Sleater-Kinney reunites, plans tour

Way back in 1996, on their second album, “Call the Doctor,” Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney traded vocals on a song called “I Want to Be Your Joey Ramone.”

Brownstein took the first verse, talk-singing over the band’s distinctive guitar tangle in rhymes about how pop music and personal identity merge: “It’s on my wall, it’s in my head/ Memorize it till I’m dead.”

Then Tucker and her fire-alarm voice took over on the chorus, shouting out the young band’s intention to occupy a cherished place in the hearts of fans equal to that of their own heroes: “I want to be your Joey Ramone, pictures of me on your bedroom door,” Tucker sang. “Invite you back after the show/ I’m the Queen of Rock-and-Roll!”

That declaration of ambition is one of the things that set apart Sleater-Kinney — whose first album in nine years, “No Cities to Love,” came out Tuesday — from its peers in a DIY punk world full of skinny dudes who stared at the floor as they played.

By contrast, Sleater-Kinney — which kicks off a U.S. tour next month and includes a May 5 performance in Portland before wrapping May 8 and 9 in Seattle — was three supremely confident women. They emerged from The Evergreen State College music scene in Olympia, the same one that spawned riot-grrrl inventors Bikini Kill, feminist record label Kill Rock Stars, and, more recently, Macklemore.

Then, as now, Sleater-Kinney musicians were never reticent or apologetic about anything. That was once again made clear in October when the band — which, crucially, also includes powerhouse drummer Janet Weiss — surprised and delighted fans by announcing its reunion. The single “Bury Our Friends” rides a brash, martial rhythm and asserts a determination to remain uncompromising (“Make me a headline, I want to be that bold”), even as the album displays a more accomplished pop sensibility: “We’re wild and weary, but we won’t give in.”

Sleater-Kinney was surely America’s greatest punk band for the seven albums of its first existence, with a no-bass-player musical arsenal that included Tucker’s caterwauling, clarion-call voice, Weiss’ muscular attack, and Brownstein’s inventive collection of riffs, plus windmilling Pete Townshend stage moves. But in 2006, they went on indefinite hiatus.

Great bands break up all the time, and almost inevitably they get back together years later, in all but rare cases with new material that fails to measure up to the classic catalog.

So what’s different about Sleater-Kinney? And why do they get so much attention?

For one thing, many more eyes are now on the band because of “Portlandia,” the hit Independent Film Channel sketch-comedy show in which Brownstein stars with “Saturday Night Live” alum Fred Armisen.

After S-K split, the indie Renaissance woman also worked in a Portland ad agency and as an NPR music blogger. But her comic skills, as she and Armisen satirize feminist bookstore owners and other Portland stereotypes, have made her such a signifier of cool that she stars in her own American Express commercial.

So with a famous person now in the band, and a generation of music fans who missed out the first time now primed to see what the big deal was, more people are ready to check out Sleater-Kinney’s new album than ever paid any mind to such early hot platters as “Dig Me Out” (1996) and “All Hands on the Bad One” (2002).

Which is good, because “No Cities to Love” rewards the attention.

“No Cities” is a concise, 10-song, 33-minute salvo of continued relevance that is also plenty of fun. Having re-established their connection, Tucker, Weiss, and Brownstein lock in immediately, with no time to slow down.