Pitchfork

[Posted Friday, October 17th, 2003 04:30:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Aging riot grrrls-turned-soccer moms and male Women's Studies majors who use their sensitivity to women's issues mainly to score trim, rejoice! Sleater-Kinney have added a few Pacific Northwest dates in December, according to label Kill Rock Stars' official website. Actually, let me tone that bit of phallocentric snideness down a notch: the increasingly legendary Olympia band have long ago outgrown the trappings of the riot-grrrl milieu and the entire, ridiculous paradigm of the quintessential girl-band (that is: short on chops, long on kitsch and cute outfits) to play a brand of rock so monstrous and adroit as to render any allusion to gender superfluous.

Sleater-K's fifth and most recent album, One Beat, featured the increased vocal presence of Carrie Brownstein (which happily took the edge off of Corin Tucker's banshee wail) plus the colossal drumming of Janet Weiss (made all the creamier by theremin gone wild from her ex and Quasi-mate Sam Coomes) and the requisite fifth-album addition of horn and string arrangements. The dates:

12-12 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
12-13 Seattle, WA - Showbox
12-14 Seattle, WA - Showbox