Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	85/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
NME	7/10
Pitchfork Media	9.1/10
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin	8/10
The Village Voice	A

One Beat is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on August 20, 2002, by Kill Rock Stars. It was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded between March and April 2002 at Jackpot! Studio in Portland, Oregon. The album peaked at number 107 in the United States on the Billboard 200 and entered the Billboard Top Independent Albums at number five. One Beat was very well received by critics. Praise centered on its cathartic delivery and progressive polemics.

One Beat is the follow-up to Sleater-Kinney's highly acclaimed fifth album All Hands on the Bad One, released in 2000. Before entering the studio, Sleater-Kinney practiced in drummer Janet Weiss's basement. The band conceived the album to be "the voice in the silence" following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on September 11, 2001. Vocalists and guitarists Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein did not follow a set of blueprint when crafting the songs; rather, they simply worked off each other's input and proceeded in a piecemeal way. The album took longer to write than its predecessor. As Tucker explains, "the songs are more intricate and require a lot more arranging and tweaking. Our creativity really channeled us to that place."

One Beat was produced by long-time collaborator John Goodmanson, who came from the same educational background as Sleater-Kinney and recorded with most of the acts signed to Kill Rock Stars. Weiss has stated that Goodmanson has a "unique" way of working with the band. Both parties decided to steer the album in a challenging new direction. In a later interview, Brownstein commented that "sometimes when we would want to do new things, he would be like, 'oh god, everyone would freak out if we did that, we can't do that!'". After the recording sessions, Tucker indicated that she viewed the record's final mix as "a vast, sweeping landscape" that is the most fully formed release in the band's discography.

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Wikipedia