Sleater-Kinney’s last album, The Center Won’t Hold, was an indie rock Hindenburg: in an attempt to “evolve” their sound, the band completely lost sight of their own strengths, making a series of hollowed-out dated pop songs instead of their usual visceral, thrilling guitar rock. While it got inexplicably positive reviews (which made me question the kind of favor-trading that goes into other music websites), the fact that beloved drummer Janet Weiss left the band like she was fleeing a burning building spoke volumes. Their new album, Path of Wellness, represents a different kind of disappointment: while it isn’t a fall-on-your-face embarrassment that elicits grimaces from the first note, it signifies Sleater-Kinney becoming Just Another Band that is going to hang around and churn out listenable but not particularly memorable songs while having little left to say.
This time, there aren’t many complaints to be had about the style or production. Sleater-Kinney almost sound like Sleater-Kinney again, and this album has some catchy songs with vocals and guitar parts from Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker that aren’t too different from the band’s glory days. But lurking underneath the whole album is the sense that something is missing. The obvious answer is Janet’s drumming, but I think it goes deeper than that: the band’s DNA feels different. They’re missing that sense of urgency that used to define them. Sleater-Kinney explored a variety of sounds, so some fans may disagree, but I loved their songs when they felt like life-or-death affairs, full of stridency and a clear sense of purpose. Songs like “Far Away” and “Sympathy” from One Beat had an uncomfortable level of intensity, and I admired the band for making songs that could knock over the listener, not just due to volume but due to the unguarded emotion of the members.
That was when Sleater-Kinney were a band with a chip on their shoulder; now their songs are more mature and refined, trading in that anarchic energy for more subtle, middle of the road arrangements. Which doesn’t sound bad on paper, except that I never really enjoyed Sleater-Kinney for their subtlety or restraint. It makes sense that Brownstein and Tucker wouldn’t have that same energy in their 40s as they did in their 20s, so they’re right not to force it. But it doesn’t change that the end result on Path of Wellness is simply less dynamic and unique compared to the Sleater-Kinney I used to love.
This isn’t a popular view in the industry, but I think women in their 40s are capable of making good music and should be allowed to do it. The issue here is that Sleater-Kinney’s lyrics don’t really offer any special insight into their lives, and similar to The Center Won’t Hold, the uncharacteristically bland music puts a spotlight on the lack of substance in the songs. “Method” is a very catchy pop ditty, but it also is generic for this band’s standards, and Brownstein’s song-about-a-song lyrics (“I’m singing a song about love”) remind me of when I had a creative writing assignment due and in the absence of real ideas tried to write some meta writing-about-writing piece because it was “clever.” The words on “Complex Female Characters” seem like a shot at the band’s mostly non-existent critics, with Brownstein mocking men who love messy fictional characters but can’t handle the real thing. There’s an irony there, though, because nothing in these songs suggests that the members of S-K are particularly complex or interesting people anymore, since all the listener is getting from Brownstein are these sorts of thin-skinned meta-critiques or rote lyrics about love that anyone could write.
Brownstein is the source of most of my annoyance. I think a large part of why S-K feels “off” is that she has taken a more casual approach to the band, viewing it as a fun side project to do to aid her comedy and Hollywood ambitions. A 30-minute video on their YouTube channel that presents the album with a series of mediocre comedy skits featuring all of the best buds she’s made from Portlandia etc. does little to dissuade me from this belief. She can do what she wants, but I miss when this band was serious business and when the songs felt like they needed to exist and didn’t just settle for being listenable.
Tucker delivers the highlights again here, with a characteristically emotional vocal on “High in the Grass” and another strong turn on the closer “Bring Mercy.” Even though those still sound more like Corin Tucker Band songs than Sleater-Kinney, at least there is some heart and spirit in them compared to a lot of the rest of this album, which most people have probably forgotten about already at the time I’m finishing this post two weeks after its release. Whether you loved them or not, Sleater-Kinney were never a band that just faded into the background like this album does, which is what makes it a disappointment even if it’s a step in the right direction after The Center Won’t Hold. I’m holding this band to a higher standard than just being pleasant to listen to in the background while at work.
If Bandcamp were an adjective, it’d be used to describe Let’s Get Shiny, the new album by Kim Hart Weldin (who records as Shiny Times). Anyone who is fatigued by ostentatious album roll-outs, hype campaigns, and longwinded descriptions about the artist’s “process” will appreciate the Bandcamp page for this one, which is on an obscure Greek label called Melotron Records and has a couple of misspelled words among its brief information about the songwriting and art. It has a casual, unprofessional charm that is matched by the music itself, which is an ode to the early days of indie pop, laser-focusing on a microscopic audience of Sarah Records appreciators and those like me who love artists like Rose Melberg and Black Tambourine.
In its own simple way, this is a perfect EP, in that it gives those listeners exactly what they’re looking for while also adding some new twists to the formula. I am joking about the presentation of this album, but it’s clear from the songs that Weldin knows what she’s doing — there’s a maturity and self-assuredness in her gentle reverbed guitar riffs, plainly spoken lyrics, and unpretentious dreamy vocal delivery. I think it takes some confidence to make indie pop this simple, that sounds “easy” yet is almost never done this well.
Some of this twee-leaning music can get a bit cutesy, but there’s maturity and depth in Weldin’s songs that make this resonate more than a lot of other c86 imitators. “So Alone” and “Empty Inside” are the kind of lovesick, fuzzy songs that define this style, and the feelings can be applied to either childhood or recent pandemic loneliness. “Scroll Away the Night” updates the formula to the digital age, with social media scrolling replacing the usual staring at the walls or out the window while missing a loved one.
The song I’m most obsessed with is the closer, “Sort it Out,” which starts very quietly then breaks into an addictive riff that repeats for the rest of the song (something I remember Pandora calling “extensive vamping”). Weldin’s words eventually trail off and fade into silence: “I don’t believe what you said/Close my eyes and I hear it again.” The way it’s constructed reminds me of how certain moments linger in your memory, especially if you’re more on the introverted and neurotic side. And like the rest of this album, it’s a simply constructed song that still has complexity in the feelings it gets from the listener.
The intentions of Let’s Get Shiny! are certainly modest, which in and of itself is kind of refreshing. Underlying all the songs is the feeling of hearing someone make music because they love it or need to do it, since this is so clearly an endeavor that wouldn’t result in critical hype or money. And in terms of achieving what it sets out to do, this is quietly one of the most successful releases of the year.
Until about a year ago, the show I most enjoyed hating was The Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin’s HBO opus about a TV news station where the host, Will McAvoy, was the last man with integrity on Earth. I argued for a long time that the show — completely unintentionally — was the funniest on TV due to its rare combination of sanctimony, casual misogyny, and Sorkin’s thinly veiled belief that he was writing the greatest TV show anyone has ever seen, even as it was often impossibly stupid. The joy of watching The Newsroom is seen in its most distilled form in a scene called “Don Tells the Pilot” (on YouTube at least) where two of the characters break the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death while on a plane. The construction of the scene shows Sorkin’s hilarious contempt for “common folk,” who are all portrayed as aimless sheep who would walk into an electric fence if not guided by the heroic journalists who have all the answers. The women in the scene are hysteric idiots or killjoys who need to be calmed by the intelligent men. And the final capper is one reporter’s bizarre reverence for the airplane pilot, who is seen as a heroic figure worthy of hearing the incredible news that nobody else knows.
The Newsroom was a perfect storm of hate-watching: it was smug, it thought it was much smarter than it really was, and when it tried to be intentionally funny it often revealed the writer’s retrograde sense of humor, which in and of itself was ironically amusing. But lately, it has been surpassed by my new favorite show to hate: AEW Dynamite.
When I last wrote about the upstart wrestling promotion, it was over a year ago, when the show was just getting off the ground. I didn’t like the show but was also trying to be open-minded about it. I respected the challenge in starting a new promotion and figured it might just need some time to work out the kinks. It took a few months of Dynamite getting progressively worse to come to a somewhat startling realization: I hate almost everyone on the show and most of the people who like it. While previous critiques were grounded in an attitude of “I hope they succeed, but it’s not for me,” I have moved to actively hoping it fails and the company goes bankrupt. This would be horrible for the wrestlers and the business as a whole, I understand. But the wrestlers are not me and it would make me happy.
The most positive thing to be said about AEW is that it was promoted and marketed brilliantly. The market leader, WWE, spent years driving off viewers and making many of the more hardcore fans resent the company, a trend that continues as childishly whining about their shows remains a staple of YouTube reviews, wrestling commentary sites, and random people on social media. AEW saw an opening in appealing to these sorts of bitter, resentful, probably lonely fans, and it decided to embrace them and make them feel like they were part of an uprising or a movement, even as the company was funded by a billionaire’s son using his dad’s money, which is about the least radical thing I can think of. AEW also mobilized parts of the wrestling media who influence opinions, making a show that directly appeals to their wishes which has led to consistently strong press. Before AEW even put on a show, they had a base of fans and critics who were convinced the company would replenish the barren wrestling fields and finally provide an alternative to the evil WWE.
To make an offensive comparison that will make most people who read this upset, I liken these AEW die-hards to QAnon supporters. At the start, they buy into an idea because it makes them feel good and like they’re part of a movement. Over time, it becomes more and more obvious that the movement is a load of crap and it becomes harder to justify on any level, but all of the people who bought the lie are in too deep and can’t accept reality or it will shatter the entire world they’ve constructed for themselves. So they continue to move the goalposts. Every seemingly conflicting piece of evidence has to be excused; every arrow that points to their views being wrong is ignored. To these people, AEW has to be good, because the alternative is being stuck with the evil WWE again, and also admitting they were wrong, which people don’t like to do.
This rabid, insane nature of the fan base provided some of the entertainment value of AEW before the pandemic removed crowds from TV. I would watch a segment that was obviously, clearly terrible — like, any rational person would see that it was embarrassing to have it on TV — and the fans would be cheering like it was a Beatles concert in 1964. When I watched Dynamite, I felt like I was learning something about human psychology, getting closer to figuring out how events like Jonestown happen. It was fascinating in a way. The same fans who make it known they despise WWE for its goofiness, bad booking, or subpar wrestling would suddenly be enraptured by all of it.
Being a bad show in and of itself is not a crime or something I would care about. But the smugness and bitterness in the AEW fan base is always there beneath the surface; the fans love to talk about how much better the show is than WWE, how “refreshing” it is to have “real wrestling” back, and how great it is to watch wrestlers who have “creative freedom” instead of being shackled by corporate oppression. This starts at the top with Tony Khan, who is a wrestling nerd that is awkwardly deferential to the viewers. Khan is a joke in the world of pro sports, where his teams all suck and he has shown no capability to lead, but these wrestling fans are giving him the validation he has always craved. In return, he gives them the show they want, full of goofy indie nonsense and matches that are purely exhibitions of moves with no selling or logic.
The way I see it, AEW could have been its own thing, but by constantly talking trash at WWE and insisting they were “the good guys,” they invited the comparisons. So I compare them to WWE and see a show that is much worse on almost every level. The one area where AEW has something going for them is that the show does have a little of that “anything can happen” vibe to it compared to the rigid structure of WWE, in part due to the complete unprofessionalism and cluelessness of everyone involved. Other than that, though, my expectation was that AEW would expose weaknesses in WWE, but instead I find myself appreciating WWE more now that I see an inferior company try to equal them.
I used to wonder why WWE didn’t let its wrestlers really go all-out in their matches, instead favoring a somewhat formulaic and safe style of wrestling. When I watch AEW, with its mind-numbing action, non-stop flips and contrived-looking moves, I understand why WWE limits its talents in order to make the moves register and make sense. Matches in AEW rarely have psychology or a story to them; there is never any sense of pacing or “less is more,” which is part of why the show always feels so indulgent. I always thought WWE should give talent more creative freedom and let them be unscripted on the mic. After watching WWE rejects like Miro utilize their newfound “freedom,” I understand why they didn’t have much creative input — because they’re stupid and their ideas suck. I also used to dislike WWE for being so biased towards big guys. It took watching AEW, where I believe I could beat up half the male roster in a real fight, to understand why Vince McMahon pushes who he does. The wrestlers in WWE look like professional wrestlers, not average nerd fans, and that makes a huge difference when it comes to suspending disbelief and being immersed in what’s going on.
The vast discrepancy in talent between the shows cannot be overstated. Almost everyone in WWE looks cool, has a distinct charisma, and knows what they’re doing in the ring. WWE’s roster is probably the most diverse in the history of wrestling; a look at their current champions shows a wide range of performers from different races and backgrounds. And this diversity goes deeper than skin color: the performers in WWE have their own moves, mannerisms, and quirks. When you watch a big WWE show, there is a little something for everyone; there can be a flippy cruiserweight match, two giant guys standing toe-to-toe, a technical mat-based match, etc. AEW’s roster, on the other hand, is the most bland and vanilla collection of largely interchangeable “talent” I’ve ever seen. Leading the charge are The Young Bucks, the self-proclaimed “best tag team in the world,” who are scrawny white guys who could only exist in a pro wrestling world where nobody believed in anything so it became a contest to see who can do the stupidest moves in every match. Nobody in any entertainment medium has made more money while having fewer positive attributes than The Young Bucks. Other highly featured wrestlers like Orange Cassidy, Joey Janela, and Darby Allin rely on doing horrendous comedy or moronic stunts because they are so not believable as fighters. These are guys who simply would not cut it in WWE, but they are able to carve out a space for themselves in the minor leagues of AEW. Which is fine, but if you go to a Toledo Mudhens game, nobody there acts like they’re watching a team that is better than the Dodgers.
The wrestlers who were in WWE and jumped over to AEW like Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, and FTR, have mostly proved that they’re not as good as they thought they were. Jericho has aged rapidly and spends most of his time on the show doing heinous comedy sketches that look like a drunk guy sent in an embarrassing audition to SNL. Moxley is more controversial — I can’t deny that he is very popular and a lot of people like what he is doing in AEW, where he has abandoned wrestling actual matches so he can jump onto barbed wire, swing a baseball bat covered with barbed wire at people, or be in a match where the ropes are exploding barbed wire. I find this kind of “wrestling” ridiculous and silly, and so I’ve come to view Moxley less as a wrestler and more as a stuntman who is good at talking and convincing people that what he’s doing isn’t terrible when it obviously is, which in some ways makes him the perfect representative for AEW. As for FTR, they’re still a proficient tag team in the ring but their storylines on this show are even more nonsensical than what made them quit WWE. They had a feud with The Young Bucks where trying to determine who was the face and who was the heel was like trying to translate a Zodiac killer cypher.
I’m writing this post because I’m enjoying it, which is where most of my fascination with AEW lies now: why is it so fun to hate this company? What does it say about me, and my outlook on wrestling, that one of my current hobbies is trashing them? Are there lessons from this that I could possibly apply to art in other mediums? AEW just hits this sweet spot for me: it is not only very bad, but everyone involved in making it is fully convinced that it is the greatest thing anyone has ever done. This intersection of confidence and incompetence is where prime hate-watching happens. That’s why The Room is so popular, but unfortunately AEW isn’t even close to that level, and for the most part I now just keep up with the show via short clips online when I feel like laughing and being bewildered about what hardcore wrestling fans think is good.
I think AEW is also tapping into my tendency to be a fan of something while disliking a lot of other people who are fans of it, which has been a theme in my life as a nerdier person who doesn’t like nerds much. I land squarely in the coveted 18-49 male demographic that AEW is going after, but I rarely like entertainment that is so obviously aimed at me, and I’ve cringed at AEW’s Rick and Morty tie-ins and the way it has brought nerd culture into wrestling, with guys doing moves from Streetfighter and being inspired by anime. I like entertainment that gives me a different perspective and so have little desire to seriously watch a bunch of nerds make a show for nerds that makes me hate nerds. Of course, WWE also targets young males, but there is more of an attempt to appeal to a wide swath of people, and when shows had fans, the difference between an AEW crowd and a WWE one was stark.
Mostly, I’ve realized that wrestling is my outlet for wanting entertainment that is larger-than-life compared to my increasingly obscure music taste. I like the big stadium shows and the feeling with WWE that I’m watching the best talent on the highest stage. Nobody in AEW touches the likes of Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Roman Reigns, Edge, Drew McIntyre, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Keith Lee, Bobby Lashley, etc, and the production quality and spectacle of WWE is unmatched. AEW could have made up for this gap if it told really emotional, artful stories with strong characters that you could believe in, but to say they’ve fallen short of that is an understatement. Everything in AEW feels goofy and fake, and the show really makes no effort to engage with the audience on an emotional level. Nobody actually hates any of the heels, or really likes any of the faces, in the sense that they want to see them win more than anything. The show only exists to be “good wrestling” to a portion of the fanbase who hates WWE and thinks wrestling is about doing the most moves and doing the coolest stunts. But if none of the moves or stunts actually make the audience feel something, how is that good wrestling?
Daniel Bryan, who is a wrestling genius, once had an exchange on Twitter with author Naomi Klein, where he argued that wrestling is a medium that actually encourages deep empathy in the audience in contrast to its reputation as a redneck spectacle. He knows better than anyone: when Daniel Bryan got red-hot in WWE a few years ago, it was because the audience really cared about him and wanted to see him be champion. And WWE, while it tried to fumble the story numerous times, was able to string the audience along, to make them have real emotions about what they were watching even though it was “fake wrestling.” I don’t believe AEW is capable of telling such a story, because nobody in the company has shown any capacity for storytelling and getting the audience invested at a level deeper than chanting “this is awesome” after someone crashes through a table covered in barbed wire and thumbtacks. While AEW is supposed to be this “revolution” of wrestling, it is really doing the stereotypical version of wrestling that non-fans make fun of. Until they can tell a story with some actual emotional resonance, the only reason for me to watch will be to laugh at it.
The Noise Made By People 