Sleater-Kinney - "The Woods"

Here's the first of my vain efforts to mimic Jude and Brian P's cool album reviews.

Sleater-Kinney, "The Woods"
This album has grown on me since it was released on Tueday, but not really the individual songs...if that makes sense. I like the raw, steady power of the album overall, especially on "Entertain," but I miss the criss-crossing guitars and hooks of their previous efforts. None of these songs come close to inspiring obsessive replay (ex. "Get Up," "Dance Song '97," "Oh!") nor do they get deep into the band's personal lives (ex. "Size of Your Love," "Sympathy"). But in all fairness, each of their past albums had a few dogs worth skipping over, "The Woods" does not. So, what's better: an album with 4's and 2's, or all 3's?

1. The Fox (3)
2. Wilderness (3)
3. What's Mine Is Yours (2.5)
4. Jumpers (3)
5. Modern Girl (3.5)
6. Entertain (4)
7. Rollercoaster (2.5)
8. Steep Air (2.5)
9. Let's Call It Love (3)
10. Nightlight (3)
11. Everything (3.5)

Overall: 3

I hope they don't play "Let's Call it Love" at Austin. It's 11 minutes of mediocrity, and they'll probably only have 45 minutes of stage time.