The name \u201cSleater-Kinney\u201d should not be new to many music fans. The band has kicked it in the rock scene after forming in 1994 in Olympia, Washington \u2013 the birthplace of riot grrl. The trio (vocalist\/guitarist Corrin Tucker, guitarist\/vocalist Carrie Brownstein, and drummer Janet Weiss) emerged alongside bands like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Heavens to Betsy. Sleater-Kinney\u2019s sharp attacks on politics and gender inequality thrust them into riot grrrls\u2019 jaws, but it was their raw and honest lyrics that kept their audience coming back for more.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The band went on hiatus in 2006, and stayed silent until announcing a new album in 2014. (For more information on Sleater-Kinney\u2019s hiatus, consider reading Brownstein\u2019s 2015 memoir titled Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl.<\/em>) Drummer Janet Weiss left the band in 2019 due to what many believe was her frustration at her lack of creative input on the album The Center Won\u2019t Hold<\/em>, and Brownstein and Tucker swiftly replaced her with Angie Boylan in time to release another batch of songs in 2021. In January of 2024, Sleater-Kinney released their newest album, Little Rope<\/em>, and dropped its deluxe edition at the very start of October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Little Rope<\/em> is, in my opinion, full of the most authentic Sleater-Kinney songs to date. Brownstein and Tucker reflect the intense history of the album\u2019s production with their powerful lyrics and instrumentals. In the summer of 2022 \u2013 when the album was already well into recording \u2013 Carrie Brownstein received word of her parents\u2019 death in a car crash while vacationing in Italy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sleater-Kinney\u2019s latest album drips with Brownstein\u2019s grief, as well as Tucker’s support for her lifelong friend and bandmate. In every song, one can feel the emotions that the duo had poured into it after Brownstein’s personal tragedy. Nothing about grief is simple, and Sleater-Kinney makes sure that their audience knows that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The leading track, \u201cHell,\u201d runs at about three minutes and fourteen seconds. It includes vocals by Corrin Tucker, guitar work by both Tucker and Brownstein, Angie Boylan\u2019s drums, and synth sounds accredited to Galen Clark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHell\u201d audibly exemplifies the rage that sudden loss can bring. Tucker has gone on record stating that the song is supposed to wake the audience up from the glorification of violence in our society \u2013 and with lyrics like \u201chell is desperation and a young man with a gun,\u201d how could one dispute that? Brownstein herself fuels her emotional instrumentals through the anger that Tucker writes into the song, and you can tell right off the bat that \u201cLittle Rope\u201d has provided her an outlet during the process of beginning life without her mother and step-father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My personal favorite, the track \u201cSay It Like You Mean It,\u201d grips you with its raw yet relatable lyrics. \u201cSay It Like You Mean It\u201d is three minutes and forty-four straight seconds of realizing that one day everyone you know and love will die. The words (in my opinion) hit close to home every listen, as we all hopefully have at least one person we dread being without. The lyrics in the chorus, \u201cSay it like you mean it. I need to hear it before you go. Say it like you mean it. This goodby\u0435 hurts when you go,\u201d perfectly states the desperation and fear that we feel when we acknowledge that we’ll eventually have to let go of our friends and family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The deluxe version of the album includes nine extra tracks. There are three new songs, three live renditions of previously included songs, and three more previously included tracks\u2026with a twist. Sleater-Kinney took songs \u201cSay It Like You Mean It,\u201d \u201cUntidy Creature,\u201d and \u201cHunt You Down,\u201d and turned them into softer versions of their pre-existing selves. These renditions include orchestral elements and portray a different side of loss \u2013 that, once again, we all will experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brownstein and Tucker don\u2019t portray anger, confusion, or desperation. They showcase pure acceptance. The deluxe additions add to the theme of grief in every way, and the extra tracks are definitely worth the listen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve always enjoyed Sleater-Kinney\u2019s work, but this new album definitely pushed me into becoming more of a fan. The vulnerability that Carrie Brownstein and Corrin Tucker displayed has made me sit on my own and be vulnerable with them, instead of dancing around my room like I have done with some of their previous works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sleater-Kinney has always been a band that had a song for every mood, and this album absolutely contributes to that. \u201cLittle Rope\u201d is an album for everyone, because no one will escape death \u2013 and everyone is going to have to live with its aftermath. It is without a doubt worth a listen, and I can\u2019t wait for more from them in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The name \u201cSleater-Kinney\u201d should not be new to many music fans. The band has kicked it in the rock scene after forming in 1994 in Olympia, Washington \u2013 the birthplace of riot grrl. The trio (vocalist\/guitarist Corrin Tucker, guitarist\/vocalist Carrie Brownstein, and drummer Janet Weiss) emerged alongside bands like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Heavens to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[25,27,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":996,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions\/996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}