What makes Spiderland so appealing and unique?

What makes Spiderland so appealing and unique?
It's one of my favorite albums and I can't quite put my finger what makes me like it so much.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=6yEgcb167k4
youtube.com/watch?v=haUJyCRTiXg
youtube.com/watch?v=k-T63_DK8hc
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

nothing, that's is why i don't get why is it so popular
it has like one good riff

Posted on here for years in "essential" threads,, great reviews that make you feel comfortable enjoying it

atmosphere, instrumentation, arrangement

angst

No other album is so uniquely bland and comprised entirely of 2 notes and some mumbling.

Listen to Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels to Be Something On. I can't place what it is on that either, but it makes me think of Spiderland.

Spiderland (1991) was even more abstract. Its harmonic zigzags through irregular tempos, fractured melodies and discordant counterpoint were as disorienting as notes scribbled in an unknown language. Vapid moribund passages were inundated by sudden tidal waves of sound, or, better, given the glacial tone of the band's jamming, arctic quiet was shaken by icebergs cracking in the ocean. The whole album flew in a dis-organic manner, but still retained an odd sense of unity. It sounded like the stream of consciousness of a mathematician's brain as it was solving a difficult theorem.

Seems to me yet another case of the fluffy tail of breathless reputation wagging the mangy dog of minimal achievement. I've read enough rich praise for Spiderland to open a Swiss savings account, so I should have been surprised when, upon listening, I found a couple of unlikeable dweebazoids plucking untuned guitars while a creative writing student in therapy reads spittle-of-consciousness prose off a napkin.

wrong
I enjoyed this post

I would like to know why anyone finds it appealing and unique.

It sounds so boring honestly. People talk about it being the genesis of math rock, but King Crimson 81-84 were much more crucial to that. The only moment that I enjoy is the I MISS YOU, and that is so memed to death that I can't help but feel that that's the only reason anyone likes it.

Enlighten me.

Personally I like the intensity of the music. It's a very anxious album, it always keeps me on edge. Plus, Good Morning Captain is just a brilliant song.

I dig the drumming the most
Sounds so direct
Albini-tier

>It sounds so boring honestly
Opinion discarded

Someone on Sup Forums 's early days liked it. Told someone else to like it. and it just cascaded from there. Only one person on Sup Forums initially liked it and everyone else like it because they are told it is good.

>It sounds so boring honestly.
Compared to what?

I mean, that is my opinion of it. I get very little from the album, so it mostly bores me in the same way most background music tier albums do.

Music I like.

Elaborate

No

Slint haters, what's your favorite album?

you would have to have listened to more of the music from the scene they were playing in, louisville had a really weird scene and it's worth checking out. I would recommend Rodan and Retsin.

Boring is just about the laziest criticism you call an album. It just means you haven't put in actual effort into listening to it, as proven by the fact that you think the end of Good Morning Captain is the only interesting part (it's not).

Not me
Do I need to list out everything I listen to? I think the most subtle and textured things I enjoy that are comparable are:
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Miles Davis - Bitch's Brew
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Can - Future Days
Women - Public Strain

>What makes Spiderland so appealing and unique?
the cold atmosphere, they just play notes without any feeling

Or it could just be that that's the only part that has turned me on at all. I've been here since 2009 dear user, I've heard Spiderland several times since then. I didn't get it back then, I don't get it now.

Now if you want to change my mind, maybe elaborate on what it is I'm missing, because it just sounds like quiet, tinny guitar mixed in with subtle drum textures. It's nice for a little, but it doesn't need to be a whole album long.

I like several of those and Spiderland is one of my favorite albums. Maybe you should give it another shot.

I plan to, hence why I posted in this thread. I gave it another shot a week ago and felt nothing.

My problem I guess is that all of the things Spiderland does, those albums do better for me.

kek

>quiet, tinny guitar mixed in with subtle drum textures
You haven't listened to it

It's been very acclaimed since it came out

That's what it is. There's distortion in spots, but for the most part that's how I would sum up the record. Plenty of other anons summed it up similarly, positive and negative.

only INTPs get Slint

Please tell me you have a review blog/channel.

youtube.com/watch?v=6yEgcb167k4
It's exactly that on Washer except for like the 30 second climax of distortion near the end. Good Morning Captain does the same thing.

I'm not disregarding that distortion- I get that it adds a very particular change that adds emotional depth to the song. It just feels a bit like a one trick pony, and it's not particularly unique.

The main pull for me outside of the dynamics and instrumental ambiance that type of stripped back sound that allows for, the drumming is incredible.

Something about it that propels the music forward in this really eloquent and indescribable way, something only months and months of obsessive and hypnotic practicing sessions could produce. You'd think more drummers would be able to replicate it but it's so hard to find music where drumming feel this detrimental to the sound and direction of tracks.

Britt appears to min-max his drumfills, that is he does a lot of them but none of them last for more than half a second, so it's not showoffy and filling the song up with unnecessary clutter. Result ends up being incredibly expressive drumming that demands your attention.

I'm an INTPand I don't get Slint.

>one trick pony, and it's not particularly unique
it was quite unique when it came out though. No Tortoise and all the other shit without Spiderland.

the drumming on nosferatu man is insane. he is keeping a 5/4 beat while hitting the snare head and the rim simultaneously. seriously, the drumming on spiderland made me start drumming

Just searched it, it's just a RYM copypasta from like 2007. Still funny, though.

Just something about that band, not just that one album, they just tie up the disillusionment and the myriad of emotions that accompany that so well.

And it's funny because I'm a drummer and I can pick up on all of that, but it doesn't seem that impressive to me at all. Not all drumming needs to be flashy or anything- I get that. My favorite drumming is always heavily texture based- Bill Bruford, Jaki Liebezeit, Bill Berry. My problem is that, for me, that's not enough to carry a whole record. It's great in pieces, but it gets so monotonous after a while. I just need variation on the same idea to keep it interesting, and to me it feels like Slint mostly just repeat the same track 6 times.

Maybe that's the point- have one 40 minute long anxious crawling drum texture show, and have the monotony play a role in that- certainly the distortion adds some color when it does show up. To me though it's just too much space, in an era of music where usually not enough space is given; it's very interesting as an idea because of that, but for me it just isn't enjoyable.

Spiderland sounds unique because the production is extremely raw without sacrificing clarity, which gives the impression that the band is playing just inches from your face, and McMahan is whispering words right into your ear. Combine this with haunting melodies, stilted drum patterns, wailing guitar crescendos and lyrical themes of isolation and disillusionment and it becomes a very emotional experience.

>crescendos
you don't know what that means

Nope
Most of the Breadcrumb Trail is distortion, there's tons of distortion in Nosferatu Man, and the rest of the songs have varying amounts of it, save For Dinner. It's just a wrong observation.
Hardly a one-trick pony, especially when the other songs have very different structures.
The only similarity between the two songs is that there's distortion at the end, the way they get there and the atmosphere they create is very different. Good Morning Captain builds tension throughout and gives a sense of urgency to the listener, Washer is a ballad creates a sense of isolation.

When you say drum texture what exactly are you referring to? I get confused because people seem to use texture to describe things in all manner of ways.

Secondly, recommend me some albums with great and textured druming, I notice we share similar tastes in drummers with difference being me loving what is accomplished on Spiderland.

It's not all the same distortion though- it gets really heavy in Washer and GMC, but for Nosferatu and Breadcrumb Trail, it's fairly quiet, and still tinny. Even for distorted guitar it's very quiet and dynamic (there are spots where the distortion gets small steps louder for effect). For N Man, it just comes up for air a bit sooner before dropping back down, and then goes all out for the last minute- the whole track has distortion, but the intensity builds in basically the same way. youtube.com/watch?v=haUJyCRTiXg

As for Washer and GMC, I really don't feel the difference you're talking about whatsoever. One's just longer and has more time to build up to a shorter climax. Structurally it's the same thing. Don, Aman is the same way- comes up with a spot of distortion for color right towards the end.
youtube.com/watch?v=k-T63_DK8hc

>it's fairly quiet, and still tinny
Jesus, just how wrong can you get
>I really don't feel the difference you're talking about whatsoever. One's just longer and has more time to build up to a shorter climax.
Yeah, you haven't actually listened to it

By drum texture I always refer to maximizing the use of timbre (and secondly dynamics) to create a harmonic effect to the accompanying song. Sometimes that's based on spacing (as in playing a particular rhythm or a particular time with or against other instruments to create an effect e.g. playing with a drawn out 1 to emphasize the 1 of the beat in funk music). Sometimes that's based on the actual drums a drummer will reserve themselves to in order to force parts of the sound to either blend in or stick out (e.g. kick drums hitting with a bass groove to create a heavy bass sound, or playing cymbal rolls to to blend in with higher register guitars).

Mostly, anything that can change the feel of the piece without changing the tempo, time, or key of the song, I refer to as texture.

As for albums with good drum texture, any of the ones I recommended before are fantastic. Phil Collins is also a very interesting texture drummer, so any of the Gabriel era Genesis records work well for that.

Other ones that come to mind (some obvious):

Peter Gabriel - 3 (Melt)
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
XTC - Skylarking
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Chameleons - Strange Times
The Police - Synchronicity
Steely Dan - Aja
Toto - Toto IV


and I know some people will just call it a meme, but Trout Mask Replica has some pretty cool drumming, especially because it is composed despite it feeling completely the opposite.

>every food i like i call Chicken Nuggets

food analogies are bad and you should feel bad for using one

Well, you sure were helpful.

I like the production and how each instrument sounds in that album. Too bad all those interesting sounds were used to make very uninteresting music.

I'd love to hear an album with similar instrument tones but different music.

...oh wait, there's Bark Psychosis, Bowery Electric and Doldrums and they produced similar sounding atmospheres but actually made interesting music, nevermind.

aside from the opener and closer, it's pretty average

I didn't pick my favorite drumming albums, just the ones that I think have good examples of using drum texture well- not all of them do it the same way. Skylarking goes for a chamber pop vibe that requires using the drumset as an orchestral instrument, and that plops many interesting uses of texture all in one record (the propulsive cymbals of Mermaid Smiles to bring forth aquatic imagery; the snare rolls of Sacrificial Bonfire to create an airy finale with the violins; the high cymbal and toms in Grass to bring forth Spring). None of that is anything like Remain in Light, which relies entirely on loops of both drum-set and other percussion, usually conga, to force a propulsive feel. The drumset layer creates a new-wave groove that brigs out the low end, while the percussive layer fills out space with poly-rhythms to flesh out the rhythmic layers each instrument is producing in its own loop.

If I picked my favorite drumming records, it would probably consist almost entirely of just Bill Bruford and Phil Collins.

Oh and let me add Murmur and Fables of the Reconstruction to that list- by far Berry's best drumming.

I'm sorry you refuse to acknowledge any and all differences between the songs

There are differences, they're just not meaningful to me, so the album doesn't feel varied enough. No matter how you slice it, it's still based on quiet tension with spots of loud release- the high pitched needly riffs that pop in and out of the quiet of Nosferatu Man and Breadcrumb Trail don't change that as they're purpose is still to build tension.

And still 75% of the record is just needly quiet guitar with slow, propulsive drumming. If your case was to make Spiderland more appealing, you haven't really succeeded.

I like the punctuation and the line spacing on this post. Too bad all that interesting grammar was used to make a very uninteresting pompous post.

>the high pitched needly riffs that pop in and out of the quiet of Nosferatu Man and Breadcrumb Trail don't change that as they're purpose is still to build tension
What am I reading. Breadcrumb Trail launches straight into its loud part from the intro with little buildup, and tension building isn't present at all in Nosferatu Man, it just creates a creepy atmosphere that switches abruptly between loud and soft.
You're trying to fit a common structure between all the songs when there are many more differences between them.
>And still 75% of the record is just needly quiet guitar with slow, propulsive drumming
Could not be more wrong, I'm still not convinced you've put actual effort into listening to it if you're making such wrong generalizations

Fuck off with your emo shit

high quality post

you're probably a normie, so it's ok that you don't get it

It's very sincere, while also showing a lot of talent. It's like a more grown up version of Charlie Brown specials