Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney (1997)

Two thoughts, just in general.

First, the whole “riot grrl” movement wasn’t so much a movement as it was a meme that caught on among music critics to rationalize why quality rock n roll was being made by… gasp… girls. Like, an actual rock band, but with girls. I don’t think it was so empowering as it was a subtle ghetto-ization of all- or mostly-female bands.

Second, if you’re gonna run a decent-sounding rock n roll band without a bass player, you’d better have one boss-ass drummer. and Janet Weiss was a boss-ass drummer (she still is, i’d assume, but she’s not in the band anymore).

Gender politics and whatever else aside, these guys made a string of near-perfect rock n roll records in the late 90s and early aughts. This one isn’t my favorite because it doesn’t have all the wild classic-rock-trope twists and turns of The Woods, but this is maybe the purest statement of what they could do.

Tracks I Liked

Turn It On - and leave it on

Little Babies - so much more than just a punk band.