Call it what you will—be it the greatest album on the surface of the Earth, or the most generic, over-rated example of post-rock—Slint’s Spiderland is, at the heart of the matter, a most compelling (and controversial) album.
If you want to get technical, Spiderland doesn’t really introduce anything new as far as composition is concerned; it mixes loud/soft dynamics with temperamental time-signatures, and an interesting (if not questionable) insight on mental illnesses such as paranoia, bipolar disorder, and of course, depression. Notable mention about Brian McMahan’s vocals/lyrics: they either make or break a song—that is, if you can/want to understand what it is he’s saying/yelling/whispering.
But for all the album’s short-comings (and in some cases the band’s), there’s an undeniable sense of mystery and rhythm—whether it’s coming from the music itself or merely the listener’s imagination. It’s also worth mentioning that Spiderland alone produced a massive following and is treated as one of the greatest post-rock/whatever albums of all time (or at least the 90s). This is probably due to one of their most well-known songs, Good Morning, Captain, which also made an appearance on the 1995 soundtrack to the (also controversial) movie, Kids.
I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a shallow, albeit dark and only slightly disturbing album.
If you want to get technical, Spiderland doesn’t really introduce anything new as far as composition is concerned; it mixes loud/soft dynamics with temperamental time-signatures, and an interesting (if not questionable) insight on mental illnesses such as paranoia, bipolar disorder, and of course, depression. Notable mention about Brian McMahan’s vocals/lyrics: they either make or break a song—that is, if you can/want to understand what it is he’s saying/yelling/whispering.
But for all the album’s short-comings (and in some cases the band’s), there’s an undeniable sense of mystery and rhythm—whether it’s coming from the music itself or merely the listener’s imagination. It’s also worth mentioning that Spiderland alone produced a massive following and is treated as one of the greatest post-rock/whatever albums of all time (or at least the 90s). This is probably due to one of their most well-known songs, Good Morning, Captain, which also made an appearance on the 1995 soundtrack to the (also controversial) movie, Kids.
I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a shallow, albeit dark and only slightly disturbing album.
6.5/10
(Album artwork from here.)
I feel like I'm going to download every single thing you mention on this blog, my friend. "Passage" is still one of the best things I have in my music library. =)
ReplyDeleteIf you ever need a guest reviewer, let me know x3 But no, really, I feel like you may have a future as a music reviewer, my friend.
Funny, I was actually thinking of rewriting this because it's growing on me . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. I'll also post mixes/playlists here too.