Spiderland

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Although this Kentucky combo had a short lifespan, its influence has been extraordinary, presaging the underground "math-rock" revolution and spawning spinoffs such as Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol. But don't go thinking that the foursome is a mere footnote: The bracingly dense, dizzyingly complex songs that vein this, their second full-length release, perfectly capture the smarter face of early-'90s thug-rock. Yes, Slint's sound is descended from punk, but its members--particularly guitarist Brian McMahan--never subscribed to the "keep it simple, stupid" philosophy. Spiderland is so rife with breakneck tempo changes, off-kilter chord progressions, and bizarro-world themes, you'd be hard-pressed to go a listen without discovering something new. --David Sprague --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Breadcrumb
Nosferatu Man
Don, Aman
Washer
For Dinner...
Good Morning, Captain

Amazon.com

Although this Kentucky combo had a short lifespan, its influence has been extraordinary, presaging the underground "math-rock" revolution and spawning spinoffs such as Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol. But don't go thinking that the foursome is a mere footnote: The bracingly dense, dizzyingly complex songs that vein this, their second full-length release, perfectly capture the smarter face of early-'90s thug-rock. Yes, Slint's sound is descended from punk, but its members--particularly guitarist Brian McMahan--never subscribed to the "keep it simple, stupid" philosophy. Spiderland is so rife with breakneck tempo changes, off-kilter chord progressions, and bizarro-world themes, you'd be hard-pressed to go a listen without discovering something new. --David Sprague

Customer Reviews:

Slint's Six Song lp - "Spiderland".......2007-06-22

'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.

"In the mirror, he saw his friend.".......2007-06-13

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).

"I Miss You!".......2007-04-09

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.

genius, genius.......2007-04-04

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

Frightening In Its Strength........2007-02-15

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.

Music:

Music

music

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Absent Sounds

Classical Improvisations

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Heaven

I Can't Talk To The Walls Because They're Yelling At Me

Gone [CD-single] [Import]

Healing

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Future Primitives

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