This is not me jumping on a post-Portlandia bandwagon in any shape or form. It's probably "well-known" amongst friends that I was never really a fan of Sleater-Kinney. I'm not sure if it's due to a bitter divorce from a particular Newbury Comics store I used to work at and some of the people I worked with - where this band's albums were played incessantly and non-stop - that really just put me off them. Maybe in a different setting I would've like them. I tried when their last album, 2005's The Woods came out, the second LP they released after my retail divorce, but although I respected them more (I always did respect how unique they were), it didn't click with me at all. Then I never heard them again. But I became acquainted with their world more. I finally got myself to the beautiful Pacific Northwest and spent a fair amount of time in the gorgeous city of Portland. Then yes there is Portlandia, where even though she is playing characters in every minute of the show, you still get to figure out a bit of one's personality, and here it was Sleater-Kinney's guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein, who co-stars, co-writes and co-created the show with the brilliant Fred Armisen. THEN, Carrie put a new band together with one of my favorite musicians, Mary Timony, called Wild Flag, and their self-titled album from only a few years ago blew me away. So, really, it's only fair to check out the new one from Sleater-Kinney. Maybe it was because of the lowest of expectations that I had that I enjoyed this album so much. I obviously am not an expertise in their back catalogue, other than that one album that was forced down my throat repeatedly back in 1999, but from MY point of view, this is their best, and a hell of an album at that. Corrin Tucker's lead vocals are stronger than ever, balancing her shrieking acrobatics with a full-throated baritone that actually didn't sound like her completely to this untrained ear. The melodies, the energy, even the succinctness of its 33-minute running time, there is something incredibly electrifying about it all. Just check out their performance of "The New Wave" on The Late Show with David Letterman back in January during the album's release - the guitar riffs, the bass lines, Carrie's air-kicks, the total joy you see in their faces at being back and the confidence they have in the new material. It's just one of these bands that are having one of those truly infectious moments of their career - happy to be back, together, and alive. It comes through on every track of this album. Pop-punk doesn't get this much stronger, more sweetly in-your-face, or this hook heavy. Who knows if I will like them again. Who knows if there will be an "again". But for this moment, they've shined brighter than I ever thought they could. These women rock. Brilliant.

Label

Sub Pop