Search - Sleater-Kinney :: One Beat

The Best Sleater-Kinney Album (Until The Next One)

wei | Chicago | 08/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok here we go again...picture it now...that face of intense disbelief and shock - that "hurts so good" - (like you just tasted a lemon expression) when the new Sleater-Kinney album comes blasting out of the speakers. I'm here to tell you that "One Beat" delivers it like a sugar rush straight to your head, baby. Cuts through all the retro/fashionable rock BS like a knife through butter. If you had any doubts that S-K couldn't hold it down for a SIXTH album straight (SIXTH!) - then prepare to be surprised. What other band's output has been so flawless? It's been a while since the group last dropped "All Hands On The Bad One" and then came the Time magazine feature. The best rock 'n roll band in the world? For the ones who have been with them since Lori was the drummer - that's a surreal experience. Since then, I've moved away from rock and onto more electronica, hip-hop, soul, and jazz in my musical diet - considering my punk rock days dead and gone. It's been a while since I've touched anything with just guitars and drums in two years? But I'll always support S-K because they are the singular punk band of our time that will stand when the dust clears. I got money on it. Ok so let me tell you about this album. It's all there: the jagged guitar interplay, the welps, cathartic screams, and the HOOKS, god help us - the hooks. Then there's dashes of funk horns and synths. Yeah you heard me right. But like the best groups, S-K has a synergy between it's members. The most similiar thing I can think of is like the conversational aesthetic of hip-hop. Corin, Carrie, and Janet are made for each other - you can't fake this. Oh yeah, the songs are ALL good - I could go into them but [what the heck], just buy the album."

They may actually have topped Dig Me Out

Ethan Straffin | Palo Alto, CA USA | 04/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...and I really didn't think that was possible.



This is a spiky, snarky, angry little album, just as punk is supposed to be, but it's also all about the love of life and the refusal to settle for mediocrity in romance or politics or anything else. As always, Corin's voice is not for everyone, though I consider it one of the most spectacular instruments ever to make it onto a CD. And, Oh! -- to steal the title of track 3, which is this album's shamelessly cute, infectious followup to Dig Me Out's "Dance Song '97" -- the melodies, the harmonies, the passion, and that way they have with multiple simultaneous vocal lines to which nobody else out there can quite hold a candle...it's all just plain good. There are a few tracks that I could do without (cough Prisstina cough), but overall, these three women have never been more appealing or less ignorable."

Imperfect symmetry

joshua m davis | alton, md | 01/02/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

""One Beat" isn't exactly a departure for veteran indie rock trio Sleater-Kinney. But that's not exactly a bad thing.The band still plays through multiple time signatures with ease, gets lost in excitedly sparse guitar chords and beat on brat drum rolls, and Corrin Tucker still thrusts her voice out front like Patti Smith in an earthquake. But what makes them different-and what has always made them different-is that they resemble less their peers than they do fellow ground-breaking bands like The Talking Heads, The Clash, and Devo. In fact, upon first listen someone asked candidly, "Rush?"The title track suggests the mechanism for the music. Lines like, "take me to the source of chaos / let me be the butterfly / imperfect symmetry has underlining poetry and rhyme," provide a perfect description of the band's sound-part beauty, melody and pop, and part beastly comedowns and sonic franticism. Sure the base of their sound is still formulaic power pop, but between those lines exist full-on Beach Boy breakdowns complete with crystal clear harmonies, soaring keyboard driven choruses worthy of The Cars, and an endless amount of unraveling guitars. Add to that, the expanded sound provided by keys, theremin, trumpet, and string section, and you've got something far beyond the usual punk-pop girl group.The lyrics, usually either warbled by Tucker, or purred by fellow guitarist Carrie Brownstein, range from the dismally personal ("nobody lingers like your hand on my heart") to the sarcastically nationalistic ("if you love your country, go out and spend some cash") to the clean universal ("why can't I get along?"). Still the issues addressed are genuine, and are sung with an unfailing passion. "Since when is skepticism un-American?" questions the sardonically post 9-11 "Combat Rock." "Her only job was to not grow old," declares "Hollywood Ending," and "I've got this curse on my tongue / all I taste is rust," confesses the exquisite closer, "Sympathy." Those kind of lyrics alone would be enough to lift most band beyond any state of normalcy. But the overall consistency of their music, the sheer originality, and the impassioned approach is what made Sleater-Kinney a household name among indie rock enthusiasts in the first place. And there's certainly nothing on "One Beat" to call that crown into question."