Sleater-Kinney | No Cities To Love

[matt reeder]

Screw you all, I wouldn't change anything about The Woods. Its excessive brickwalling is part of its charm, and I wouldn't change anything about the compression. With a lot of albums, they are carelessly brickwalled - this is not one of them. It's designed to shock, and in particular, it was designed to test everything you thought you knew about Sleater-Kinney.

I will hear no more ill spoke of The Woods' production. I don't like the production of No Cities To Love, though.

[Birds in Hell]

I'll admit my comment on The Woods was meant to be fairly general with regard to very compressed albums as I'm not intimately familiar with the album aside from a quick listen to see if, like my toe-dip with No Cities To Love above, perhaps this will be the album where Sleater-Kinney viscerally grabs me (as ever, no dice).

[matt reeder]

If you were a fan of Sleater-Kinney before The Woods, the production and arrangements of the album are designed to shock the living shit out you. Living in Portland when it was out (I moved here the summit it came out), I heard a lot of bitching from old-school Sleater-Kinney fans that were deeply upset about the band's direction. The way that album sounds, both from a production and songwriting standpoint, was designed to challenge their fans and liberate the band from having to write the same style of music.

They succeeded wildly. If you want to hear The Woods without brickwalling, just download one of the many shows from this era. They played almost the entire album every night that tour.

[LoathedVermin72]

Do you guys think Raw Power sounds like shit too?

The Bowie mix, no. The brickwalled 1997 Iggy remix, yes.

Well duh. What I'm saying is that the harsh, blown out sound is essential to both RP and TW. I wouldn't want TW to sound any other way.

[LoathedVermin72]

Screw you all, I wouldn't change anything about The Woods. Its excessive brickwalling is part of its charm, and I wouldn't change anything about the compression. With a lot of albums, they are carelessly brickwalled - this is not one of them. It's designed to shock, and in particular, it was designed to test everything you thought you knew about Sleater-Kinney.

I will hear no more ill spoke of The Woods' production. I don't like the production of No Cities To Love, though.

A-fucking-men.

[Birds in Hell]

Do you guys think Raw Power sounds like shit too?

The Bowie mix, no. The brickwalled 1997 Iggy remix, yes.

Well duh. What I'm saying is that the harsh, blown out sound is essential to both RP and TW. I wouldn't want TW to sound any other way.

I wouldn't necessarily say Raw Power sounds harsh and blown-out, at least in its original form. Bowie's mix is muddy and weird but it's not a distorted, clipping mess.

Anyway, this is getting kind of off-track now, sorry.

[MadTIGERmaN]

Screw you all, I wouldn't change anything about The Woods. Its excessive brickwalling is part of its charm, and I wouldn't change anything about the compression. With a lot of albums, they are carelessly brickwalled - this is not one of them. It's designed to shock, and in particular, it was designed to test everything you thought you knew about Sleater-Kinney.

I will hear no more ill spoke of The Woods' production. I don't like the production of No Cities To Love, though.

A-fucking-men.

I second that A-fucking-men!

Modern Girl live does not nearly pack the punch as that album version.

[ridleybradout]

I'll third it - The Woods sounds particularly powerful on LP (I've got the remastered box set version, though I'm not convinced they actually did any remastering on this album).

If you want to hear The Woods without brickwalling, just download one of the many shows from this era. They played almost the entire album every night that tour.

I really hope they play the whole of NCTL this tour. At 32 minutes they've got no excuse not too.

[zeb]

Team Reeder

[LoathedVermin72]

You guys, I just realized that I'm not positive which mix of Raw Power I've been listening to my whole life.

[Birds in Hell]

You guys, I just realized that I'm not positive which mix of Raw Power I've been listening to my whole life.

Original mix:



90s remix:

[LoathedVermin72]

Well I'll be jiggered - I've always been listening to the Iggy mix! I had heard the other one but assumed that must have been the notorious "bad mix" because of how weak it sounded by comparison. I can totally understand the complaints, but I wouldn't want RP (or TW) any other way. Sure, that kind of brickwalling is technically "bad" but on these albums it sounds oh so right.

[zeb]

I think that this record has a similar sonic footprint to that of One Beat. What's up with you guys saying you don't like how it sounds?

[Leatherhead]

I think that this record has a similar sonic footprint to that of One Beat. What's up with you guys saying you don't like how it sounds?

I can get behind this. One Beat is probably my favorite SK album, and I can hear similarities in the sound.

[Will]

Bought this yesterday. One copy in my local used store, the only disc under their card. Its. Awesome.

[VinylGuy]

I agree with Matt..The Woods was a really different album. I couldnt believe this was the same band that did one beat...for the first time it seemed they could be as heavy as any other band, not just a band of alternative punk music.
They were fucking heavy.....

The new one is still strong friends...great album.

[Leatherhead]

Too short!

[VinylGuy]

Guys how is the vinyl edition? there is only a deluxe edition on vinyl?

[zeb]

Standard and deluxe.

[VinylGuy]

How is the standar? Booklet wise.