One Beat

The personal is political. The political is personal. Sleater-Kinney makes the connection better than any band I can think of -- and they have never done it more strongly than on the excellent One Beat.

The album retains the trademark layered sound of earlier work, the dueling guitars, the wailing vocals, the powerfully musical drumming, yet it plunges into much darker territory than before. All Hands on the Bad One made political statements about gender roles and consumerism, but never asked the deeper questions at the heart of One Beat. Here, two tracks deal explicitly with 9/11. One touches on domestic violence. Two stare down the death of someone close. Add a baby -- Corin Tucker had a son last year -- and some sexual themes, and you're pretty much got the whole spectrum of human experience. That's a lot to chew off, but there is not a false moment in the whole album. (Splendid)