Natalie does a little B&E in honor of Wild Flag, breaking into the office of some guy named “Schwing.” She then decries today’s pseudo-grunge movement as “apathetic,” which, what? Isn’t grunge supposed to be apathetic? Wasn’t that the point? Anyway, she also loves the album.
Hear full Wild Flag album stream!
Wild Flag – “Romance”
From: Natalie Snoyman
To: Brandon Hall
Oh, Brandon. You shouting “Hey, Janet!” was certainly one of the more memorable moments from that evening. And just for the record, my enthusiasm for that evening’s performance was in no way me “just being nice.” Do you know how long I had been waiting to see Carrie Brownstein’s high kicks in person? A long time, my friend.
I’ll be completely honest and tell you that Beavis and Butt-Head introduced me to Helium. I purchased their album The Dirt of Luck from the Warehouse down the street from my middle school but it never received much play. On the other hand, Sleater Kinney’s Dig Me Out is one of my favorite albums. “One More Hour” still makes me want to cry every time I listen to it. That said, I think it’s pretty obvious that I have strong nostalgic and emotional ties to these two bands. How could I not compare Wild Flag’s self-titled album to anything and everything I’ve heard from these women before? Like you, this is something I struggled with before I sat down to listen to Wild Flag.
I listened to the album for the first time yesterday — Labor Day. Taking advantage of the fact that I could go into a deserted office (not my own) and get some work done, I took over an empty cubicle. I realize this makes me sound like I broke into said office but please believe me when I say this is not the case. As I listened to Wild Flag, there were definitely a few moments when I felt the need to run around playing air guitar, dancing like Christopher Walken in Pennies From Heaven but I’m a little too uptight for that. So there I sat, listening to the album from Alexander Schwing’s ergonomic desk chair.
While there were definitely some high points on the album, I wasn’t quite blown away upon first listen. Later that evening, though, I rode the bus home and re-listened to the album and I felt… something. I’m not sure if I can only chalk it up to change of environment, but every song sounded better on that bus. The first track is amazing and I love it even more after seeing Tom Scharpling’s music video this morning. “Romance” is a brilliant first track. It’s energetic, catchy as heck, and says (kind of explicitly), “We’re here and we really like playing music.” And they do it well. So well, in fact, that I can forget about the fact that Carrie Brownstein has been one of my personal heroes since teenhood.
I wouldn’t say this is a ground-breaking album by any means but I would say it is an excellent one. These women are pros. And the more I listened to their debut album, the harder I fell for Wild Flag. So, instead of comparing the band members to any of their past projects, I found myself comparing them to some of the other all-female bands out there today. I welcome the musical complexity and passion Wild Flag offers and these are the things that make this a stand-out album for me. Indeed, I find today’s grunge revival annoyingly apathetic and Wild Flag is anything but.
“Sound is the blood between me and you,”
Natalie
Wild Flag is out 9/13/2011 via Merge.
Pre-order Wild Flag here
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