The Woods : Sleater-Kinney : Review : Rolling Stone

On Sleater-Kinney's previous album, the post-9/11 One Beat, political tracks such as "Combat Rock" mirrored fans' rage at the exploitation of a national tragedy. Three years later, after John Kerry's crushing defeat, the trio seems to have turned inward, finding solace in the simple pleasures of making some of the best and heaviest music of its career. The Woods was recorded in upstate New York with Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips producer David Fridmann, but Sleater-Kinney's seventh album doesn't have much in common with the groovy neopsychedelia of those bands. That isn't to say that this disc doesn't work as stoner rock (it even includes an eleven-minute jam, "Let's Call It Love") -- it's just a rawer, sludgier, more riff-fueled version of it, recorded with the needle way in the red. More than any previous Sleater-Kinney record, The Woods reflects the classic-rock undercurrent that runs through the punk heroines' live shows, such as Carrie Brownstein's spot-on mimicry of Pete Townshend's stage moves and the group's electrifying cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son." Indeed, it's Creedence that come to mind on the disc's best track, "Rollercoaster," a thrilling riff-first blast amped with propulsive cowbell and pretty ooh-ooh-oohs. Ten years in, indie rock's reigning power trio is letting it all hang out. It's only rock & roll, but you'll like it.