Wild Flag - Wild Flag (Merge, 2011)

Wild Flag

Wild Flag

Merge

2011

Rating: 5 soft prunes out of 10

Honestly, listening to this new Wild Flag album went pretty much as expected - that is, underwhelming.  Especially given the pedigree of the band members - Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney, Mary Timony of Helium, and Rebecca Cole of the Minders.  And then I remember that I never liked Sleater-Kinney's records, even though they were fantastic live.  Helium never did much for me either, even when Polvo's Ash Bowie joined the band.  And the Minders...hell, I don't know anything about them honestly.  So I'm not sure why my expectations were high - probably the nature of any "super group".  Or I bought into the hype, including from some of my friends.  And it's not awful - it does rock, but something is missing.  Maybe it's Corin Tucker's voice.  Or maybe the songs just aren't that great.  Still, I bet they rock live, I'd almost bet on it. 

Wild Flag - Future Crimes 7" (Merge, 2011)

Wild Flag
Future Crimes 7"
Merge
2011

Rating: 6 Olympia beers out of 10

I'm probably not supposed to compare Wild Flag to Sleater-Kinney, but of course everyone is going to do that. Cause shit, two-thirds of S-K are in this group. It's still Carrie Brownstein singing for the most part. They're still playing that mid-to-late nineties style of angular post rock that they've all been playing in various incarnations (though this outfit might have a hint of seventies anthem rock in them...I'll need more music to fully decide that though).

This is was a seven inch they released for Record Store Day through Merge...I suppose it is their first proper release? Honestly, I never could get that into Sleater-Kinney's recorded material and I'm getting the same vibe here. Not sure why, because when I describe it to myself it sounds great on paper. S-K were fuckin' killer live though, and I'm guessing Wild Flag is no different. Some bands are meant to be recorded, some are meant to be live. Ain't nothing wrong with that.

More to the point, I hope Carrie doesn't let this music thing get in the way of filming more episodes of "Portlandia".