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Underground > Radio & Music >

Sleater Kinney's One Beat

Murray Hamhandler

17:32 / 18.10.02

Do we have Sleater Kinney fans here? Have you heard One Beat? I've enjoyed S-K's music for years, but this album... Wow. Head and shoulders above the rest. This album rocks more than anything I've heard for a while. The song "One Beat" just absolutely forces the head nods and "Yes! Yes! Yes!"-es out of me, it rocks and grooves so hard. I'm not a fan of most straight up "rock" music for much the same reason that I'm not a fan of most straight up "comedy" movies: it doesn't deliver what it's supposed to. But when rock is done right...it is soooooo sweet.

01:53 / 19.10.02

That album rocks! I picked it up in August (when it cam out) and I have to say these girls have paid their dues.... combat rock is my favorite one on the album by the way.

11:57 / 20.10.02

Agree; it rocks. I got the vinyl lp with an extra 7" single ("Off with your head"/"Lions and tigers"). Also great!

09:32 / 22.10.02

Do we have Sleater Kinney fans here?

We sure do!

Have you heard One Beat?

I haven't, ridiculously, despite being in the same house as it for over a month.. but then I'm only just getting my head 'round The Hot Rock..

15:00 / 22.10.02

I love Sleater-Kinney, but have somehow managed to completley forget about this album every time I've been in a music store recently.

I'll try and remember to get it tommorow, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll forget all about it...

damn my muddled brain!

Matthew Fluxington

17:03 / 22.10.02

Ah, One Beat is only okay, I think. It's uneven to me - there's some really great songs on the album (Oh!, One Beat, Step Aside, Sympathy), but most of it is just kind of tedious and grating. Sometimes Corin is just a little too much on this record, and I just want to ask her to stop - I thought she'd come a long way as a singer on the last two records, it seems like she's given up on nuance and is just trying to be as shrill as humanly possible. I think S-K are capable of a lot better than this.

13:35 / 23.10.02

i like one beat because it shows that s-k are developing more as people. and they're really good musicians, and you can tell that at the time of making the record they were going through some hard times and they just made this album that is so deep and emotional it's heart breaking. that said, my favourite song on the album is OH! which is where they go all sixties girl band harmonies. too cute!

11:48 / 19.02.03

what other s-k albums/singles are worth getting? never heard their stuff

Matthew Fluxington

12:02 / 19.02.03

Sean, I've yet to send your package. (sorry! I'll do it very soon!) I'll throw in some S-K music for you.

I think their best record is The Hot Rock, the record with all the hits on it is Dig Me Out, and Call The Doctor is their best punk record.

13:28 / 19.02.03

I have two S-K albums - 'Call The Doctor' and 'Dig Me Out'. The first is a great album, although I do have a problem with the band's lack of bass guitar, I find them just a bit too trebly for my liking. DMO is a far less satisfying album, I thought, although the good songs are very, very good. I haven't heard any of their more recent stuff - are they more poppy now? They seem to have got a lot of success, cynically I'm assuming they're a bit tamer now.

[excuse for ligging story] And can I just say here that I bought my copy of Call The Doctor from one of the band, at a gig of theirs in San Francisco back in '96? [/excuse for ligging story]

Matthew Fluxington

13:42 / 19.02.03

I don't know if I'd say that S-K have gone 'pop' - they have written some catchier and more musically accomplished songs, but it's not as though they've gone candy-pop. Well, aside from "You're No Rock N Roll Fun".

SFD, I'd strongly recommend picking up The Hot Rock, which completes the 1-2-3 punch that started with Call The Doctor. It is an odd record - it is simultaneously their weirdest and most accessable album. It's the least political S-K record, it's mostly very emotionally complicated and bittersweet break-up songs. Musically, it's more lowkey, with more low-end than the other S-K albums even though there isn't any bass guitar. It's produced by Roger Mountenot, the man who has recorded the majority of Yo La Tengo's music. They play around with rhythm and harmony a lot on the record, with some really interesting results, too.

Matthew Fluxington

13:52 / 19.02.03

As for the the two most recent albums - All Hands On The Bad One is a mixed bag, half of it building on the most sophisticated and emotionally charged direction of The Hot Rock, and the other half owing more to the more popular stuff off of Dig Me Out. It's a good record, but not as good as the three that went before it, in my opinion. I suppose that All Hands is probably the most 'pop' album in their catalog.

One Beat is a peculiar one - I like to call it Sleater-Kinney Go To War. Most of the lyrics deal with either post 9/11 life or Corin's recent marriage and child, sometimes doing both at the same time. I'm glad that at least one relatively popular band is writing post 9/11 protest songs, but I think that a lot of the lyrics on One Beat are very clunky and simplistic. Musically, it's a weird mix - a lot of the songs have this very harsh, martial vibe. Corin and Carrie are both singing in a way that really pushes the treble in a way that I find unappealing, which really depresses me since I think that they both had come along way as singers over the past few records. If you're put off by the treble, I think One Beat might just mean a big headache for you.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:44 / 19.02.03

All Hands On The Bad One is probably the most politically charge S-K album out of the ones I've heard, so I don't know if it would fit with some people's definitions of becoming more 'pop'. It's certainly not "tamer" - it's got 'Ballad of A Ladyman' and '#1 Must Have' which are pretty much feminist manifestos/mission statements, 'Was It A Lie?' which is very unflinching, 'Male Model' etc. Even 'You're No Rock'N'Roll Fun' has a distinct gender politics edge - the power of that isn't detracted by the fact that it has a tune. I find the "more tuneful" = "tamer" thing to be bunk more often than not...

09:26 / 20.02.03

that would be great flux thanks

10:13 / 20.02.03

I meant more tame musically, actually, but thanks for making that assumption, Flyboy.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:39 / 20.02.03

Jeez, it was hardly a personal affront - I was just pointing out one aspect in which they band haven't become poppier.

13:02 / 20.02.03

"All Hands.." and "Call the Doctor" are my favourite SK records, for whatever that's worth.

I'm afraid the charms of "Hot Rock" and "One Beat" are mostly lost on me..