Wild Flag S/T LP (2011)

Details: Wild Flag's 2011 debut release on Merge Records. Features friends Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney) with Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi), Mary Timony (Autoclave, Helium, Ex Hex), and Rebecca Cole (the Minders). New stock, sealed.

Description: Wild Flag is a Portland, Oregon- and Washington, DC-based quartet consisting of Carrie Brownstein, Rebecca Cole, Mary Timony, and Janet Weiss. The members of Wild Flag have played in numerous and notable bands including Sleater-Kinney, Helium, Quasi, The Minders, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and others. 

"If you spent the Nineties hanging out with punk-rock women – an unbeatable way to spend any decade – you get why fans rave about Wild Flag. They’re an all-star team: Sleater-Kinney’s guitarist Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss, plus Helium guitarist Mary Timony and the Minders’ keyboardist Rebecca Cole. Yet they top anyone’s wildest hopes. All over their debut album, Wild Flag move with a bravado that makes other bands sound like sniffly rookies. And if guitars are your thing, this will punch your about fucking time buttons. Timony and Brownstein take off in the mod frenzy of “Romance” and the Camaro-metal thud of “Black Tiles,” and they’re not shy about looting every corner of the rock & roll junkyard, from classic Sixties bands (loads of early Stones licks) to obscure indie-rock slop. (Is that a Salem 66 riff on “Electric Band”? Jesus.) There are no wasted moments here – these are lifers who know exactly what they’re doing. In “Romance,” they chant the chorus together: “We love the sound/The sound is what found us/Sound is the blood between me and you.” It’s a moment that feels like an emotional explosion – and it sums up everything great about Wild Flag."--Rolling Stone

"The considerable contrast between the two singers gives Wild Flag a somewhat predictable ebb and flow, with a song-by-song trade-off between Brownstein's rambunctious, locomotive rockers and Timony's more quirky, complex compositions. Credit Weiss and Cole for effectively mediating between these disparate sensibilities: Wild Flag never sound more together than when they're being led off the rails by Weiss' Keith Moon-worthy breakdowns and Cole's wandering "Sister Ray"-style organ lines, as they push the wiry "Short Version" and charmingly cheeky "Racehorse" into joyous full-band jams and sing-along chants. For all the ideological intent fuelling the Wild Flag mission, the band rarely sacrifices the rock'n'roll fun-- they no doubt deliver that elusive black-and-blue, but it's a hit that feels like a kiss."--Pitchfork

Grade: M (new stock)

TRACK LISTING SIDE A:

A1. Romance
A2. Something Came Over Me
A3. Boom
A4. Glass Tambourine
A5. Endless Talk

TRACK LISTING SIDE B:

B1. Short Version
B2. Electric Band
B3. Future Crimes
B4. Racehorse
B5. Black Ties