Sleater Blue Filter
May 13, 2021 10:33 AM Subscribe
Sleater-Kinney (now reduced to the duo of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein) will be releasing a new album, Path Of Wellness, in June.
It is the band’s first self-produced album.
This is the music video for lead single “Worry With You”. It was directed by Alberta Poon
It is the band’s first self-produced album.
This is the music video for lead single “Worry With You”. It was directed by Alberta Poon
Oh nice, I didn't know a new album was imminent. I like the track and I like the video! The sound here definitely feels like an extension of what they were doing on The Center Won't Hold, I'll be curious to see how the whole things sounds self-produced instead of with St. Vincent producing this time.
I've had a whole host of complicated "the band I like is changing" emotions over the years as they've moved through production styles, split, reformed, re-fractured, but they haven't put out a bad album yet and I'm glad they're continuing to make music.
posted by cortex at 10:45 AM on May 13, 2021 [7 favorites]
I've had a whole host of complicated "the band I like is changing" emotions over the years as they've moved through production styles, split, reformed, re-fractured, but they haven't put out a bad album yet and I'm glad they're continuing to make music.
posted by cortex at 10:45 AM on May 13, 2021 [7 favorites]
They just announced a tour with Wilco!
Am excite. Will probably not see them live (they're not coming my way) but still.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 10:52 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Am excite. Will probably not see them live (they're not coming my way) but still.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 10:52 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've had a whole host of complicated "the band I like is changing" emotions over the years as they've moved through production styles, split, reformed, re-fractured, but they haven't put out a bad album yet and I'm glad they're continuing to make music.
I gotta admit, I'm having a little trouble with it - the Corin Tucker of Heavens to Betsy and early SK regularly made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and, from the title to the sound, this feels very conventional, commercial and bloodless. Maybe it's not realistic to expect most people in comfortable middle age to continue breathing fire, though.
posted by ryanshepard at 10:54 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
I gotta admit, I'm having a little trouble with it - the Corin Tucker of Heavens to Betsy and early SK regularly made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and, from the title to the sound, this feels very conventional, commercial and bloodless. Maybe it's not realistic to expect most people in comfortable middle age to continue breathing fire, though.
posted by ryanshepard at 10:54 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
Maybe it's not realistic to expect most people in comfortable middle age to continue breathing fire, though.
I was soooooo disappointed when The Woods came out and it was just... so ... meh, I think partially because it was the first "commercial" album and done with a producer that went a very different direction.
No Cities to Love actually felt like it had the same passion as some of their older material, but was more "grown up" but I think you're right that we'll never see the raw power that Call the Doctor or All Hands on the Bad One had
posted by Dr. Twist at 11:28 AM on May 13, 2021
I was soooooo disappointed when The Woods came out and it was just... so ... meh, I think partially because it was the first "commercial" album and done with a producer that went a very different direction.
No Cities to Love actually felt like it had the same passion as some of their older material, but was more "grown up" but I think you're right that we'll never see the raw power that Call the Doctor or All Hands on the Bad One had
posted by Dr. Twist at 11:28 AM on May 13, 2021
Oh Sleater-Kinney... come back when Janet Weiss is back in the band! How can you so casually part ways with one of the best drummers of all time?!
posted by neon909 at 11:31 AM on May 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by neon909 at 11:31 AM on May 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
the Corin Tucker of Heavens to Betsy and early SK regularly made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and, from the title to the sound
I would say that the Corin Tucker of Heavens To Betsy was mostly gone by Dig Me Out, and definitely kaput by The Hot Rock, though. Iunno - I agree that this sounds like a return to conventional form after The Center Won’t Hold (which I also thought was quite good) to me, but it sounds like a good version of that. I do hope they keep on shaking things up on future releases, and on other tracks on this release.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:33 AM on May 13, 2021
I would say that the Corin Tucker of Heavens To Betsy was mostly gone by Dig Me Out, and definitely kaput by The Hot Rock, though. Iunno - I agree that this sounds like a return to conventional form after The Center Won’t Hold (which I also thought was quite good) to me, but it sounds like a good version of that. I do hope they keep on shaking things up on future releases, and on other tracks on this release.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:33 AM on May 13, 2021
I was soooooo disappointed when The Woods came out and it was just... so ... meh,
How dare
posted by Going To Maine at 11:33 AM on May 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
How dare
posted by Going To Maine at 11:33 AM on May 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
How can you so casually part ways with one of the best drummers of all time?!
Janet left them, though. My heart broke at the news, but it wasn’t like they forced her out.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:34 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
Janet left them, though. My heart broke at the news, but it wasn’t like they forced her out.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:34 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
I would say that the Corin Tucker of Heavens To Betsy was mostly gone by Dig Me Out, and definitely kaput by The Hot Rock, though.
I'd agree w/this. I saw SK play the Reed College student union on one of their first trips out of Olympia, though, and I definitely felt like I was in the presence of a huge, eerie talent ... I don't want to go full Greil Marcus vs. Rod Stewart here ... maybe I'm just broadly sad about how so many things from that time have shaken out.
posted by ryanshepard at 11:39 AM on May 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'd agree w/this. I saw SK play the Reed College student union on one of their first trips out of Olympia, though, and I definitely felt like I was in the presence of a huge, eerie talent ... I don't want to go full Greil Marcus vs. Rod Stewart here ... maybe I'm just broadly sad about how so many things from that time have shaken out.
posted by ryanshepard at 11:39 AM on May 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
> Going To Maine: Janet left them, though. My heart broke at the news, but it wasn’t like they forced her out."
As it happens, Janet Weiss appeared on an episode of The Trap Set podcast where she goes into quite a bit of detail of how they parted ways. It is, of course, told from her perspective and while it seems they didn't exactly force her out, it sounded like things got to a point during the recording of No Cities where it wasn't really tenable for Weiss to remain.
posted by mhum at 11:41 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
As it happens, Janet Weiss appeared on an episode of The Trap Set podcast where she goes into quite a bit of detail of how they parted ways. It is, of course, told from her perspective and while it seems they didn't exactly force her out, it sounded like things got to a point during the recording of No Cities where it wasn't really tenable for Weiss to remain.
posted by mhum at 11:41 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
Janet left them, though. My heart broke at the news, but it wasn’t like they forced her out.
Accurate but yeah, heart-breaking. I loved No Cities to Love after listening to SK for 20 years and saw them live around then and they were great. Unfortunately I've felt like everything since then (in particular this new video/single) and Janet's departure have been, as said above, "very conventional, commercial and bloodless". Here's hoping they'll make new music that's interesting again to me one day.
posted by neon909 at 11:42 AM on May 13, 2021
Accurate but yeah, heart-breaking. I loved No Cities to Love after listening to SK for 20 years and saw them live around then and they were great. Unfortunately I've felt like everything since then (in particular this new video/single) and Janet's departure have been, as said above, "very conventional, commercial and bloodless". Here's hoping they'll make new music that's interesting again to me one day.
posted by neon909 at 11:42 AM on May 13, 2021
They're all adults and they worked together for a long time; safe to assume that it wasn't a casual decision on any front, and people are allowed to decide things aren't working and split up, in bands and otherwise.
I really like The Woods too and think it's a great album if definitely a production outlier. I had a harder time getting into No Cities To Love for whatever reason, though I've come to like it a lot now and see a lot of groundwork for The Center Won't Hold in it it.
One of my central SK tracks and my personal touchstone on the Corin Tucker Giving Me Shivers spectrum is One More Hour; that song structurally and lyrically and vocally hits so many early SK moments that to the extent that I feel sad sometimes that their sound has changed it's that that particular culmination of things isn't likely to emerge again.
But there's always stuff that jumps out at me on the later albums, like Jumpers from The Woods or Reach Out off Center that while they aren't Old School SK still get at me with an element of that same feeling.
posted by cortex at 11:49 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
I really like The Woods too and think it's a great album if definitely a production outlier. I had a harder time getting into No Cities To Love for whatever reason, though I've come to like it a lot now and see a lot of groundwork for The Center Won't Hold in it it.
One of my central SK tracks and my personal touchstone on the Corin Tucker Giving Me Shivers spectrum is One More Hour; that song structurally and lyrically and vocally hits so many early SK moments that to the extent that I feel sad sometimes that their sound has changed it's that that particular culmination of things isn't likely to emerge again.
But there's always stuff that jumps out at me on the later albums, like Jumpers from The Woods or Reach Out off Center that while they aren't Old School SK still get at me with an element of that same feeling.
posted by cortex at 11:49 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Saw Janet Weiss play with Steven Malkmaus and the Jicks, and fell in love. Damn, she is good...
posted by Windopaene at 11:52 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Windopaene at 11:52 AM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
I can't listen to this while at work, sadly... So who is playing drums for the duo now? Is the album just drumless?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:09 PM on May 13, 2021
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:09 PM on May 13, 2021
I like the video. Feels like a pandemic/lockdown video.
posted by limeonaire at 12:11 PM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 12:11 PM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
Damn, she is good...
I don't know if it's Sam Coomes' nearly unrelenting bleakness, but Quasi often feels like a perfect band for this particular moment + I think Janet Weiss' playing w/them deserves a lot more hype.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:16 PM on May 13, 2021 [6 favorites]
I don't know if it's Sam Coomes' nearly unrelenting bleakness, but Quasi often feels like a perfect band for this particular moment + I think Janet Weiss' playing w/them deserves a lot more hype.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:16 PM on May 13, 2021 [6 favorites]
> mhum: "things got to a point during the recording of No Cities where it wasn't really tenable for Weiss to remain."
Oops, correction: it was during the recording of The Center Won't Hold not No Cities to Love. Basically, if memory serves correctly, Weiss says that Tucker and Brownstein cut her out of the songwriting process and made it clear that she was basically "only" the drummer and not really a full and equal member of the band. There were other things as well like changing the recording process (e.g.: less in-person stuff, more emailing/dropboxing tracks back and forth) and doing more drum machine stuff but these sounded more like symptoms of the underlying issue.
posted by mhum at 12:26 PM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oops, correction: it was during the recording of The Center Won't Hold not No Cities to Love. Basically, if memory serves correctly, Weiss says that Tucker and Brownstein cut her out of the songwriting process and made it clear that she was basically "only" the drummer and not really a full and equal member of the band. There were other things as well like changing the recording process (e.g.: less in-person stuff, more emailing/dropboxing tracks back and forth) and doing more drum machine stuff but these sounded more like symptoms of the underlying issue.
posted by mhum at 12:26 PM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
That video is a sharp, cogent and succinct argument against tiny homes.
(I like the song, too!)
posted by oddman at 12:32 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
(I like the song, too!)
posted by oddman at 12:32 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
>Janet left them, though. My heart broke at the news, but it wasn’t like they forced her out.
Technically true, but the context around that choice to leave was either leave or stay and just be a warm body on a bench.
“The roles changed within the band, and they told me the roles changed,” Weiss said of her former band mates Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. “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.”
Who wants to stick around for that kind of demotion?
posted by GoblinHoney at 1:14 PM on May 13, 2021 [12 favorites]
Technically true, but the context around that choice to leave was either leave or stay and just be a warm body on a bench.
“The roles changed within the band, and they told me the roles changed,” Weiss said of her former band mates Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. “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.”
Who wants to stick around for that kind of demotion?
posted by GoblinHoney at 1:14 PM on May 13, 2021 [12 favorites]
the Corin Tucker of Heavens to Betsy
Mad props to Carrie Brownstein's old outfit Excuse 17 as well. Their two albums are still worth checking out after all these years. (I liked H2B, but they never did seem to manage to really capture their live spirit on vinyl).
posted by gtrwolf at 1:37 PM on May 13, 2021
Mad props to Carrie Brownstein's old outfit Excuse 17 as well. Their two albums are still worth checking out after all these years. (I liked H2B, but they never did seem to manage to really capture their live spirit on vinyl).
posted by gtrwolf at 1:37 PM on May 13, 2021
here for the Janet Weiss love. always a joy to see a drummer with stage presence, so hard to project personality from the back of the stage behind a kit. and the way that chorus beat kicks in at "looooonely as a cloud" is a sure thing to get me air drumming on the windshield.
dig it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYAitpi6Dhg
Also The Woods is glorious. Corin Tucker could wail my medical bills at me and I'd be okay with that.
posted by Sauce Trough at 1:40 PM on May 13, 2021 [8 favorites]
dig it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYAitpi6Dhg
Also The Woods is glorious. Corin Tucker could wail my medical bills at me and I'd be okay with that.
posted by Sauce Trough at 1:40 PM on May 13, 2021 [8 favorites]
Quasi is recording an album at this very moment, or at least until a couple weeks ago, I guess they could be done by now. So Janet fans, prepare to rejoice.
posted by snofoam at 2:01 PM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 2:01 PM on May 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
I'm here for the SK love. One More Hour, 1998. That smile that Tucker and Brownstein share (1:00) while singing a song about their break up. So great.
And in case anyone hasn't seen it, this is just a great concert from 2015.
posted by Gorgik at 2:14 PM on May 13, 2021
And in case anyone hasn't seen it, this is just a great concert from 2015.
posted by Gorgik at 2:14 PM on May 13, 2021
I saw SK play the Reed College student union on one of their first trips out of Olympia
Old Reed, yes indeed
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:16 PM on May 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
Old Reed, yes indeed
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:16 PM on May 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
My five year old son, when asking me to play “rock and roll” for him, means Sleater-Kinney and only Sleater-Kinney.
I have no idea how I raised him so right.
posted by Kattullus at 2:35 PM on May 13, 2021 [8 favorites]
I have no idea how I raised him so right.
posted by Kattullus at 2:35 PM on May 13, 2021 [8 favorites]
always a joy to see a drummer with stage presence, so hard to project personality from the back of the stage behind a kit.
Oh wow that Letterman clip is great. I always loved Weiss' drumming ("Jumpers" being such an excellent example), but despite seeing them live exactly once back in Melbourne many years ago, I never realised just how much she shreds. Dud move from Tucker and Brownstein to elbow her out like that.
I concur that this S-K is not the S-K I "grew up" with - the overproduction has an oil slickish quality that my brain doesn't associate with their music - but it's still a decent tune and a fun clip.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:36 PM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh wow that Letterman clip is great. I always loved Weiss' drumming ("Jumpers" being such an excellent example), but despite seeing them live exactly once back in Melbourne many years ago, I never realised just how much she shreds. Dud move from Tucker and Brownstein to elbow her out like that.
I concur that this S-K is not the S-K I "grew up" with - the overproduction has an oil slickish quality that my brain doesn't associate with their music - but it's still a decent tune and a fun clip.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:36 PM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
Mrs free cell is a huge sk fan going way back, but when Weiss left she kinda got mad at them and didn’t listen to the last album. I think they did her wrong.
posted by freecellwizard at 3:44 PM on May 13, 2021
posted by freecellwizard at 3:44 PM on May 13, 2021
My five year old son, when asking me to play “rock and roll” for him, means Sleater-Kinney and only Sleater-Kinney.
Nice! My nine-year-old daughter loves classic rock and asks me to play Cheap Trick's "Surrender."
posted by kirkaracha at 5:15 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Nice! My nine-year-old daughter loves classic rock and asks me to play Cheap Trick's "Surrender."
posted by kirkaracha at 5:15 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Woods was a really great mid-career album and it augered well, if ultimately in vain, for follow up albums that never were. That said, we have the two amazing and criminally under-appreciated Corin Tucker Band records and Carrie’s and Janet’s Wild Flag record. Also Portlandia.
posted by MattD at 9:57 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by MattD at 9:57 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
They just announced a tour with Wilco
FUCK YOU DRUMMERS '21
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:19 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
FUCK YOU DRUMMERS '21
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:19 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I wonder if this has been sitting on a shelf for the past year? The tour with Wilco was supposed to happen last year. Fortunately my tickets are still good for the Portland Maine show rescheduled for August!
posted by dchase at 9:48 AM on May 14, 2021
posted by dchase at 9:48 AM on May 14, 2021
Well. That was just a swell track. The previous albums all the way back to Call the Doctor have always spoken to me when they came out. The assembled talents in SK always seemed like a brittle arrangement, like most very talented bands, and so I was not surprised to learn it has come partially undone. I had assumed that The Woods was going to be the end of it, and this third era of their work has been great. The St. Vincent vibe is has been something I have been holding on to over the last year and half.
I appreciate the links to Weiss's new projects, watching her perform with Sleater Kinney is one of my top ten live performances.
posted by zenon at 11:11 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I appreciate the links to Weiss's new projects, watching her perform with Sleater Kinney is one of my top ten live performances.
posted by zenon at 11:11 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I made my peace around the time of The Center Won't Hold that Sleater-Kinney, while still a powerful creative force, isn't really a band I was invested in anymore, and I don't think the new album is likely to change that based on what I've heard so far. But to be honest, the band was already starting to head in that direction with The Woods (which I think I now appreciate in retrospect but will probably never love in the same way I did One Beat and everything before).
I should really revisit Quasi one of these days. The last time I bought an album of theirs was The Sword of God, and that was an eternity ago.
posted by chrominance at 10:40 PM on May 14, 2021
I should really revisit Quasi one of these days. The last time I bought an album of theirs was The Sword of God, and that was an eternity ago.
posted by chrominance at 10:40 PM on May 14, 2021
I made my peace around the time of The Center Won't Hold that Sleater-Kinney, while still a powerful creative force, isn't really a band I was invested in anymore, and I don't think the new album is likely to change that based on what I've heard so far.
This is exactly how I feel, too.
S-K was my favorite band for so, so long- I saw them every time they played in Boston from 1998 until Janet left the band. Her drumming was absolutely integral to the sound I loved, and after reading about the circumstances of her departure, it felt like the band I'd loved had basically broken up. The Center Won't Hold didn't interest me at all musically, I'm sad to say that new S-K is just not my cup of tea anymore. But on the bright side there's a lot of other really good music out there! I got Corin Tucker levels of vibes seeing Hop Along live.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:44 AM on May 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
This is exactly how I feel, too.
S-K was my favorite band for so, so long- I saw them every time they played in Boston from 1998 until Janet left the band. Her drumming was absolutely integral to the sound I loved, and after reading about the circumstances of her departure, it felt like the band I'd loved had basically broken up. The Center Won't Hold didn't interest me at all musically, I'm sad to say that new S-K is just not my cup of tea anymore. But on the bright side there's a lot of other really good music out there! I got Corin Tucker levels of vibes seeing Hop Along live.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:44 AM on May 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
I saw SK play the Reed College student union on one of their first trips out of Olympia
Saw quite a few bands at Reed College at that time. It's kind of amazing how good the booking was for that.
posted by josher71 at 11:34 AM on May 18, 2021
Saw quite a few bands at Reed College at that time. It's kind of amazing how good the booking was for that.
posted by josher71 at 11:34 AM on May 18, 2021
It's kind of amazing how good the booking was for that
Top Six KRRC
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:52 AM on May 19, 2021
Top Six KRRC
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:52 AM on May 19, 2021
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posted by Going To Maine at 10:43 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]