Just got this in the mail this morning and holy god, this is my new album of the year. Immediately more pleasing than Spoon, more moving than Of Montreal, and it makes stuff like Bloc Party look like absolute shit.

This album is sick...I feel like they've made a big leap and taken some serious chances and it's worked oh so well...there is not one bad song on my first listen.

Are you a fan of their earlier stuff? How would you compare the woods to older S-K?

This is tops on my to-buy list followed by;
Spoon
101ers
Okkervil River
Quasimoto
White Stripes
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Chocolate Watchband retrospective

More polished, better produced, better lyrics, more bombastic, better packaging....basically it's the S-K album I've been waiting for all along.

The one thing I never liked too much about their sound is that it's very punky and raw...it's in the same vein as like the Stooges and MC5, which is dirty, loud, unpolished stuff, and I have a hard time liking that more.

This album is beautiful. I feel like they're finally getting it right.

i think it sounds more like classic rock than their earlier stuff. classic rock with 30% more hysterical shriekage.

i like it as well

And unfortunately the hysterical shriekage is the reason that I've never been able to get into them Believe me I've tried....and the funny thing about that is that I've always LOVED The Muffs because of their hysterical shriekage.....

I bought this today, and I'm gonna give 'er a right proper lissen tonight, but in the car earlier I really liked the punch and crunch of the music.

It's not so much the shreikage that gets at me though, it's the warbling.

Shreikage and Warbling, attorneys at ROCK

sweet.

I LOVE this album, but it has declined a little bit in listening. It's a bit too exhausting to put on at any given moment, Dig Me Out remains the S-K album I listen to the most, followed by Call the Doctor and The Hot Rock.

So does the sound of an empty baked bean tin being kicked up the street.

I'm actually beginning to be intrigued by the buzz around 'The Woods'. It's getting a lot of good reports and it's not like Sleater Kinney are the hip new thing with cigar chomping industry types pushing heavily in their direction.

Yet an other potential gift voucher at Christmas purchase.

what you said; I can handle it in small doses or if a track comes up on random....

I'm about halfway though on my first real beginning to end listen.

As I just told Loogar, the music itself has bigger balls than the all too common indie-style pussy rock that is so prevalent.

That being said, I think this would totally blow me away with a new vocalist and a few adjustments to compensate for the loss of warbling.

I nominate Andy Cairns from Therapy?, or if you need to keep a some squealing and slight warbling rather than gruff, I nominate Mike Mantione from Five-Eight.

It's very loud compared to their other stuff, like the producer was aiming for a notch below The Exploding Hearts, and I kinda think that's what's turning me off to it. I do like The Exploding Hearts though.

I agree with the idea that the main problem with this band is Corin's shrieking vocals...they are just not appealing and not that good. I like Carrie so much more.

Wow. Cairns against this type of sound would be incredible.

I think Fridmann should produce everybody at least once.

Best album so far this year, IMHO.

the shrieking rules.

Must be played at maximum volume to be fully appreciated.

good way to piss off your neighbors.

I don't wanna get all English teacher on you, but I've been seeing the word bombastic getting misused more and more lately. For one thing, it's best to remember that calling something bombastic is not praise - and for another, it has nothing to do with exploding devices.

bombast n, pompous, grandiloquent, or extravagant writing or speech

Edit: I thought S/K killed on Letterman the other night.

He meant "bombtastic."

does that chick still sing like a billy goat

This made me laugh out loud.

at least somebody on this board understands me.

And I can only speak for myself, but that 11 minute ninth track definitely seems pompous and extravagant at times...nost as much so as say, Mars Volta, but I'd still call it that.

So whether I meant bombastic or bombtastic, I'll stand by it.

this track is six different kinds of awesome. i'm late to the party but i'm pretty surprised at kick-balls this album is.