the '90s are over & we're never getting them back

At Slate, Marisa Meltzer bids farewell to Sleater-Kinney.

One day, driving in a friend's car, I heard 2002's One Beat and I realized that Sleater-Kinney had grown up and moved on as much as I had. The album sounded like it was made by thirtysomething women who were still frustrated by the status quo—and played louder than ever to prove it—but you could hear that they were living with children and mortgages and standing weekly therapy appointments. Their last and arguably best record, The Woods, came out last year and has a certain finality to it, packed with songs about the complications of success and long-term relationships, ending with the warped lullaby "Night Light," as if they knew all along it would be their last one.
-