Sleater-Kinney, Black Belt Eagle Scout

Trading agile punk for measured, electronic alternative, Sleater-Kinney’s second act hasn’t always stuck the landing. On fourth post-reunion album Little Rope, however, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein find their footing. Rumbling like The Woods with a modern finish, the duo keeps recent experiments in synths, but brings back the angular guitar lines we’ve all missed. Brownstein sends up depression with a smirk in “Don’t Feel Right,” while Tucker, still an inimitably playful vocalist, leads “Small Finds” with both a winking sigh and an assured caterwaul. Opener Katherine Paul soundtracks her indigenous experience in indie rock project Black Belt Eagle Scout. – Carys Anderson