slint -- _spiderland_: classic or dud

Not that I've listened to it in almost four years, though.

The vocals when they appear are bad, too.

I think Tom is wrong here. Or rather, I think he’s missing a whole lot of fun. To my ears this indie scene (from slint to Aerial M to the For Carnation to Palace Brothers plus zillions of other spin off projects) seems very strong - bands finding audiences for all sorts of projects, lots of cross-fertilisation, forward looking, the emphasis on cheap production tools. I like a lot of these bands, and even when I’m not so wild (Tortoise don’t do much for me if I’m honest) I respect what they’re about. Their influence has probably peaked but compared to the mess that was British indie well, that’s a whole other thread really.

Of slint’s very limited back catalogue I like the final EP (Glenn/Rhoda) best at the moment.

The scene as described - side-projects, cross-fertilisation, forward looking etc - is indeed *exactly* what a good scene 'ought' to be which is probably why I spent so much time c.94-97 trying to find stuff I liked in it. Apart from the occasionally superb Palace, little joy. The music from Slint on in has always seemed dry and uninvolving.

It's to do with my limits as a listener as much as anything: I'm not a musician and so can't technically appreciate a lot of what's going on, and I tend to listen to music for moments rather than flows (not exclusively cf. my interest in minimalism) - aside from the tape drop- out gag on "Djed" little of the post-Slint stuff has grabbed me on that basis.

The influence thing with Slint has become a bit of a joke, though. When prog-metal bands like Geiger Counter namecheck them, they're namechecking their preciousness and deliberate complexity. Isolate these things and they are no more than quixotic. Add them to rich and mysterious songs, and you've got a winner.

House at its best tends to give you moments plus current anyway - breakdowns, diva cries, emotional catharsis and the pulsebeat. "Your Love" (Frankie Knuckles) for instance with that looping keyboard pattern (current) and then Jamie Principle coming in with "I cant let go" (moment).

Some of the Chicago-ish stuff does balance those things. Smog's Red Apple Falls and "All Your Woman Things" have murderously repetitive guitar patterns - reminiscent of Arnold Dreyblatt in the attention paid to the droning string buzz - and then Callahan's lyrics provide the focal point. Similarly some of Jim O'Rourke's solo stuff has gorgeous pop moments - I forgot Bad Timing in my first post.

and there's something else to it at the root of my distaste for post- rock, something bigger, an emotional quality i have trouble articulating. in a weird way, despite its lesser attachment to pop song convention, the music strikes me as more "conventional" in a bad way on some level than the husker du or sonic youth that preceded it. i don't know how to put it any better right now. i'm still trying to figure it out since i really like a lot of classic postpunk and indie/alternative rock and even enjoyed a fair bit of emo and hardcore. i'm probably always harping on this but it's a sense of alienation from a culture and aesthetic tradition that i thought i could relate to at one point.

tom: never write yourself off as a listener because you're not a musician. musical technique is just a tool to create something worth listening to.

The album as a whole, though, I've never quite warmed to. A couple of other good moments (maybe "Breadcrumb Trail" if I'm remembering the title right) but not very consistant.

In a time where bands were either doing clones of early Butthole Surfers, still trying to be hardcore as fuk, trying to move to the Northwest, or trying to morph something new into the Husker Du model-- this record shows up. It just wasn't like anything else.

It is the only record from "1991" that I still find myself pulling out of the stacks.

basically they came out with a way of doing quiet/loud dynamics within the 'song' framework that is quite original. so classic for just that.

I will try and come up with more bcz I haven't heard in a long long time.

but side a ... nosferatu man is such a great song. i think it's the best song they ever wrote.

the "quiet/loud" dynamic thing is mentioned quite a bit but i don't understand why slint defines it. some of their songs are quiet, some are loud, a couple are both. many other bands in rock have done quiet/loud earlier and better.

I can only think of dead C but since the songs were kind of loose in the first place...gimme names.

The photo of the hand on the inside of Umber is over a cassette copy of Tweez.

to answer bob snoom's question: bitch magnet were contemporaries of slint, the bulk of their output (2 LPs, 2 EPs) was released (i bleieve) prior to the release of spiderland (at which time, sooyoung and lexi started seam).

As for Talk Talk, alas I still have never heard them. They are on a mental list of mine with groups like Seefeel, Bark Psychosis, Derutti Column, A Certain Ratio, The Sound, Kitchens of Distinction, Comsat Angels and other UK arty guitar groups I haven't heard, but would check out if I came across their records.

I've got a pretty good sized stash of lps/cds, but I am the first to admit, I haven't heard everything.

Around the same time I posted that comment, I really wasn't listening to that much guitar rock, especially from the 90s, that has changed in the past few months.

I don't know about the "shouty" parts being embarressing, at least for me part of the problem with much of the music of this type is that it never explodes, it kind of stays in one mood. I think in the lust for being taken "seriously" people banished the rock, which to me is a sad thing.

Beyond the dynamics of the music, the way that Slint arranged the guitars were was very lyrical and with quite a bit of harmonizing between the two players. I know that a couple of bands (Ativan & Pencil) playing from Bloomington in Spiderlands wake definitely built from the way the guitars were orchestrated.

Now I know you're insane, gygax!

Somewhere in my parents' house is a tape of the Diablo Guapo demos with Britt on drums.

The Shannon Doughton name is actually from someone Britt went to school with.

While you're at it, is Sooyoung up to anything these days?

what the fuck!!!

OMG... this is really terrible

posting in case it disappears:

[controversial mod edit]

christ, he's got a pic of a noose around his neck. i am kind of freaking out here

I'm gutted. Really hoping someone who knows him well can get to him.

ok, a FOAF has supposedly gotten in touch with his brother, who says he's alive. i have no other information right now

that is some srsly fucking harrowing reading, man

whatever's up, hoping he comes through it

jesus that's tough reading.

He is in police custody, per twitter.

Posting that letter may have been the smartest move of his life.

:-O

get well soon

That is one of the most heartbreaking, fucked-up things I've ever read. I really hope he pulls through and finds a better headspace.

why would anybody repost that?

or at least, can someone remove it now we know people are with him?

yeah that's a good idea

utterly harrowing read & experience. hoping hard that he gets all the help and support he needs.

How awful.

i posted to make sure that if it had details that could help someone get to him that it would be there. there was location information in there.

Posted just now on Instagram

http://instagram.com/p/zDD-AIE_lr/

oof, hope he gets through this

Me too. The pic is encouraging. So intense to see his face after reading that though.

Poor guy. Those bandages are scary.

nothing really constructive you can say about this whole thing but jesus fucking christ dave :(

how sad

Never saw this before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb46UMdmGqY

https://www.loumag.com/articledisplay.aspx?id=59820590

history of Louisville punk

After Skull of Glee, Steve Rigot played in In the Vines, Common Law Cabin and Women Who Love Candy, among other bands. He is an artist (painter) and lives in Southern Indiana.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2010/04/26/it-was-a-suicide-mission-from-the-very-start-a-chat-with-the-endtables/

http://louisvillemusic.org/blog/2015/03/20/steve-chili-rigot-dies/

haha
http://i.imgur.com/Bl5i66N.png

http://imgur.com/gallery/X83MF

http://imgur.com/gallery/4Tvfr

I bet that last band photo is their first band, Languid and Flaccid. Not Todd Brashear on bass there - I think it's Ned Oldham but not positive.

yeah, last photo is Ned on the right. but the fifth does not depict Ned; the fourth does, as well as Craig Brown and Chris Hawpe, Ned's tightest buds at the time.

apart from the last photo, its all from a J. Graham Brown School yearbook, probably '81-'84.

Slint have finally sold out. pic.twitter.com/VRvIGmm76U

— Loud And Quiet (@LoudAndQuietMag) May 3, 2017

o m g

https://i.imgur.com/7ZWA34Y.jpg

Ahead of their time in so many ways

https://wwpilates.com/

thank you, that really hits the middle of a venn diagram of stuff my wife likes.

aw that's cool good for him

would exercise with todd

that's pretty cool

Love that he kept “wild and woolly”

2 lengthy interviews with/by Britt from a few months ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNs1GUWZefw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZKAN03mnhg

I listened to that in march… and… I was present for the birth of Slint, attending their second, third and fourth shows, and then one in lville a year before the release of Spiderland… I cannot properly express my pride that guys that were only a few years older than me could possibly create music that unique, and he in particular is unlike any drummer to have ever walked the earth… I was in lville for most of the past week, and the awe with which they are regarded there is palpable… and…

I gotta say that interview is exceptional for showing how unusually inarticulate he is about what he has done (and probably everything else, as each of the times I have interacted with him he has been like that) relative to the hundreds of musicians i have interviewed. He is all show, and can't figure out how to tell or is incapable of telling.

I like Spiderland but have literally not listened to it in years. And then today in the car my 16-year-old son plugs in his phone and puts on "Good Morning, Captain." He likes to play me stuff he's found, and to see if I know it. He is now apparently a big Slint fan. I think he got into it via his Microphones-inspired excavation of '90s indie. Anyway, 16-year-olds still getting excited over it nearly 30 years on says something for it.

That is so cool!

tipsy: did you recommend the documentary "Breadcrumb Trail" for your son?

No, and I haven't seen it either. Maybe we can watch it together.

I feel like seeing how young they were (and already most members were in their 3rd(+?) band) might be very motivating to someone of a similar age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVdU_bLD2-M

Or you could read the book :)

There is an IG story on the Slint account that shows a screenshot of David, Todd, Britt, Brian on a Zoom call with Corey Rusk.

*thinking.emoji*