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[miko2]

Today's Song: Jumpers by Sleater-Kinney

Ater talking about Sleater-Kinney in my post for the Chinese riot grrl band Hang on the Box, I decided I needed to feature them.

Their song Jumpers is about suicide -- specifically one person's suicide in San Francisco. It's depressing, but exceptionally well-written and possibly my favorite song of theirs. That's saying a lot because I really like this band. Sleater-Kinney was not just one of the best bands to come out of the riot grrl movement, but was one of the best bands to come from the Northwest, period. Unfortunately they never got the kind of attention that I thought they deserved.

This song comes from their last cd, The Woods, which was raw and heavy and powerful. They had their best promotion for it, with videos and appearances on David Letterman and the like. It didn't really matter -- I guess they were always one of those bands that most people didn't get or understand. At the end, they decided they'd taken the band as far as it could go, and broke up. (Well -- officially they're "on hiatus").

One of the unique things about the band was the lack of a bass guitar. Other bands have done this -- probably The White Stripes have been the most successful at it. In the case of the White Stripes, Jack White's guitar work is the focus of the band, and Meg White's drumming is very minimal. In Sleater-Kinney's case it's the drumming that carries everything -- Janet Weiss is an amazing drummer. The two guitarists down-tune their guitars to help cover for the lack of a bass, but really it's Janet that makes it work in my opinion.

The video is interesting -- it seems to be less about suicide than about escape.

Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers
Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers (live on Letterman)

I spend the afternoon in cars
I sit in traffic jams for hours
Don't push me
I am not OK

The sky is blue most every day
The lemons grow like tumors they
Are tiny suns infused with sour

Lonely as a cloud
In the Golden State
"The coldest winter that I ever saw
Was the summer that I spent..."

The only substance is the fog
And it hides all that has gone wrong
Can't see a thing
Inside the maze

There is a bridge adored and famed
The Golden spine of engineering
Whose back is heavy
With my weight

My falling shape will draw a line
Between the blue of sea and sky
I'm not a bird
I'm not a plane

I took the taxi to the gate
I will not go to school again
Four seconds was
The longest wait


Sleater-Kinney - Entertain (also from The Woods)
Sleater-Kinney - Entertain (live on the Henry Rollins Show)
Sleater-Kinney - Youth Decay (from an earlier cd -- All Hands On the Bad One).