i need to begin by saying that i'm actually not much of a sleater-kinney fan. i'm actually more of a fan of st. vincent's work (excluding her most recent record, which i think was terrible). you want some irony? i've just always found sleater-kinney to be kind of generic frat boy rawk, actually. it's not like their discography isn't void of moments, but i'd actually argue they're one of the most overrated rock bands of the post-nirvana era.

so, the premise of bringing annie in to slap some sense into them is actually a good one, from my perspective.

i'm not really hearing her fingerprints, though. there's some kind of, like, pedestrian sequencer work, but there's not any intense orchestral programming, or any wacky guitar work. maybe even that's too much for some people, but it's really not much. to me, that is the disappointment.

i know a lot of fans are a little irked that the record is more "radio-friendly", but i never really interpreted them as some kind of an anti-commercial noise rock band or something in the first place - i'd argue they were always fairly radio-friendly, and that's the reason i could never really get into them in the first place. that's stasis, not a change.

so, i'm going to agree with the people that aren't liking this much, but for the opposite reason; if they do this again, i'd like to hear more input from annie clark.