SONGS IN THE KEY OF GLEE

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

The most exciting thing about the rock trio Sleater-Kinney is that it sounds as if its members are still learning how to be a rock band; they rip through their songs with a gleeful abandon, as if they had just discovered their instruments behind some old tires in the garage--they didn't pay for 'em, so who cares if they bust a few drumsticks or break a few strings?

The band, which was formed in Olympia, Wash., and took its name from a local road, has its roots in the Riot Grrrl movement of the early '90s, in which groups of young women, inspired by the do-it-yourself aesthetic of punk, started fringy rock bands, fanzines and discussion groups that focused on issues relating to women (sexual abuse, lesbianism, female friendship and so on). The group's first two CDs, Sleater-Kinney (1995) and Call the Doctor (1996), received raves in the rock press as part of the general media hype about feminist rockers, but those albums were slight, tinny affairs that got by mostly on motion and emotion. They featured a few worthy songs, but the band was still discovering its power, looking for rock-'n'-roll release. "Boyfriend, a car, a job my white girl life..." went the lyrics to one of their early songs, Anonymous. "I don't know why she swallowed that lie."

Dig Me Out (Kill Rock Stars) is an improvement: there are still a fair number of lackluster songs, but there are more moments when the band unleashes its formidable energy. The band's lineup has changed slightly--guitarists Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein still trade off lead vocals, but drummer Lora MacFarlane has been replaced with Janet Weiss, whose rhythmic sense is somewhat sharper and more confident. The title song is one of the best: the music bristles with self-assurance and vitality, even as the lyrics suggest confusion: "Dig me out/ dig me in/ outta this mess baby outta my head." Tucker's wailing vibrato will annoy some listeners (Brownstein's voice is a bit calmer), but it's an apt vehicle to convey the trio's anarchic passion. Several of the tunes are old-fashioned paeans to rock, including the stomping Words and Guitar. But for Sleater-Kinney, rock is more than keg-party entertainment; it's a way of transforming one's personal problems into something useful and assertive. "Take take the noise in my head," Tucker sings. "C'mon and turn turn it up."

It's too bad the band's laudably gritty feminist outlook isn't more creatively realized, however. Many of the songs on Dig Me Out feature lyrics that are either too abstract to have much impact or too obvious to have much poetic resonance. The dull Heart Factory, for example, is about--duh--a factory that makes hearts: "Now you can program how you feel before you walk out the door." It doesn't take Deep Blue to figure out that that metaphorical construct is a yawner.

Still, other songs on this CD roar to life: the fiery skittishness of Turn It On, the unexpectedly jaunty Little Babies; the crackling guitars and clumping drums of the lesbian breakup song, One More Hour. On that last number, when Tucker sings, "Don't say another word/ about the other girl," her fervor is contagious. These songs work on a primal rock-'n'-roll level: as you listen, you find yourself turning the volume higher and higher.

--By Christopher John Farley