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SLEATER-KINNEY
RETURN OF THE GRRRL GODDESSES
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It was a long-awaited pilgrimage for pigtailed post-riot-grrrlies and the men who love them. Sleater-Kinney — the three Pacific Northwestern ladymen who once conquered Greil Marcus, Eddie Vedder, and rock and roll — returned to Boston a week ago Wednesday to headline Avalon after a many-mooned respite. Since they last blew through town in support of the middling One Beat (Kill Rock Stars, 2002), the Portland trio have upgraded labels, retreated to upstate New York to record a new album, and released The Woods (Sub Pop), a torrential 10-song succession of ululated allegories, lashing guitar solos, and cannon-fired boom-baps that was the sound of a band reborn. Wednesday was worth the wait. Caterwauling queen Corin Tucker, guitar goddess Carrie Brownstein, and percussion fiend Janet Weiss emerged amid a deafening skein of recorded parakeet chirps. Sleater-Kinney’s sets transition like fireworks, shifting from white-light thunderclaps to shimmering blasts at a momentum that quakes your soul and then lets you breathe. Hence the opening four-piece sequence: the metal-fused, tornado-wind fable "The Fox"; "Wilderness," a thematic descendant of Liz Phair’s "Divorce Song" with a tinny guitar intro and a hippie diss; Dig Me Out’s "One More Hour"; and a rollicking version of The Woods’ "Rollercoaster." As usual, Tucker, mommy-sexy in a ruffled skirt and pink-swirly halter top, alternately howled and squealed like a stuck pig. Brownstein acted like Angus Young’s jeans-wearing kid sister, aiming her Gibson neck at the heavens, kicking up her left leg reflexively, serpent-handling her ax. Weiss, tucked back in the shadows, pounded the kit as if she were trying to beat it black-and-blue. "Thank you for being the best Boston crowd we’ve had in years," Brownstein said two tunes into the encore. "It feels really nice." Sleater-Kinney then bestowed a priceless parting gift, a gnarling cover of Danzig’s greatest hit, "Mother." Brownstein slipped coyly into the opening riff, sort of confusing people until Tucker let loose her throatiest Danzig-warble of "Mutha!" Then came the metal horns and the fist pumping from the front while the three women grinned devilishly. They closed with "Dig Me Out." A band reborn indeed.
BY CAMILLE DODERO
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