Listened to some of the new Sleater-Kinney tonight, and I was... I was... I don't wanna say underwhelmed, because I had my doubts whether it'd be good. (All Hands on the Bad One had as many bad moments as it had good moments; Corin's shrill, postmodern-indie-sexpot voice and self-consciously RAWK lyrics were responsible for many of the bad moments.)

As always, I like the guitar work, and now it sounds like the further they get from the early '90s and all those implications, the more Carrie and Corin sound like real guitarists and not just dilletantish hobbyists with a few Au Pairs records. No, now they're more or less Erase Errata with a secret stash of stoner rock.

The songwriting's still pretty collegiate -- ya know, I love dumbassed garage rock (the sixties kind), but the whoa-whoa-ohs here, as referenced and irony-tinged as I'm supposed to believe they are, still sound idiotic coming out of Corin's mouth. The vibe I get is LOOK HOW MUCH I ROCK GODDAMN IT I SAID LOOK AT ME! LOOK!!!!!!!

If only S-K could write a nugget as good as "My Friend Jack (Eats Sugar Lumps)." Doesn't even particularly rock, but it's totally ace.