Discogs
Artist Biography
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Like many a great band,
Sleater-Kinney
inhabited their time so thoroughly it took an extended hiatus to
realize the extent of their legacy. In many respects, they were the
defining American indie rock band of the second half of the '90s, the
group that harnessed all the upheaval of the alt-rock explosion of the
first part of the decade and channeled it into a vigorous mission
statement. It was not incidental that
Sleater-Kinney were an all-female band -- prior to
S-K, co-leaders
Corin Tucker and
Carrie Brownstein
both started playing music in Northern Pacific riot grrrl bands and
their feminism and queercore roots were deeply embedded in their rock
& roll -- but calling them the best female rock band of their
generation is too confining. By every measure,
Sleater-Kinney
were one of the best bands of their time, capturing the tenor of their
times and then expanding at a rapid clip, delivering record after record
that redefined their music without abandoning their punk rock (or
political) ideals. Their hot streak began once drummer
Janet Weiss joined for 1997's
Dig Me Out and it ran until 2005's
The Woods, after which they entered an "indefinite hiatus" that lasted nearly a decade. During those ten years of silence,
Tucker pursued a solo career,
Weiss drummed with ex-
Pavement leader
Stephen Malkmus' new-millennial band
the Jicks, and, most surprisingly,
Brownstein
turned into a mainstream star due to her starring role on Portlandia,
the comedy sketch show she created with fellow indie rock refugee
Fred Armisen in 2011. Portlandia helped push
Brownstein and
Sleater-Kinney into a mainstream they had never known, so when they returned in 2015 with
No Cities to Love, it was welcomed by their largest audience yet.
No Cities to Love turned out to be as much a conclusion as a comeback.
Janet Weiss left the band just prior to the 2019 release of the
St. Vincent-produced
The Center Won't Hold, an album that brought
Tucker and
Brownstein into new, adventurous territory they continued to explore on 2021's self-produced
Path of Wellness.
Tracklist
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