With The Woods, Sleater-Kinney has surpassed even its most ardent supporter's expectations as to the artistic heights the trio can attain.  Full text...

In other words, this hard-rock transformation sounds like an extension of all the meta songs they've been writing since before "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone"-- rock-about-rock songs that chronicle their experience as an all-woman band and that deploy that self-reflexivity as a weapon against industry double standards and general ignorance.  Full text...

This is a big step forward for this Oregon trio's seventh LP.  Full text...

Sleater-Kinney has done nothing but progress.  Full text...

The Woods ingratiates itself on subsequent listens, making the band's other albums seem half-baked by comparison. Sleater-Kinney might have set the bar impossibly high for its subsequent albums.  Full text...

The trio delights in creating songs just to tear them down and rebuild them again in a different way, giving the album a dissonant, experimental edge.  Full text...

The Woods seems like a retreat into the '90s, playing up the grunge and angst of the band's Northwestern stomping grounds, particularly in songs like "Wilderness" and "Modern Girl."  Full text...

Part of what makes The Woods so frustrating is that underneath all the ill-conceived notions and neuroses they’re still one of the best rock bands in the world.  Full text...