This brings us to Sleater-Kinney. Ten years and seven albums into a career that puts them squarely in the “best modern indie rock bands” conversation (and sort of scoffs at the need for a “best band made up of ladies” discussion), it’s a shame that any incentive is needed to get folks to check out their new disc. But there it is, a live, four track bonus DVD made up of practice performances in Portland, OR clubs where the new material got a road test. It is entirely irrelevant.

It was produced and directed by the super-ubiquitous Lance Bangs. I think he was involved in every indie rock DVD I’ve seen in the last five years. I’m not joking. Some of them have been pretty cool. This, however, looks and sounds like he tossed it off in a weekend. Well, since the band plays in four different clubs, two weekends.

Opening track, “Everything,” is a pretty forgettable b-side with muddled sound and a performance handcuffed by the small size of the venue. It’s also a little sad - screens behind the band are filled with already dated political slogans. But thanks for stopping the Bush girls, we all appreciate it. Next is “The Fox,” off of the album proper and it’s better shot and sounds clearer than the opener, but it’s still not all that interesting. The mixing of the song is not as aggressively in the red as it is on record, but that’s the only notable difference. “Modern Girl” sounds the same as it does on CD, but this time with even more harmonica. Thanks alot.

The last song is “Entertain,” the lead single from the album, and clearly a highpoint. This is the best of the performances on the disc by far, and the only one that really hints at the immense classic rock inspired sound that makes The Woods so good. Drummer Janet Weiss hits like a pissed off collection agent, and the acoustics of Portland’s Doug Fir give the track some real, echo-heavy, room to breathe. Since the song was a work in progress at the time, there is a Corin Tucker verse shoe-horned into the first part of the song that doesn’t really work, and is dropped from the final version. For that reason it might be interesting to obsessives interested in the development of the song-writing process.

The wisdom of the Slavs persists, and I’m certainly not mad that this DVD was included in my copy of The Woods. Ultimately though, it’s not even a good example of the muscle Sleater-Kinney put into their live shows and thus not recommended for fans who’ve never seen the band live. It’s definitely not a compelling reason in and of itself to buy the record in physical form, and I’ll probably never watch it again. But, uh, thank you?

- Posted on behalf of Jeff Klingman.

//Sleater-Kinney site
//The Woods - Buy

Tags: DVD, Sleater-Kinney, The Woods, Lance Bangs