The Woods
Sub Pop, 2005
rating 4.5/5
reviewer: filmore mescalito holmes


This is a big step forward for this Oregon trio's seventh LP. After nearly a decade on the highly respected Kill Rock Stars indie label, Sleater-Kinney broke away to sign to the influential Sub Pop, immediately replacing three time producer John Goodmanson for Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), a man approaching legendary status in the indie rock community. Naturally, these two things alone have a major impact on the band. The first and most noticeable, of course, is their sound. It's not as though The Woods is particularly busier; there is no doubt this is a Sleater-Kinney release, consistently and obviously denser from the first fuzz-drenched Kevin Shields chord of "The Fox" and brought full circle by the gradual destructive peak of squelching five-string torture juxtaposed in "Modern Girl," with its contrasting happy-go-lucky teen lyrics. Tension created by Fridmann in the studio, under the apparently correct assumption that the almost sisters could handle it, pays off with elevated performances by the whole group but most notably Janet Weiss, whose drumming is raised up a level closer to her idol Keith Moon. Bludgeoning her kit like a woman possessed, Weiss proves to be a premier female rock drummer in the process. The vicious licks laid down by Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker on "The Fox" are as punchy as anything I've heard them come up with, approaching something like Jack White if Jack White fell in love with The Experience instead of his Johnson. Amazingly, The Woods just picks up from there, peaking around the epic for the four-minute "Steep Air" and the frantic for the eleven-minute "Let's Call It Love," which features the first major instance of flamboyant soloing by Sleater-Kinney on record. Everything says this album deserves to be successful.

1. The Fox
2. Wilderness
3. What`s Mine Is Yours
4. Jumpers
5. Modern Girl
6. Entertain
7. Rollercoaster
8. Steep Air
9. Let`s Call It Love
10. Night Light