Sleater Kinney

Tiny Tim

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Sleater Kinney are the best band to come out of the early 90's riot grrrl movement. Their unique sound and top notch songwriting set them apart from their more limited peers from that scene. Over the course of their ten year career their sound progressed and matured into some of the most interesting rock music produced in that period. Here's a little background:


Sleater-Kinney was founded by Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein. Tucker was formerly in the influential riot grrrl band Heavens to Betsy, while Brownstein was formerly in the queercore band Excuse 17. They often played at gigs together and formed Sleater-Kinney as a side-project from their respective bands. When Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17 disbanded, Sleater-Kinney became their primary focus. Janet Weiss (of Quasi) was the band's primary drummer, though Sleater-Kinney has had other drummers throughout its existence, including Lora Macfarlane, Misty Farrell, and Toni Gogin.

Upon Tucker's graduation from Evergreen State College (where Brownstein remained a student for three more years), she and then-girlfriend Brownstein took a trip to Australia in early 1994. Their last day there, they stayed up all night recording what would become their self-titled debut album. It was released the following spring. They followed this with Call the Doctor (1996) and Dig Me Out (1997), and became critical darlings as a result.

Their next few albums pushed the band towards mainstream listeners, culminating in 2002's One Beat. The group opened for Pearl Jam at many North American shows beginning in 2003, and the band cited the experience of playing to large arenas as part of the inspiration and motivation for the music found on their last album, The Woods. The Woods was released in 2005, and was a departure from the sound of their previous albums. In its place, The Woods featured a denser, heavily distorted sound that drew on classic rock as its inspiration. In 2006 they helped to curate an edition of the British All Tomorrow's Parties festival.

Renowned critics Greil Marcus and Robert Christgau have each praised Sleater-Kinney as one of the essential rock groups of the late 90s/early 00s. Marcus named Sleater-Kinney America's best rock band in a 2001 issue of Time magazine.


Sleater-Kinney's musical style sprung from the fertile Olympia, Washington punk scene of the early- to mid-1990s. They formed around the last years of the riot grrrl movement that included bands such as Bikini Kill and Bratmobile. Their sound incorporates stripped down, hard, anti-establishment music reminiscent of the spirit of the punk movement of the late 1970s and draws influence from the style and freethinking ideals of 1980s-1990s alternative and indie rock. The band often experimented with and pushed this foundation, progressively bringing in different instruments and arrangements. Corin Tucker's ferocious vocals, and the band's lyrics rebelled against traditional gender roles, consumerism, and a myriad of issues concerning female empowerment. In a documentary about Riot Grrrl, Tucker revealed that her vocal style has always been intentionally harsh to suit the band's message and to demand focus from the listener, and her vocals have been described by Allmusic critic Heather Phares as "love-them-or-hate-them vocals."

At the beginning of the band's career, lead vocals were often performed by Tucker, though as the band progressed, Brownstein began to appear more as a vocalist. Both Brownstein and Tucker played guitar, with Brownstein usually handling lead and Tucker performing rhythm. Although Sleater-Kinney had no bass player, both Tucker and Brownstein tuned their guitars one and a half steps down ("C# tuning"), and Tucker's tone and style enabled her to fill the same role as a bass guitar.
 

Magic

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I like Sleater-Kinney, but they are an acquired taste for me. Not the kind of stuff I listen to on a daily basis, but the music is definitely radical :D



If you like sleater-Kinney have you checked out cadallaca?
 

Tiny Tim

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I like Sleater-Kinney, but they are an acquired taste for me. Not the kind of stuff I listen to on a daily basis, but the music is definitely radical :D

It took me awhile too. Their voices are a bit abrasive at first, but once you sort of grasp how the voices and guitars sort of play off each other, it really quite beautiful. And the drummer kicks ass too.:grinthumb

If you like sleater-Kinney have you checked out cadallaca?


I've heard the name, I'll look into them.
 

JimJam

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Sleater-Kinney have a new album coming on the 20th. Is anyone, besides me, looking forward to it?

No Cities to Love is an excellent album. The songs are strong and the sound is a cross between the bigger sound on The Woods and the lo-fi of their early albums. A strong new rock album in 2015, how about that!

My favorite Sleater-Kinney albums are Call the Doctor and Dig Me Out.
 

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