Sleater-Kinney
The Hot Rock
[Kill Rock Stars]
Rating: 7.7
In exchange for allowing them into our collective psyche-- for taking their
music and making it ours-- we as music fans offer our beloved artists a
precarious path. We dubiously ask for new albums to explore new territory,
while still evoking the memory of the work for which we originally fell.
Our fickle ears are the equivalent of an icy mountain road, with the
wreckage of many a band's careers left smoldering in the embankment.
Having added Quasi member Janet Weiss' distinguished drum set to the mix for
1997's triumphant Dig Me Out, Sleater- Kinney found a sound somewhere
between a lo-fi version of the Go-Go's and the all- out rage of punk rock.
Capturing the imagination of critics and fans alike, Dig Me Out thrust
the band instantly into the limelight and down that dangerous road. Well, The
Hot Rock finds the girls from Olympia, Washington deftly handling in stride
everything thrown at them.
Still carrying Carrie Brownstein's trademark
disjointed guitar riffs (a friend of mine claims that there's not a single
chord on the album) and Corin Tucker's shrill vocals, the album remains on
familiar, if slightly transformed, ground. Weiss trades her punctuated
pounding on Dig Me Out for a more suggestive, almost soulful sound
here. Along with sometime Yo La Tengo producer Roger Moutentot's hands
on deck, it provides the album with a subdued texture.
Offsetting the album's understated demeanor is
Brownstein and Tucker's growing confidence as songwriters. Throughout the
album, they layer distinct lyrical points of view responsively in a unique
and complex innovation that works particularly well given their vocal
differences. These elements are combined with great success on The Hot
Rock, never more so than on "God is a Number" and "Living in Exile."
The former worries about a loss of humanity in a technological world while
the latter contemplates self- knowledge through loss.
The Hot Rock lacks Dig Me Out's power, but it represents a
confident and intriguing step forward for Sleater- Kinney, while maintaining
the basics of their singular sound. As they continue to expertly manage the
deadman's curve of artistic acclaim, Sleater- Kinney is quickly emerging as
one of America's premiere rock bands. The Hot Rock is another mile
successfully traversed and another solid album for the band.
-Neil Lieberman