Wild Flag - Live at The High Dive 11/12/2010

After Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss (formerly of Sleater-Kinney), Mary Timony (formerly of Helium), and Rebecca Cole (The Minders) announced their reunion for a project called Wild Flag last year, I was skeptical. Brownstein has kind of been a personal hero for a long time, and Janet Weiss is probably the best live drummer I've ever seen, but I was kind of bothered that all the headlines about the project would have you believe that it's the "first female supergroup...ever." Ever? Really? Personally, I consider the Breeders' (even though there are two men in the band) Kim Deal/Tanya Donelly/Cheryl Lyndsey lineup a "supergroup." And what about Free Kitten? How could you not a band consisting of members of Sonic Youth (Kim), Pussy Galore (Julie Cafritz), and the Boredomes (Yoshimi P-We), that is all female, not be a "female supergroup?" I mean they even had more star power than Wild Flag.

I think the answer that I'm looking for has to do with fans' long desire for a Sleater-Kinney reunion. Wild Flag is a band that received a lot of media coverage (playing at SXSW and having a member of your band write for NPR doesn't hurt) really fast without even releasing a full-length. Also, I found it really disappointing that writers focused so much on the Brownstein/Weiss reunion (which I don't mean to downplay, I've always been a huge S-K fan), without spending music time on the fact that Mary Timony is rocking again. Her band Helium was a really really kick-ass 90s act (if appearing on Bevis and Butthead means anything), and from that half-dozen videos I've seen of her playing, she's still got the snotty drawl and can still shred.

But never mind all that critic jumblage. I offer you today a gem of a live show. This was the band's third ever live show, recording at the High Dive (Portland) on November 12 of last year. It's real swell quality, so the guitar duet and the Janet's pounding toms just powerful as shit. If that's not enough to get you to download it, there's also a "Beast of Burden" and a Patti Smith staple "Ask The Angels." Pure nuggetology in the comments.