It’s hard to fault musicians for addressing the horrific events
\nof Sept 11 in this year’s crop of albums. The events of that day
\ncarried such magnitude that it’s hard not to address it. And, it
\nrang as an event that had an impact on virtually everyone in
\nAmerica. Even those who say the day did not change a thing in their
\nlives, that still rings as a bold statement.<\/p>\n
Most artists have played it safe. Some have resorted to
\ndunderheaded flag-waving and have wrapped themselves in the
\nAmerican flag, while making a decent profit to boot. Bruce
\nSpringsteen and Neil Young, two of arguably the most respected
\nmusicians in North America, have released songs that try to make
\nsense of that day. Sadly, both of those artists have released works
\nthat stay fairly close to the center.<\/p>\n
Enter Sleater-Kinney. Of all the artists who have released their
\ntakes on 9\/11, Sleater-Kinney’s
\nOne Beat<\/i> so far stands as probably the most definitive and
\nstriking statement of those day’s events. On the bouncing “Step
\nAside,” the power trio rail against fundamentalists who use
\nviolence to get their views across and politicians who exploit
\nparanoia to take away civil liberties.<\/p>\n
Their ‘official’ 9\/11 song, “Faraway,” dwarfs Alan Jackson’s
\n“Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning,” simply by the
\nsetup: a woman, nusing her newborn, gets a phone call. It was a
\nphrase that many of us heard early that morning if we received a
\nphone call from friends or loved ones : “Turn on the TV.”<\/p>\n
Sleater Kinney do get a bit carried away with the emotion of the
\nsong and deliver a low-blow at the President : “And the president
\nhides\/ while working men rush in to give their lives.” You can dog
\nDub-yah all you want, but Air Force One was made to serve as a
\nPresidential HQ. And any other president would have been on that
\nplane. But minor gripes aside, Sleater-Kinney do a great job on
\nmapping out the general emotions of people who were trying to make
\nsense of the unimaginable. “Why can’t I get along with yoooooou?!”
\nCorin Tucker yells in her patent shrill delivery, not totally
\nexpecting to get an answer.<\/p>\n
Along with current events,
\nOne Beat<\/i> also graps with motherhood. It’s a heafty load for
\nany album. But Sleater Kinney pull it off. It doesn’t hurt that the
\nalbum rocks like a mother. Springsteen’s
\nThe Rising<\/i>, as moving as it was, wasn’t the classic that
\nsome critics dubbed it after giving it only listen. On
\nOne Beat<\/i>, Sleater-Kinney may not have answers, but they give
\nthe listener something that is more important: a cathartic
\nrelease.<\/p>\n
Even with the heavy themes,
\nOne Beat<\/i> is a listening experience that borders on giddy.
\n“Oh!” has to be one of the sexiest songs written in recent memory.
\nThe Go-Gos-like intro, “If you’re tired of the big so-so, oo oo oo”
\nis pure pop bliss. The song is complete with hand-claps and a
\ncheery chorus. Carrie Brownstone’s and Corin Tucker’s guitar work
\nhasn’t been this loose and flat-out joyful since their most
\nacclaimed release,
\nDig Me Out<\/i>.<\/p>\n
And even though the band doesn’t have a bassist, that has not
\nstopped Sleater Kinney from making their most assured and melodic
\nalbum of their career. Janet Weiss remains one of the most powerful
\ndrummers in rock. On “Oh!” and the pulverizing closer, “Sympathy,”
\nshe hammers a rhythm into your head that only gets better with
\nrepeat listens.<\/p>\n
\nOne Beat<\/i> does stumble a bit midway through, but that’s only
\nbecause it’s ancored by five amazing lead-off songs and two ending
\nsongs that pack a whallop on the listener. It’s short enough to
\nwade the middle, but “O2” and “Pristina” are somewhat forgettable.
\nThings start to pick up with “Funeral Song.” If anything, the song
\nhas one of the most hard-to-forget lyrics on an album full of them:
\n“Nothing says ‘forever’ like our very own grave”<\/p>\n
Albums like
\nOne Beat<\/i> show that the moment people say “Rock is Dead,” a
\nband will come out to prove that assumption dead wrong. What’s
\ntragic is that
\nOne Beat<\/i> will likely get overlooked at the end of the year
\nfor the hype-driven craze surrounding the ‘The’ bands, such as The
\nHives and The Vines (The White Stripes excluded). No matter. “One
\nBeat” stands as one of the best albums that Sleater Kinney has put
\nout and a great ‘first album’ purchase for neophites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5981],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37507","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sleater-kinney","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37507"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}