The Corin Tucker Band: The Corin Tucker Band Album Review
The Corin Tucker Band’s debut album sounds exactly like you’d expect from the former front woman of Sleater-Kinney. There’s still the unpolished quality Tucker’s voice, although it’s less raw then back in 1994. The punk influences are still clearly heard, even if slightly mellowed. Yet as Corin Tucker herself said in an interview with Pitchfork, “It's definitely more of a middle-aged mom record, in a way. It's not a record that a young person would write... There's some sadness, some reinvention, some rebirth. I think the goal for me is to write some good stories.” Tucker’s work here won’t be unfamiliar to fans of Sleater-Kinney though, and songs like "Doubt" will be more than welcome by fans missing her old band.
What Corin Tucker brings to this album, and what is so refreshing in a landscape dominated by overly-manufactured pop acts, is her honesty. Her lyrics are intimate. A person can relate to every word she sings of loss, separation, and failed relationships, and the hard edge of the music keeps it relevant in today’s world.
Corin Tucker is no stranger to cultural relevance. As a founding member of Sleater-Kinney in 1994, she was on the forefront of the riot grrrl movement. The band, rounded out by Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, wrote politically charged lyrics that were closely associated with third wave feminism. However, the media ofter lost focus and completely misconstrued or misrepresented who they were as a band. As Tucker has said, “I think it was deliberate that we were made to look like we were just ridiculous girls parading around in our underwear. They refused to do serious interviews with us, they misprinted what we had to say, they would take our articles, and our fanzines, and our essays and take them out of context. We wrote a lot about sexual abuse and sexual assault for teenagers and young women. I think those are really important concepts that the media never addressed.” Despite the media backlash, Sleater-Kinney continued to be an influential band until their break up in 2006.
Corin Tucker is not the only bandmate to continue making music after the band’s hiatus. Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss have also begun recording a forthcoming album with Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole of Helium. Their new band, Wild Flag, hasn’t released a lot of details about themselves quite yet, but they do already have shows lined up for November in various cities along the west coast. They’re currently signed with Merge Records, but not date has been set for the release of their LP. If you’d like more info on them, they have a really entertaining Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/WILDFLAG
Corin Tucker is no stranger to cultural relevance. As a founding member of Sleater-Kinney in 1994, she was on the forefront of the riot grrrl movement. The band, rounded out by Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, wrote politically charged lyrics that were closely associated with third wave feminism. However, the media ofter lost focus and completely misconstrued or misrepresented who they were as a band. As Tucker has said, “I think it was deliberate that we were made to look like we were just ridiculous girls parading around in our underwear. They refused to do serious interviews with us, they misprinted what we had to say, they would take our articles, and our fanzines, and our essays and take them out of context. We wrote a lot about sexual abuse and sexual assault for teenagers and young women. I think those are really important concepts that the media never addressed.” Despite the media backlash, Sleater-Kinney continued to be an influential band until their break up in 2006.
Corin Tucker is not the only bandmate to continue making music after the band’s hiatus. Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss have also begun recording a forthcoming album with Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole of Helium. Their new band, Wild Flag, hasn’t released a lot of details about themselves quite yet, but they do already have shows lined up for November in various cities along the west coast. They’re currently signed with Merge Records, but not date has been set for the release of their LP. If you’d like more info on them, they have a really entertaining Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/WILDFLAG
Kimberly Allen
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