All The Bells & Whistles

The 00s: A Short List of Good Records from the Last Ten Years (Pt. 3)

Sleater-Kinney: The Woods

This record showed a very strange transformation. Sleater-Kinney, throughout most of their career, was a three-piece with music that was nervous, brittle and jumpy. With two guitars, no bass, riotous songs under three minutes in length, and a Pacific Northwest residence, the trio seemed like holdouts from the beginning of the 90s, when punk broke out and started selling zillions of records. But late in the game, on their final record, Sleater-Kinney did something remarkable — they began to play like Led Zeppelin and Hendrix and other bands that punk killed off.

Dave Grohl of Nirvana is often cited as the direct descendant of John Bonham. On The Woods, Janet Weiss stakes her claim. The woman is devastating. The whole band’s performance is astounding. Everything is loud. Loud, louder, still louder, loudest and then, louder than that. Even with the volume turned down the album is loud. It boasts the loudest harmonium you’ve ever heard in your life. (Remember the Hooters? Remember that plastic hybrid of a keyboard and harmonica they played? [Sing along: And we danced / Like a wave on the ocean / Romanced / We were liars in love. Okay, stop singing.]) Sleater-Kinney douse their harmonium in gasoline and set it on fire. Then they throw it into the crowd. Then they do the same with all their instruments. Then they do it to themselves. And as the smoke dissipates, the way out appears.

by Timothy Imse

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