No More "Good Things"
More than a decade after exploding out of the Pacific northwest, Sleater-Kinney is evidently calling it a career:

After eleven years as a band, Sleater-Kinney have decided to go on indefinite hiatus. The upcoming summer shows will be our last. As of now, there are no plans for future tours or recordings.

We feel lucky to have had the support of many wonderful people over the years. We want to thank everyone who has worked with us, written kind words about us, performed with us, and inspired us.

But mostly we want to extend our gratitude to our amazing fans. You have been a part of our story from the beginning. We could not have made our music without your enthusiasm, passion, and loyalty. It is you who have made the entire journey worthwhile.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a band bondly as strongly with its fans as did these three women, probably because first and foremost they were music fans themselves. I probably saw them about eight times between 1997, opening for Guided by Voices at Summer Stage in Central Park, and 2005, at the Trocadero in Philly; the band's growth and change over that time was as remarkable as the music they made. Sleater-Kinney didn't play it safe; their last album, "The Woods," was a radical departure from form that often sounded more like early-'70s metal than the bratty Riot Grrl punk that served as the band's starting point in the mid-'90s.

I'm bummed because the final shows I could conceivably catch, in Philly on July 31 and NYC two days later, seem both to be sold out. Of course, that's also an indication of how much money the S-K'ers could have made were they inclined to simply cash in and no longer worry about their own satisfaction as artists. That they aren't going that way is another tribute to a band that joins the thin ranks of the Clash, Husker Du, and a handful of others as having Mattered.

(Thanks--I guess--to The Navigator for the tip.)