, intuitive players. It’s a lot to walk away from. It’s my sisters, my family. But I couldn’t be in that band and have it not be equal, especially with what it represents to me. It represents equality.… How can we be fighting for equality and not have it in our band? It just became a disconnect.”

Weiss went on to discuss her relationship with bandmates Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. “They’re not evil people,” she said. “I just think the two of them are so connected and they really agree on almost everything, they just thought, ‘We’re gonna take this band somewhere and we want to be in charge of that, the two of us.’ I think I was a threat to where they wanted the band to go, and who I am, and that felt bad to me.”

Weiss added, “They had very specific ideas of what they wanted, and I just didn’t fit anymore. We couldn’t get on the same page. It was really hard, it was not something I took lightly at all…. But I love them and they seem happy. They’re doing the thing the way they want to do it. It doesn’t have to be the three of us; it could be this pure thing with the two of them.”

Weiss then discussed her decision to not take part in the tour behind The Center Won’t Hold: “The new record was made sort of without me and it would have been challenging to get up there on stage and deliver those songs like they were mine, when they weren’t mine at all,” she explained. “It just got real lonely for me.” Listen to the full interview here.

Following Weiss’ departure, Carrie Brownstein shared a statement on Instagram: “What am I supposed to say? She left. We asked her to stay. We tried. It’s hard and sad.” She also wrote, “Her playing on this record is amazing and she’s raved about this album to us and to Annie [Clark]. But we have to keep looking to the future.” On their current tour, Sleater-Kinney enlisted touring drummer Angie Boylan, a member of Aye Nako and Freezing Cold.

[notblues]

i mean c'mon

[notblues]

i always imagined that would be like the hardest song to sing ever

[delgriffith]

“The rules changed within the band, and they told me the rules changed,” she explained. “I said, ‘Am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘Can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left.”

https://pitchfork.com/news/janet-weiss-opens-up-about-leaving-sleater-kinney/

to be fair the full text seems pretty ... i dunno, adult, in a adult relationships/family relationships are hard way
like sometimes people have different wants and shit sucks as a result

Janet Weiss has given her first interview since her departure from Sleater-Kinney in July, as Rolling Stone notes. In an interview with drummer Joe Wong for his podcast, The Trap Set With Joe Wong, Weiss discussed her role on Sleater-Kinney’s latest album, The Center Won’t Hold, which was produced by St. Vincent. “The rules changed within the band, and they told me the rules changed,” she explained. “I said, ‘Am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘Can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left.”

“I thought about it a lot,” Weiss continued, noting that the band went through counseling prior to her departure. “I mean, I will never play with two people like that again. They are totally unique, incredible, intuitive players. It’s a lot to walk away from. It’s my sisters, my family. But I couldn’t be in that band and have it not be equal, especially with what it represents to me. It represents equality.… How can we be fighting for equality and not have it in our band? It just became a disconnect.”

Weiss went on to discuss her relationship with bandmates Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. “They’re not evil people,” she said. “I just think the two of them are so connected and they really agree on almost everything, they just thought, ‘We’re gonna take this band somewhere and we want to be in charge of that, the two of us.’ I think I was a threat to where they wanted the band to go, and who I am, and that felt bad to me.”

Weiss added, “They had very specific ideas of what they wanted, and I just didn’t fit anymore. We couldn’t get on the same page. It was really hard, it was not something I took lightly at all…. But I love them and they seem happy. They’re doing the thing the way they want to do it. It doesn’t have to be the three of us; it could be this pure thing with the two of them.”

Weiss then discussed her decision to not take part in the tour behind The Center Won’t Hold: “The new record was made sort of without me and it would have been challenging to get up there on stage and deliver those songs like they were mine, when they weren’t mine at all,” she explained. “It just got real lonely for me.” Listen to the full interview here.

Following Weiss’ departure, Carrie Brownstein shared a statement on Instagram: “What am I supposed to say? She left. We asked her to stay. We tried. It’s hard and sad.” She also wrote, “Her playing on this record is amazing and she’s raved about this album to us and to Annie [Clark]. But we have to keep looking to the future.” On their current tour, Sleater-Kinney enlisted touring drummer Angie Boylan, a member of Aye Nako and Freezing Cold.

Yeah, I wanna listen to the full interview. The whole thing makes me sad though.

Side note but I think Janet was the location scout/had some involvement in Kelly Reichardt's new movie. 90 percent sure I saw her name in the credits (along with Stephen Malkmus' contribution on the fiddle)