As a punk rock and social justice advocate, I could never fully describe how much I appreciate Sleater-Kinney. For me, as well as many others, their songs worked to make a vocabulary and spirit that legitimized my frustrations with the world as well as the frustrations of women and members of the LGBTQ community — characteristic of the Riot Grrl and Queercore movements of the 90’.
But we’re not in the 90’s anymore. Sleater-Kinney’s return, along with the arrivals of female punk-identified music projects, work to offer us a space to express frustration at the issues we as a society are facing now. No Cities to Love is Sleater-Kinney’s newest expression of ally ship—a carving out of solidarity. Except this time, they are veterans in the fields—coming in not to impress us with their skills but to re-instate their powerful influence. NPR offers a first listen here.
The album opens with the song “Price Tag.” The song starts with one guitar playing that you quickly lose grasp of less than 5 seconds into the song when the rest of the three women band come in—an intro style familiar to S. K. Oh, how great it feels to have Corin Tucker’s vocals be riveted and amplified by Janet Weiss sick animal drumming tempo once again; each one using intense talent to keep up with the other.
But we can’t forget Portlandia star Carrie Brownstein’s own contributions. The following track, “Fangless” features the in-sync but not necessarily harmonious balance she has with Tucker’s vocals. Each one’s distinct singing style and lyrics keeps pace with the other while staying entirely different aspects of the same song. Until eventually they sing on top of each other to bring about a climactic ending to the track. The album’s first single, “Bury Our Friends” also features this duo’s constant competition with each other that ends up creating a force of its own which helped distinguish Sleater-Kinney so much back in the 90’s. What is different about this dynamic in No Cities to Love, is that you can hear how each vocalist has honed her craft in the ten years they’ve had apart, Brownstein with the project she made with Weiss, Wild Flag, and Tucker with her own project The Corin Tucker Band. This is what makes the second single of the album and following track, “Surface Envy” work as an appropriate testament to how the women of Sleater-Kinney have yet to lose their fight. The song’s lyrics proof that the band is instead coming in stronger than before: “I’m breaking the sun, keys in the air/ Reaching for things like never before”.
Then is the album’s title track that, while not necessarily as distinct and imposing as some of the bands older title tracks, will definitely be one of the album’s tracks you’ll have on repeat just to enjoy it’s catchy classic rock guitar chains and melancholic chorus line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yumtU4LCl1s
The track is followed by “New Wave” and as always, Brownstein’s solo vocals are something to fall in love with probably because of how few there are compared to Tucker’s numbers. Fast paced-guitar waves followed by atmospheric strums in the chorus that echoes the band’s 1999 album The Hot Rock — the album known to testify Brownstein’s vocal and songwriting talents. Then, you cannot help but notice the iconic S. K. tendency to mix romance with protest: “It’s not a new wave/ it’s just you and me.”
Now, let me put on my English major hat for the heavy, graveyard scene punk track of “No Anthems.” “I’m not the anthem of what once was an anthem/ All I can hear is the echoes and the ring.” Could this song be S. K.’s oath to the 90’s Riot Grrl Movement that they were such a huge part of as well as a response to what the movement is now? Some current female fronted, punk bands like Skinny Girl Diet have been forced to deal with the assumptive, arguably sexist tagging by the media as “riot grrl bands”—a genre of its time. Skinny Girl Diet continue to argues about the mainstream’s tendency to capitalize on the “aesthetic” of the movement rather than focus on its social-justice messages. A message appearing dead, “No Anthems” eerie, goth guitar rills seem a fitting atmosphere for the lyric “weapons not islands”—arguably an allusion to the “tiny islands” metaphor written by Riot Grrl co-founded Kathleen Hanna to represent violence against women.
Ok, English major hat off, let us move on to the second to last track, “Hey Darling” — a fun, dance song that follows the album’s first single. We cannot forget that in all their political rage, S. K. can still write a kick-ass number on a bad romantic relationship. Who could forget the punk, break up anthem, One More Hour, an indie-rock ballad in which the two people singing it, re-live the experience they had together. “Hey Darling” is a great, dancing-in-misery number ending with a quirky “da, da, da” line for a positive fade out.
“Fade,” the last track, features heavy, epic rock chimes with vocals that demonstrate a strong sense of desperation reflecting the atmosphere from the band’s last album The Woods. Once again, S. K. demonstrates their vast knowledge of rock & roll by incorporating some high pitch, glam rock vocal effects. Just like the last track in their previous album 10 years ago, S. K. knows how to close a show and make an exit with an hard rock, instrumental demonstration I can’t even imagine how long would last in a live show. Hopefully it won’t be 10 more years until fresh Sleater-Kinney masterpieces are in our ghetto blasters again.
Gabriel Ferri / KXSU DJ and Writer / Tropical Fruit Punk