We are absolutely balls deep in streaming albums, and the internet demands sincere thank you's.

First off, does Joe Pernice ever dissapoint? This one isn't as poppy as Yours Mine & Ours, but it's another step and another surprise for a band that started off with an album full of sad chamber-pop. I'm sorry, does that read too much like ad copy? I'm on vacation and my mind's on fucking autopilot.

Second of all, the new Sleater-Kinney has been compared to Fugazi, circa whenever they decided to throw off the shackles of that most suburban of hairshirts, straight edge-ism. I mean, there's a goddamn 11 minute song on here. That's going to have a lot of the 15-year-old girls at their shows adjusting their "Livestrong" bracelets in silent discomfort.