This Three for Two is by default a kick-ass women rocker post, because that's what I've been listening to this week. Sylvan Esso comes out with a brilliant premiere album and a talented lead singer to match the mixing talent, La Sera bumps up the guitar on her latest album, and I get a vinyl copy of Dig Me Out (throwback 1997 style!) and am reminded exactly why Sleater-Kinney is my favorite ever all female rock band.
Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso
It feels like I've been waiting forever for this Sylvan Esso album to drop, but in fact it's probably only been a few months since I heard the single Coffee and couldn't stop listening. This album DOES NOT disappoint. In fact it might be the first album of the year that has truly becomes an obsession, potentially the type that lasts not only through the year but for years. Like the CHVRCHES album last year, or the Purity Ring album the year before. Seriously, it's that good. Coffee is definitely a standout, but so is the song Wolf. Aaaaooooo-ing has become cliched since Shakira got all wolfy last decade, or maybe aaaaooooo-ing was always cliched, but in this song it totally works. Which is something of a catchphrase for this album, but here it totally works. The songs don't pander to prior sensibilities--'but it totally works.'
La Sera - Hour of the Dawn
Man, with the last La Sera album, Sees The Light, I could not stop listening to the second track, 'Love That's Gone.' I still love it so. This album, however, doesn't have the same chill rock-pop vibe as the previous two La Sera albums, but it's still got Katy Goodman's smooth voice, still talking about heartache, relationships, and love, and it still has catchy guitar solos. The songs are remain pop-rock, but now they veer more rock than pop. That said, the first single of the album, 'Summer of Love,' is very surf-pop, even with backup singers! The guitars take more on more focus on this album generally, but it's impossible to not hear Goodman's vocals push forward through each song. I like it when she gets a little less lovely and a little more angry sounding like she does on 'Running Wild,' the second single from the album The mix of songs here keeps things interesting and keeps La Sera moving forward.
Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
There are a lot of great choices for 'best' Sleater-Kinney album. The Woods is thirty minutes of perfection, One Beat is raucous, but it's easy to see why many claim Dig Me Out to be their best. Their third album is more refined rock than the earlier albums, and it hits straight in the gut. Take the first two songs on side a. The title song, 'Dig Me Out', is one of the best opening tracks to any album. It starts the whole album off with a bit of an angry bang. 'One More Hour,' a song about the end of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein's relationship is has a dueling conversation for the chorus, it's a version of call and response, but not quite and it makes the breakup song more immediate than any other.
Part of the greatness in Sleater-Kinney comes from these dueling vocals. Corin Tucker's vibrato is unparralled and Carrie Brownstein does the straight yell that definitely puts this music in the punk/riot grrrl genre even if that isn't the whole picture of this band. The thing is, 'Dig Me Out' and 'One More Hour' might get put on Pitchfork's best songs of the 90s, but it would be hard for me to find a song on this album that isn't brilliant. 'The Drama You've Been Craving,' 'Heart Factory,' 'Words and Guitar,' 'Little Babies,' 'Buy Her Candy,' 'Dance Song '97' are all some of my favorite Sleater-Kinney songs. Simple repetitive guitar licks over super fast drumming by Janet Weiss: she hauls serious ass with those sticks! Brownstein can show off on guitar, and sometimes she does, but this album in a way is an album of restraint when compared to say, The Woods or even One Beat. It's pure heart, and deceptively simple, since if you've ever tried writing music, writing a perfect rock song is anything but simple. Unless maybe you're Sleater-Kinney, because it sure seems like the great songs just seem to flow out of these musicians. If rumors are right, hopefully there's another album coming soon (they've been on indefinite hiatus since the mid-2000s, but if not, be happy that you'll always have Dig Me Out.
Side note: the video I picked is not the best version of 'One More Hour' but they are so young and exuberant and TOWER RECORDS. So yea, listen to this and then find some other songs to try out.
Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso
It feels like I've been waiting forever for this Sylvan Esso album to drop, but in fact it's probably only been a few months since I heard the single Coffee and couldn't stop listening. This album DOES NOT disappoint. In fact it might be the first album of the year that has truly becomes an obsession, potentially the type that lasts not only through the year but for years. Like the CHVRCHES album last year, or the Purity Ring album the year before. Seriously, it's that good. Coffee is definitely a standout, but so is the song Wolf. Aaaaooooo-ing has become cliched since Shakira got all wolfy last decade, or maybe aaaaooooo-ing was always cliched, but in this song it totally works. Which is something of a catchphrase for this album, but here it totally works. The songs don't pander to prior sensibilities--'but it totally works.'
La Sera - Hour of the Dawn
Man, with the last La Sera album, Sees The Light, I could not stop listening to the second track, 'Love That's Gone.' I still love it so. This album, however, doesn't have the same chill rock-pop vibe as the previous two La Sera albums, but it's still got Katy Goodman's smooth voice, still talking about heartache, relationships, and love, and it still has catchy guitar solos. The songs are remain pop-rock, but now they veer more rock than pop. That said, the first single of the album, 'Summer of Love,' is very surf-pop, even with backup singers! The guitars take more on more focus on this album generally, but it's impossible to not hear Goodman's vocals push forward through each song. I like it when she gets a little less lovely and a little more angry sounding like she does on 'Running Wild,' the second single from the album The mix of songs here keeps things interesting and keeps La Sera moving forward.
Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
There are a lot of great choices for 'best' Sleater-Kinney album. The Woods is thirty minutes of perfection, One Beat is raucous, but it's easy to see why many claim Dig Me Out to be their best. Their third album is more refined rock than the earlier albums, and it hits straight in the gut. Take the first two songs on side a. The title song, 'Dig Me Out', is one of the best opening tracks to any album. It starts the whole album off with a bit of an angry bang. 'One More Hour,' a song about the end of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein's relationship is has a dueling conversation for the chorus, it's a version of call and response, but not quite and it makes the breakup song more immediate than any other.
Part of the greatness in Sleater-Kinney comes from these dueling vocals. Corin Tucker's vibrato is unparralled and Carrie Brownstein does the straight yell that definitely puts this music in the punk/riot grrrl genre even if that isn't the whole picture of this band. The thing is, 'Dig Me Out' and 'One More Hour' might get put on Pitchfork's best songs of the 90s, but it would be hard for me to find a song on this album that isn't brilliant. 'The Drama You've Been Craving,' 'Heart Factory,' 'Words and Guitar,' 'Little Babies,' 'Buy Her Candy,' 'Dance Song '97' are all some of my favorite Sleater-Kinney songs. Simple repetitive guitar licks over super fast drumming by Janet Weiss: she hauls serious ass with those sticks! Brownstein can show off on guitar, and sometimes she does, but this album in a way is an album of restraint when compared to say, The Woods or even One Beat. It's pure heart, and deceptively simple, since if you've ever tried writing music, writing a perfect rock song is anything but simple. Unless maybe you're Sleater-Kinney, because it sure seems like the great songs just seem to flow out of these musicians. If rumors are right, hopefully there's another album coming soon (they've been on indefinite hiatus since the mid-2000s, but if not, be happy that you'll always have Dig Me Out.
Side note: the video I picked is not the best version of 'One More Hour' but they are so young and exuberant and TOWER RECORDS. So yea, listen to this and then find some other songs to try out.
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