With this one album, Slint left an indelible mark on Louisville's underground music scene. Some seven years after its release, Spiderland continues to influence aspiring indie-rockers the world over.
This aptly titled album is a dramatic latticework woven, not with flimsy gossamer, but roughly hewn timbers. Slint brings the lop-sided prog-rock stucture back to its grandiose roots and imbues it with a refreshing dose of earthly potency.
Each of the six lengthy songs that comprise this album is driven by a measured, propulsive energy. The dissonant guitar work gets pierced here and there with recurrent fuzzed- out shafts of sound, at times sounding like a CB squelcher, but dark dirgelike melodies surge below the surface.
Walford moors the looming vessel with some deliberate drumming that never grows laborious. McMahan went on to help Will Oldham out with his ever-changing Palace ensemble, and their affinity for tragic, half-spoken lyrics is evinced on many of the tracks. The songs themselves are fashioned like short dramatic pieces, the best of which, "Good Morning Captain," is a blown-out balladic nod to "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner."
If you like Slint, check out:
Sonic Youth
Rodan
Paul Newman Machine Is Not Dead
Palace Music Lost Blues and Other Songs
June of 44
psst...you might wanna check out our indie rock abode for more features on (guess what) indie rock bands.
-- p
