Strange Wonderings and The WOODS

I usually have a different sort of routine but I'm trying to break free. I've been called a task man before; too often so.

I remember really swooning for music by my high school years. Through the awkward transition of elementary-middle school-high school and adjusting to a different method of listening, I really fell hard for music by my freshman year. I still remember playing sad Kid A on my discman and confused people asking "why such depressing music?" What was my response to be other then 'yea of course' hahaha.

So as the years passed I got heavier into the spectrum of music. By my junior, senior year I'm delving into both new and old releases like Sea Change, stealing CDs off my dad (hello Talking Heads) and also finding the more undisclosed and undiscussed music of bands like Spoon. For example.

By 2005 I'm full blown music addict. Buying CDs weekly, and by this time, I've got a record player. So I start buying heaps of vinyl. I remember nothing was gonna top Gimme Fiction that year. I'm in college taking 19 hours of classes and on top of the world. Madly in love here too, but small detail there. I remember thinking an album like Black Sheep Boy is depressing damn it, and that's amazing too, damn it. I was always very pretentious when it came to music.

By this point I have lists of albums ive ranked, albums I need to buy (on vinyl and /or CD), etc. Ive also really begun to notice the lists printed annually by music mags that showcase their top albums of the year. I continue reading about The Woods and how it is to be the last album by the band Sleater-Kinney. I never much consider getting it; back then I would buy a lot more CD instantly. Whereas now, everything is so accessible so quickly through streams and even legal links, back then buying The Woods even as highly touted as it was, was a risk. It sounds foolish now, so downright stupid of me right?! I agree, it is/was. The whole lists and no Sleater-Kinney by then? By 2005 they had amassed a discography some can only dream of, by then they had already conquered so many hearts and ears and fans. I was way late to the party already by 2005.

But no, it took me a year, another year, I kept seeing it out at stores. I had it listed. But did I ever take a listen on some website at least? Nah. Did I even try to hear a bit of it? No. I was just too enclosed in whatever 2006 brought (hello Yellow House forever) and still knifing in the back for classics (Stevie Wonder catalog is alive). It took me to finally find it USED, probably in early 2007, at an old CD store, that doesn’t even exist here in EP anymore to finally buy it. Even then, I had it with like four other CDs (surely it was some kind of buy three get one free deal) and was wondering which four to take. I can’t even remember what else was there, who knows if it’s as good. But The Woods entirely blew my mind. I remember playing it a lot then and have never stopped. I eventually got all their previous stuff, yes I know, so late.

The album is filled with tremendous songs. Here is “Wildnerness” because I love the way her voice sounds when she yells, when she sings, hell when she breathes. The way the band just flows off their obvious chemistry (this word sounds cliché but truly: The Woods is perfect Sleater-Kinney) and their chemistry as a band is what makes them so special in my opinion. Sure, they all knew how to just shred their instruments, and yes, they are amazingly talented, but together, WOW. And on this song, they simply groove and shake and roll to her beautiful yells.


This song, “Modern Girl,” is basically the off-ball choice. It’s safer and just unlike much of what The Woods is about. But it’s hard to know what it all means. Here the guitars sound sort of Spoon-esque in terms of both, gloom and minor tendencies, but again, her voice is stellar. These songs all sound like one massive lulling of noisy, tenacious, free-spirited rock that is beautiful in every possible aspect. And i especially enjoy how it still has some fuzzy sound at the end. This album just glistens with heartfelt energy and it’s everywhere.


The singer of this band is oh so famous now, Carrie Brownstein.



But I mean, The Woods kills it on every level. I especially love the way they open the album, "the fox," I’ll put it here too. It’s just so full of sound and dissonant harmony. I remember when I very first heard it, I blasted it and my ears were ringing when it ended. I think that’s the point though. Noise rock purists laugh when they hear this is noise rock but come on, it’s loud as hell right? And that’s the way it should be. Music is intended to be played loud and embraced, not just quietly in the distance. Sleater-Kinney place the noise at the front, for you to blast it loud, enjoy it, and then listen to the rest of the album at that same loud volume, it’s pure bliss. – Bryan