Sleater-Kinney - One Beat (Remastered) '2002

Tracks list

Having consolidated their strengths with All Hands on the Bad One,
Sleater-Kinney revived the ambition of The Hot Rock on their sixth album, One
Beat. John Goodmanson gives the group its cleanest-sounding production to date,
which brings out all the new trappings in the ever more sophisticated
arrangements. Step Aside boasts trumpet and sax, The Remainder a string section,
several tracks are colored with delightfully weird vintage synths (the sort
favored by Brian Eno or Pere Ubu), and theres even a theremin on Funeral Song.
(Trivia: The playful Prisstina also features the first male vocals ever on a
Sleater-Kinney album, courtesy of Hedwig & the Angry Inch mastermind Stephen
Trask.) Lyrically, One Beat is haunted by September 11; Faraway and the cry of
dissent Combat Rock are some of the strongest statements on the tragedy any
artist has yet released, and the backdrop lends a new urgency to Corin Tuckers
pleas for a better world for her new son, not to mention the personal catharsis
of O2. All of this makes One Beat a much more effective stab at maturity than
the often-difficult The Hot Rock. True, the group does occasionally fall into
the angularity that made The Hot Rock their least immediate effort, but One Beat
offers more rewards upon repeated plays — the more challenging tracks
eventually do sink in. The album does have its minor drawbacks — Carrie
Brownsteins vocals can be a bit precious at times, and the pointed 9/11
observations make the occasional feminist sloganeering sound like nothing the
group hasnt done better elsewhere. All of which is to say that if youve never
understood the cultish adoration surrounding Sleater-Kinney, One Beat isnt
likely to change your mind. But if youre already on board with their
idiosyncrasies, One Beat is another triumph from a band that seems to produce
them with startling regularity. ~ Steve Huey

Tracklist:
 01. Sleater-Kinney - One Beat (03:08)
 02. Sleater-Kinney - Far Away (03:44)
 03. Sleater-Kinney - Oh! (03:56)
 04. Sleater-Kinney - The Remainder (03:36)
 05. Sleater-Kinney - Light Rail Coyote (03:08)
 06. Sleater-Kinney - Step Aside (03:44)
 07. Sleater-Kinney - Combat Rock (04:46)
 08. Sleater-Kinney - O2 (03:29)
 09. Sleater-Kinney - Funeral Song (02:47)
 10. Sleater-Kinney - Prisstina (03:30)
 11. Sleater-Kinney - Hollywood Ending (03:18)
 12. Sleater-Kinney - Sympathy (04:15)

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