slint -- _spiderland_: classic or dud

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haha i just checked AMG and it says he plays guitar ("shannon doughton"... the nickname that albini gave him)... am i crazy?

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 10 March 2003 19:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

1st slint=little big black.
2nd slint=a light year leap. excellent, though, maybe someone should travel back in time to prevent it from being made do to the damage its influence did.
post slint=horrible, horrible, horrible.

Bosse-De-Nage (Bosse-De-Nage), Monday, 10 March 2003 19:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

plays guitar? In Bitch Magnet? WTF?

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

hstencil, Monday, 10 March 2003 19:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

Stupid question in the back of my mind for years: Seam's Lexi, man or woman? (I didn't get to see them until after his/her departure.)

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

mookieproof (mookieproof), Monday, 10 March 2003 19:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Lexi is a woman.

hstencil, Monday, 10 March 2003 19:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

sooyoung moved to san francisco, ca. he plays keyboards in a band called eE. i saw him AND ash bowie totally randomly (and non-music related) in the same day.

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Good Morning Captain" was one of those songs it took me a year to track down after hearing on late-night radio. But it's shrunk on me since... Not a dud, exactly, just I haven't gotten back into it for a decade...

Pete Scholtes, Monday, 10 March 2003 20:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

I don't think I've ever liked anything labeled "post-rock."

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

(mookieproof i like your handle)

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

(i mean the email prefix name handle thingy part)

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

thanks, gygax! (blushes)

mookieproof (mookieproof), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

i really like spiderland
it was one of those albums that i had heard so much about that at first it seemed a little underwhelming,because i had heard about it in relation to bands who had since expanded upon the ideas,but eventually i grew to really like it
the same thing happened with the jesus and mary chain
i was listening to a fair bit of post rock when i got it though,whereas i haven't really listened to much along those lines in the last year
i've been meaning to give spiderland another listen though,to see if i still like it...

robin (robin), Monday, 10 March 2003 21:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

it's great. i love the whispered "help" on Good Morning Captain. And the "I MISS YOU"'s at the end are as moving as music gets. it's worthy of the fuss...

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 10 March 2003 22:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk/2000_05_28_hated.html#285562

toby (tsg20), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

b-b-but..."good morning captain" is great BECAUSE it's a sappy tear-jerker. there's nothing complex about the end, but it's so brutal and beautiful. i couldn't give a wanking goat about funny time signatures, or anything...

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

tanya does not like music therefore any of her 'opinions' do not count.

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 12:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

I always found the echo whisper part in "Good Morning, My Captain" to be embarassingly bad. Gimme the BRUTALITY of _Tweez_ or the s/t 10"over _Spiderland_ anyday. Still a worthwhile album.

Jon Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 14:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

i love the whispered "help" on Good Morning Captain. And the "I MISS YOU"'s at the end are as moving as music gets

I always found the echo whisper part in "Good Morning, My Captain" to be embarassingly bad

How would you say this compares with Ozzy on "Black Sabbath" singing "No NO! Please God Help me!!"? I find them both neither moving nor embarassing. They're both just really effective performances in the context of the songs.

Anyway, the Slint album is a definite classic. All the imitators are duds. The thing is as great is Slint were, there is no real point to all the regurgitation. That album was delivered at the perfect time, and they themselves had the good sense to stop.

(ok, maybe when I was a kid I got goosebumps w/ Ozzy, but I'm talking about now)

Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 09:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

eleven months pass...
How about some new For Carnation stuff? (too lazy to start a separate thread)

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:13 (twenty years ago) link

Also..what happened to Brian Mcmahan's plans to produce "a modern R&B album"?

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:24 (twenty years ago) link

I thought I posted to this thread but searched for my name and didn't find it - hell no I'm not gonna read the thread. It's a total Dud, and made me realize that I don't care about indie rock anymore. Boring, boring, boring.

Sean (Sean), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:25 (twenty years ago) link

Two classic songs ("Washer" and "Good Morning Captain") and the rest are terribly boring. I love the cover though!

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 23 February 2004 02:37 (twenty years ago) link

Haha, I love when people who are "too lazy to start a new thread" aren't too lazy to search through the archives to find just the right thread to revive.

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:37 (twenty years ago) link

I think it actaully translates to "More people will click on a thread about Slint than a thread about For Carnation, so..."

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 23 February 2004 02:39 (twenty years ago) link

i have come back around to liking spiderland a lot again, probably not coincidentally at the point where i dont feel the remotest need to give a fuck about it in a public opinion sense.

strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:39 (twenty years ago) link

Haha, I love when people who are "too lazy to start a new thread" aren't too lazy to search through the archives to find just the right thread to revive.

:)

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:41 (twenty years ago) link

Classic!!! I love it forever!!!

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:43 (twenty years ago) link

i.e. i was sympathetic to tom's points for a very long time, even though i liked the record and he didnt. all the stuff which followed in slint's wake i find uniformly blah-to-bad now (notable exceptions: the first and third tortoise records and some of the singles, the first papa m lp...i'm not sure if palace or smog really count at all here). i mean...rodan? june of 44? life is way too short. also there was a real feeling among a lot of people i knew circa 96-01 that the chi-town and related axis was responsible for way more bad ("killing" [classicist] indie rock, making stereolab boring, displacing the attention that should have gone to all the original uk post-rock acts), and slint seemed like the "logical" starting point. with hindsight now, though, they just seem like an indie rock band now. (lack of vibes and feel-good jazz chops probably for starters.)

strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:49 (twenty years ago) link

fuck all that stuff that came after it. Spiderland is classic all the way!!!

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:51 (twenty years ago) link

the for carnation wrote one really genius song ("alfredo's welcome" which sounds like church music slowed down to 33rpm), and a whole mess of other songs i couldn't pick out with 100 guesses.

strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:52 (twenty years ago) link

that stuff is okay if you are having trouble sleeping.

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:01 (twenty years ago) link

"Back when _Spiderland_ came out, folks around the college station I worked at made much merry over it. I think I played something from it once. The end. I have it in my collection somewhere and there it sits, staring at me. Yet I ignore it, really.
-- Ned Raggett"


I find this shocking and disturbing.

Stupid (Stupid), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:29 (twenty years ago) link

I found Spiderland one of those legendary records that actually lived up to my expectations once I heard it.

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:32 (twenty years ago) link

(psssst, stupid. ned is heavily medicated.sometimes it impairs his hearing.it's sad really.)

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:49 (twenty years ago) link

I'm embarrassed about everything I posted more than six months or so ago. Anyway, I listened to GMC and "Washer" some time ago just to make sure or something. Search: the guitar lines; Destroy: the vocals, the production. It's not horrendous or anything if you don't have people shoving it in your face all the time. Was Calla influenced by this? If so, the album is responsible for one good thing.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:34 (twenty years ago) link

spiderland... the first two songs are totally underrated. classic.

the for carnation - search:

how i beat the devil
get and stay march
on the swing [note: became my favorite song for a week about two years ago]
i wear the gold
winter lair
salo
preparing to receive you
alfredo's welcome

the touch and go album is really good. he (they) played a secret show a month before it was released at bruno's in SF which was incredible.

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:51 (twenty years ago) link

I'm guessing Brian's not really doing the For Carnation anymore, though I haven't heard anything to confirm that. Kind of a shame, I think that band had some great moments and a lot of further potential.

hstencil, Monday, 23 February 2004 05:53 (twenty years ago) link

last i heard he was still in LA... ???

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:57 (twenty years ago) link

possibly, for all I know?!? Although something makes me think he moved back to Louisville. Haven't seen him since the last time the For Carnation toured, which was ages ago.

hstencil, Monday, 23 February 2004 05:58 (twenty years ago) link

for @d@m: britt walford drummed on a song on the touch & go record.

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:59 (twenty years ago) link

Re: the vocals on Spiderland (which I happen to like, like a lot) - the original vinyl pressing of Tweez came with little flyers inside advertising for a female vocalist for the band. Wonder how things would've turned out had they found a girl singer...

NickB (NickB), Monday, 23 February 2004 10:51 (twenty years ago) link

**Re: the vocals on Spiderland (which I happen to like, like a lot) - the original vinyl pressing of Tweez came with little flyers inside advertising for a female vocalist for the band. Wonder how things would've turned out had they found a girl singer... **

Did you know that one of the people who replied to the advert for female vocalists was one Polly Jean Harvey? Now there's a pretty cool thought... PJ singing for Slint...

Mog, Monday, 23 February 2004 11:07 (twenty years ago) link

There also persists this rumour that they all checked themselves into a home for the bewildered, or similar, on completion of the album. I've always assumed this to be scurrilous bollocks, but I did wonder if anyone on here knew either way.

As for Spiderland itself, basically what Jess said, although the proper (2000's) For Carnation album is still one of the most fundamentally *moving* records I own. A great deal of the stuff that followed it was only really impressive on a very superficial level, although I haven't been disappointed by very much of Dave Pajo's stuff.

DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 23 February 2004 11:37 (twenty years ago) link

I haven't been disappointed by very much of Dave Pajo's stuff

There speaks a man who never paid out good money for a King Kong album. Me, I'm still bitter...

NickB (NickB), Monday, 23 February 2004 12:22 (twenty years ago) link

psssst, stupid. ned is heavily medicated.sometimes it impairs his hearing.it's sad really

Shameless lies!

I think seeing this thread revived was the first time I'd even thought about Slint for a couple of years.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:11 (twenty years ago) link

But Ned, the album is still staring at you, thinking about you constantly. It feels so alone.

Jonathan (Jonathan), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:42 (twenty years ago) link

The huge amount of Smashing Pumpkins discs nearby in the CD rack ensures it is not alone, since members of both groups eventually joined another one. ;-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:45 (twenty years ago) link

I co-interviewed McMahan several years ago, and at the time, he was bouncing back and forth between L.A., New York, and Louisville... so, that's probably still the case for all I know.. (add similar question marks and exclamation points here too).

donut bitch (donut), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:52 (twenty years ago) link

As for For Carnation, I really enjoy the s/t album. Moonbeams is definitely my favourite track by these guys.

Jonathan (Jonathan), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:53 (twenty years ago) link

the papa m album live from a shark cage is amazing,i wish my copy of it wasn't scratched to fuck
i never really felt too compelled to listen to the next album much though

robin (robin), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:48 (twenty years ago) link

awesome posts veronica and pgwp

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 04:00 (one year ago) link

So should I listen to this band for the first time

change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 04:20 (one year ago) link

um yes

call all destroyer, Wednesday, 25 January 2023 04:42 (one year ago) link

No save it till your in you’re 80’s, consuming all music post1960’s in existence beforehand so that you can properly appreciate britt’s drumming on good morning captain (all the talk of the documentary pales in comparison to the shots of a 16yo looking Britt playing the track in a crusty basement)

hrep (H.P), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 05:01 (one year ago) link

So very very glad David Pajo is still around and working after his sadly public suicide attempt. I couldn’t believe that Slint was where he started knowing him from Tortoise and Papa M first. What a career, spiderland to millions now living to Royal trux to zwan, while playing live with interpol, the yeah yeah yeahs and now hang of four. Is there any career in rock music that mirrors the broad + influential + not super well known (from my impression) he has?

hrep (H.P), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 05:07 (one year ago) link

Jim O'Rourke maybe? Pajo's Zwan bandmate Matt Sweeney is also kinda a rough analogue

Vexatious litigant (morrisp), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 05:34 (one year ago) link

This thread has been a great read, thanks all. And I have to read your 33 1/3 book, pgwp.

Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 08:04 (one year ago) link

Thanks so much for the posts, yes. Veronica was so lucky to see them at that time. And for the impression to linger after all these years. We all hope to catch art at the highest levels while it's on the make and people aren't quite sure. People usually get to it when you are already told it's good by some.

"So very very glad David Pajo is still around and working after his sadly public suicide attempt."

Very sad about it when I saw this on his wiki yesterday.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 25 January 2023 09:37 (one year ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7wh270Oc9c

veronica moser, Saturday, 28 January 2023 19:21 (one year ago) link

seven months pass...

yeah so I finally did it, what do you guys think?

https://i.imgur.com/Yh3rMqR.jpg

citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 13 September 2023 18:31 (seven months ago) link

shouldn't have gone with comic sans

Evan, Wednesday, 13 September 2023 19:44 (seven months ago) link

six months pass...

33 years old! Ashamed to say I've never heard the remaster... until today, I will report back what new things I hear.

citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 27 March 2024 15:01 (three weeks ago) link

My book came out just ahead of its 20th anniversary. Wow.

sctttnnnt (pgwp), Wednesday, 27 March 2024 16:19 (three weeks ago) link

I couldn't tell you when I bought it or why, I don't recall really ever listening to it, it just seemed like it was always there, I was never as deeply obsessed with it as some people I knew were, like I can never remember what the names of the songs are, I was kind of bored with it by the early aughts when it was touch point for like everything, then the reunion...

But there are times, like this morning when I listen to it and it's like meeting with an younger version of myself, I know everything about it and am instantly transported to my parent's basement or my first apartment or this shitty car I had, the clothes, the smells, the sensations, the details are all right there encoded in the music.

What a weird ass record.

chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 27 March 2024 16:55 (three weeks ago) link

Good post. Similar for me. Those intro guitar harmonics take me right back to the bedroom I first heard it. I can remember my state of confusion first hearing the abrasive guitar in Nosferatu Man. Really an album that captures people, holds them where they are. A drumming student of mine, completely obsessed with hip-hop and funk, couldn't get him to care about any other music no matter how hard I tried, became obsessed with this album of all albums (I mean the drumming is pretty incredible), and I could see it hit his 16yo brain the same way it hit my brain at 16yo. Sorta one of those undeniable works that transcends taste and preference if it is given a listening ear.

Also everyone should read pgwp's book. It is the best.

H.P, Thursday, 28 March 2024 00:19 (three weeks ago) link

Aw thanks HP!

sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 28 March 2024 01:49 (three weeks ago) link


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