Sympathy

Apparently the new Sleater-Kinney album "The Woods" has leaked to the web. Some early reports describe it as sounding more like a first album than a seventh - a fresh beginning for the band. But before everyone starts scanning indie bit streams, here's this crie de coeur about downloading from Carrie, Corin, and Janet. It's hard not to sympathize with them: after spending two years writing and recording the music, it must be hard to have people experience the music in a way they never intended - different track order, MP3 sound, and without the context of artwork etc.

I'm amazed that as more and more albums leak to the web months in advance that the record companies don't combat this with their most effective tool: releasing the albums quicker. Shorten the time from mastering to hitting the stores. This way leaks become less common and less detrimental. Simple, right? Anyhow, hopefully people will listen to the band in case of "The Woods". The over-eager might check out a new and apparently good-sounding version of the band's New Year's Eve show at MSG which is now avaiable in the S-K audio lockbox. Scroll down previous entries to find that link.