 "Unbelievable" | 2008-05-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: ACO46UO1ARLGW |
Unfortunately, Spiderland was the last album Slint ever recorded (an EP was released later, but was recorded prior to this album). That said, it meant that they didn't make any career mistakes, as both this and Tweez, their first recording, are very good, and in the case of Spiderland, absolutely out-of-the-stratosphere amazing.
This should really be listened to as an album, not as individual songs, but here's my personal opinions of the songs contained within.
Breadcrumb Trail- I liked this some when I first heard it, but it's gotten a lot better to my ears as I listen to it more and more. The lyrics are a pretty straightforward narrative about a carnival, but Brian McMahan's word choice and vocal style makes the story somewhat eerie and dreamlike. 9/10
Nosferatu Man- A very interesting riff (which I believe is in 5/4, but I could be mistaken) which reminds me a bit of Discipline-era King Crimson, albeit more dissonant, opens this math-rock opus with surreal lyrics possibly about a vampire. Like the previous song (and most of the others on the album) there's some mumbling and then some screaming in the vocals. The instruments are what drive it along though, particularly the drumming of Mr. Britt Walford. 10/10
Don, Aman- Don, the song's protagonist, goes through some routine (but a bit skewed, of course) experiences as the guitars interlock to create a creepy, avant-rock background (with a bit of distortion now and then, of course) with no drums involved. Sort of scary. Good, though. 9/10
Washer- Very sad and ominous mini-epic (well, not quite mini, it's 9 minutes in length) possibly about a broken relationship. Prominently features the acclaimed dynamics Slint is famous for, with some soft strumming leading to loud bashing after the words "I am safe from harm..." Warning- this can make you feel quite depressed. 10/10
For Dinner...- Solid instrumental, not the best. An interesting atmosphere is created, though. 9/10
Good Morning, Captain- This Rime of the Ancient Mariner-derived piece is the strongest track on the album, in my opinion. It's also very disturbing. It'd be worth it to get this album just for this track. Amazing. 11/10
I know I cheated a bit on the last track, but that adds up to 58 out of 60, a definite A-plus. This has had such a huge influence on the post-rock scene, along with Laughing Stock by Talk Talk (see my review [or don't, it's OK]), that it is just ridiculous. I mean, for God's sake, if you added a string section to this album, merged it with the samples found on Tweez, and tripled the song lengths, you've basically just created a little band called Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Also, the musicianship is really top-notch. The drumming is full of energy and quick fills, the guitars create some of the most awesomely unique, angular riffs found in underground music today, and the bassist holds everything together like Gorilla Glue. A desert-island disc if there ever was one. |
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| "Take Your Time With This One" | 2008-01-02 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2SAKEMYBXK3FL |
This is one of those albums you need to listen to in one continuous sitting. That being said, it is a fantastic journey. Slow, melodic runs building into fuzzed out chaos and returning to tranquility, it is a formula now used by many many bands ranging from Tortoise to bands like ISIS and Pelican.
Listen to this album a few times before judging it, at first it can be hard to take the almost nonsensical lyrics serious. It will all make sense in time, as will the utter genius of this album. Essential for any music lover. |
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| "Fiery yet quiet, "Spiderland" in its best moments deserves all the praise" | 2007-10-29 |
| - Reviewed By mianfei |
Slint's 1989 debut album Tweez had been mainly generic thrash metal with a few quieter moments, but none that hinted they were to move to such a new plane as they did on "Spiderland". Indeed, as has been said many times before, they did something that had almost never been done.
The amazing thing about "Spiderland" is the way in which Brian McMahan and David Pajo are able to make their guitars sound so soft and then turn into a "loudness" (that's really the wrong word) without the slightest trace of pomp as dominated on the short songs of Tweez. On the opening track "Breadcrumb Trail" the band sets the tone with a simple hybrid of folk guitars and almost punkish drums before the electric guitar enters to create an effect that hits one in the heart much more deeply than pompous metal or stadium rock ever could. "Nosferatu Man", though danceable, is the closest of "Spiderland"'s tracks to Tweez and does not have the same impact, but with "Don Aman" Slint move further-ot than ever before. In the process they create a song in which every note seems to have the emotional effect of an entire song on most other albums. The guitar might seem like Joni Mitchell's "Coyote", but it is so much sharper and slower. "Crystalline" might be a very apt word given the way in which each note is made for maximum impact.
"Washer", the longets track on the record, does not have quite the impact of "Don, Aman", but the stark instrumentation on most of the track is not only tender and beautiful but truly passionate. "For Dinner" is a surprisingly light instrumental piece that does not have the remarkable qualities of "Spiderland"'s best material, but the closer "Good Morning Captain" is really explosive, especially at the end when McMahan screams "I miss you" with the kind of helplessness that I myself often feel when in despair.
Even if the second and fifth tracks are not up the remarkable standard of innovation and passion of the rest of the album, it is impossible not to give "Spiderland" the full five stars. A record of such genuine passion is a true treat not to be missed, and its influence on the post-rock generation through showing how music could be made more emotional than ever before is further reason to elevate "Spiderland" to a high status. |
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| "Slint's Six Song lp - "Spiderland"" | 2007-06-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3VHHFMJWRCTOS |
'Spiderland' is currently a album that I have been listening to more often these days. It's an album I have had for about 10 years now, but it just recently made it's way back into my stereo. This time I actually like it.
'Spiderland' was first released in 1991 and it was Slint's second album after 'Tweez'
I read many reviews over the last few years, still not sure how I felt about this. Many stated this is the first True Post Rock album.
A statement in some ways I still don't get, but no other band influenced by Slint has come close to matching it's depressive, but atmospheric intensity.
There has been rumors that the band members of Slint had to be institutionalized during the making of 'Spiderland'-
The sound is very lo-fi. Filled with off key guitar distortions which are quite eerie and strange(one of the reasons why it took me so long to get into this record). Very disturbing, and full of slowed down tempo.
Brian McMahan's voice switches from grunge induced screams to mere whispers. And yes, I do prefer this album over another (landmark) album which also came out later in 1991. Although 'Spiderland' was sadly much less known and it still is.
This album truly does mix garage rock, grunge and punk and it's also full of mutters and talking. Really creepy, may be a turn off for some.
The song "Washer" is a very dark track. The protagonist knew his fate, but couldn't avoid it in the end. Despair can be heard throughout.
Opener "Breadcrumb Trail" - A truly gut-wrenching listen, dissonant guitars over McMahan's intensity. Then on through the closer, and best known track "Good Morning Captain" where the last lines are McMahan screaming "I'm in Hell...I'm in HELLL...I MISS YOU...!"
- It is hard to believe that these guys were just teenagers when making this album. A Record that inspired Math Rock (?) and bands like Explosions in the Sky and Tortoise. This is a 'must hear' listen and it should be heard on vinyl. |
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| ""In the mirror, he saw his friend."" | 2007-06-13 |
| - Reviewed By theedge56 |
Unheard of by many, revered by almost all those that own it, Slint's second (and last) album is regarded as one of the most influential alternative records ever released.
Brian McMahan's primarily spoken vocals offer a haunting juxtaposition to David Pajo's (later of Tortoise and Zwan) jaggedly ornate guitar playing, with the lyrics seemingly having little connection to the stop-start syncopation of the instrumental. From McMahan's tale of a ride on a roller-coaster with a gypsy fortune teller at a carnival in Spiderland's opener 'Breadcrumb Trail' to his reworking of Coleridge's opus The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ('Good Morning, Captain'), at the album's close, Slint's final work runs the gamut of marginal human experience, abstracted against a backdrop of jazz time signatures and 'spidery' guitars, to create a stifling air of impending doom. For all that however, 'Washer' is one of the most startlingly beautiful elegies committed to record.
Sexy, claustrophobic, unashamedly arty and conceptual, Spiderland is considered by many to be the first true 'post-rock' album, following their Steve Albini-recorded 'post-hardcore' debut, Tweez (1989). |
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| ""I Miss You!"" | 2007-04-09 |
| - Reviewed By mhco |
Simplicity should never be confused with being simple. The relatively primitive component parts of "Spiderland" build into something far more powerful, mostly because the band had a firm grasp of the dynamic tensions of "heavy" music. In other words, dramatic, powerful music is formed through the dynamic shifts in the component parts rather than the top level of the sound. Its brilliance comes from the fact that its brutality is brutally subtle.
The rumours that several members of the band had to seek psychiatric help after the recording of this album ring true precisely because there is a very real jarring sense of desperation and loss in the mere thirty six minutes and six tracks that comprise this album.
Another thing to explain the impact that this album has made is that, paradoxically, it doesn't really sound like anything that has come either before or since. Perhaps the closest relative to its sound is the work of Tortoise and other "Post Rock" bands, formed by some members of the band after the demise of Slint. Yet "Spiderland" is at heart unapologetically straight rock music...but with a sense of mystery that totally eludes most rock bands and their preening "stars". The contrary cover art (shot by Billy "Prince" Billy, a.k.a., Will Oldham) and sparse liner notes only add to the mystery.
The band split up soon after "Spiderland" was released, partly because hardly anyone bought it. They therefore never got the chance to lose their charisma, and will always stay those young men frolicking in a dingy wayside pond. Slint are a much-missed band. But perhaps it's better that way.
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| "genius, genius" | 2007-04-04 |
| - Reviewed By xstaralfrx |
I love Slint to pieces. This record is so unique on so many different levels. Words may not do justice here, but i always think of "Spiderland" as a concept album: that being a monumental night terror one night.
You are falling asleep at the beginning, and by the end of "Breadcrumb Trail," you are in R.E.M. sleep.
...Now begins the nightmare ("Nosferatu Man")
...The night-terror takes hold of your body ("Don, Aman")
...and now the aftershocks ("Washer")
..you reconcile your inner-demons and begin to wake from the night ("For Dinner...)
...finally, you wake from the dream and your life will never be the same ever again ("Good Morning, Captain")
I still find nuances that I have not yet experienced in this record. Oh, another plus, one of the best album covers/promo photos ever |
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| "Frightening In Its Strength." | 2007-02-15 |
| - Reviewed By lawrencewolkoff |
This record...is brilliant. No filler. No hits. No traditional songs. 7 minute mind-blowing works of art? Yes.
I can't remember where I heard of Slint or why I got this, but I assure you that I regret neither. The record encorporates a sense of paranoia, hope, faith, depression, lonliness, confusion and spite. It is a rare recording. A masterpiece. Never equaled before. Never equaled since. The openening of "Don, Aman" is an acapella breakdown leading into an ocean of strings, "Washer" is unequaled in gorgeous "heart-on-sleeve" humility. "Nosferatu Man" haunts like a bad dream, "Good Morning, Captain" sticks to so many surfaces, only to all be unglued with the blood-curdling screams of "I Miss You."
Stop reading.
Get this record NOW.
Listen. |
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| "Yeah" | 2006-04-10 |
| - Reviewed By kungfutoaster |
This album makes me feel absolutely miserable in the best way possible.
Check it. |
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| "One of the best rock albums ever recorded..." | 2006-03-11 |
| - Reviewed By tarsnewthing |
I'll be the third to reinforce the idea that you really have to let this CD grow on you. I first heard of this band through the "Kids" soundtrack. "Good Morning Captian" was the last song on the CD and I loved The Folk Implosion, who put that soundtrack together and I figured if they liked Slint I would to so I got Spiderland. At first I blew it off as boring but then came back to it knowing something was there. Then the genius of it struck me. I have to be in the right mood but I always come back to it and out of my collection of over 400 CD's, Spiderland stays in my 100 CD changer 80% of the time.
This album will reward any fan of rock music that is earth-shatteringly original. Creepy and intense without being loud or aggresive. Trust me it gets it's hooks into you. I'm glad these guys didn't have a 15-year career, true greatness only happens once in a while and rather than kind of enjoy 9 more mediocre records I can give all my time to Spiderland. |
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