Day 0845 - Dig Me Out

Sleater-Kinney "Dig Me Out" (1997)

Though I was aware of the name Sleater-Kinney, they really came on my radar via singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein's show "Portlandia" with fellow punk-turned-comedian Fred Armisen.

Sleater-Kinney (named for a road in Lacey Washington) formed in the mid-90s and quickly went from a side project for Brownstein and other singer-guitarist (no bass in the band) Corin Tucker to being their main gig.

The band were recognised as being part of the 'riot grrrl' movement, the underground feminist rock movement of the 90s.   The music is mostly raucous punky rock with attitude-laden vocals and duelling guitar parts over propulsive drums.

Short n sweet album, my only real criticism would be that there's not a lot of variety.  Even ballady track "Buy her candy" has a little rock attitude to it.  Leaves me wishing that they'd maybe turn off the distortion pedal for even just one song.

 

Day 0717 - Ingénue

K.D. Lang "Ingénue" (1992) - got it

For Lang's second solo album, she largely left her country sound behind in favour of more of a mix of cabaret, pop, alt-country, tango and a few other flavours.   There are times that the style could almost seem musically a bit 'middle-of-the-road', but it is saved by Lang's amazing voice, her painful honesty, and her brilliant songwriting abilities, such as on album opener "Save me"

This is a relatively short write-up, but suffice it to say, I am very much in love with this album, and will be keeping an eye out for a copy (as you can see above, since writing this, I found one).

I can hear the possible influence from this on artists I enjoy such as Amanda Palmer and Pink Martini.