Slint - Spiderland ALBUM REVIEW

David Pajo is a genius

right now in my life as a teenager i am thoroughly convinced the spiderland is one of the best albums every written and performed, i wonder how my opinion will change

i’m lovin this shit. it’s so punchy and hard hitting.

“It was like a mature decision was made in a rock song… woah.”
Woahhhh

I like when he says : '' Melon stepped outside..'' The Slint E.p. is classic too. like Shellac's Uranus

Great album

Spiderland is the greatest goddamn piece of music that Kentucky has ever done and ever will do. Nothing that state does will EVER surpass this. Nothing.

Check out Polvo and Unwound

Washer is the song I find myself repeating the most often for the past couple decades.

this was uploaded on my birthday

slintony fantano

I do not like this I do not get this but Spotify really wants me to liek this and keeps recommending it and so many of my favorite albums I hated on first listens so I am just asking like am I not getting something? I really do not like the spoken word and I do not like the vocals or the singers voice at all. I’m really trying to listen to more music and different stuff but I am having a hard time wiht this one.

Fantastic album!!!! Rob Crowe turned me on to them

If tool was a bunch of talented kids right out of high school that had a poetic singer 10/10 for me

Maybe i'm missing something here but... Slint is either a joke gone to far or people really love shit. Even the documentary seems like an art film gone wrong. Stupid

Britt Walford is a quirked up white boy. And is definitely goated with the sauce.

Fuck washer
All my homies hate washer

How do a bunch of super young dudes with little experience make such an absolute fucking work of genius?

I don’t know why I love this album so much, even though Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock are way more closer to my heart than any other post-rock album.

I always said this is the best album that perfectly represents how I see the world favorite album ever

I love Rodan too. The most curious thing was how why they disappeared after Spiderland. Only recently did I find out why. That they broke up shortly after recording and one band member immediately went into therapy. Nearly died going to make the album.

there's no album that captures the same type of emotion as this album. it's insane. I still reflect and go back to it from time to time

I was in a record shop back in 2012 and saw this on the wall. No name or anything on the cover, just that iconic photo. I immediately thought "idk what this is but I need it". Popped it on when I got home and was completely mystified. So unique and emotion envoking in a way that cannot be described. Learning of the history of the band members and the louisville music scene makes this album even more special. I'm gonna go watch Lance Bangs' "Breadcrumb Trail" now. Highly recommend it.

best of 90s

best album ever (real)

spiderland is basically depression in the form of music. legendary album but can’t get through it most of the time

The depth of this review is very interesting. We need more of this fantano x

I wish I had found this back when I was into Pavement.

WE STUCK OUT OUR HAAAANDS AND MEEEEET THE WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIND!!

Completely over rated crap from the most wretched place on earth.

Excellent review. Perhaps my favourite album of all time. Promise me the sun will rise again.

This is my personal favorite album of all time. Below, I will share my personal interpretation of the story, as I believe there is a concrete story between all of the songs:

Breadcrumb Trail - Here's where we meet our boy Don, who's traveling to the fair/carnival/sideshow. Through his own view, we're shown that Don is a bit strange from a social standpoint. "I couldn't figure out why they would want to wait in line" is a an excellent example of this, as, to most, its obvious that you wait in line for Rollercoaster because they're something that you enjoy. Don also knows this, as he later takes a girl on to a Rollercoaster, but without an extrinsic motivating factor, Don seems unable to rationalize/empathize with the behavior of others. This is further reflected later in "Don, Aman" but for now, we just have the clues that lead into our later discovery of his sociopathy. The entire later half of the song is a depiction of Don, the social outcast, falling in love on the Rollercoaster with this fortune teller girl. There's some beautiful imagery in there, but from a story telling perspective, that's all that's happening. He falls in love, and they develop the beginning of a relationship.

Nosferatu Man - This song, in my opinion, is the hardest to interpret and the most important to the story. Without burying the lead, Nosferatu Man is a big ass analogy for a relationship, and is the entirety of his relationship with the Fortune Teller summarized in one song. Tackling the song bit by bit, "I live in a castle... food she made" is the pretext establishing him living with the Fortune Teller and his attempt at being a good partner. "Like a bat... red coal train" is a bit more abstract, but I believe he's describing his emotional withdrawal from her. Whether he's literally leaving or not is up for interpretation, but I believe the red coal train is a metaphor comparing her drive and motivation to bring him back to the power of the locomotive. Her motivation starts to drive a wedge between them, and with "Eyelids... down the line" we get a repeating of this cycle of him emotionally withdrawing and her going after him. With that line, he admits to it negatively affecting his feelings towards her, as he's doing "just fine" until he notices her coming. "With the light she disappeared" is her giving up. Whether she breaks up with him or just emotionally separates herself, she's no longer chasing after his emotional involvement. "And set me... railed through the night" shows that her leaving/stopping fucked him over emotionally and motivated him to go after her. "She peeked around... gone again" is a him getting her back, and repeat offending with his emotional withdrawal. Now double emphasized with the vampire analogy with "my teeth touched her skin" representing his repeated emotional manipulation of her, now with him outright admitting to it being somewhat intentional. The last verse seems to harken to the events that eventually go down in Washer later on, but, by itself, is just a poetic way to say "good riddance" to a former lover you're no longer with. To quickly summarize:

1. He trys to please her, but goes emotionally distant
2. She puts in work to bring him back
3. Things are momentarily good, but he does it again
4. She tries to bring him back
5. This repeats until she gets tied of it and gives up
6. He puts in the effort to bring her back
7. He does the same shit to her again
8. She leaves for good

Whether he was emotionally distant, cheated, abused her, or whatever else is all up for interpretation, as well as whether he planned to kill her from the very end point of the relationship or not. Either way, that formula exists very clearly within Nosferatu Man, and I believe the vampire reference is more just a poetic depiction of being an emotional succubus to your partner. This, to an extent, further elaborates in his inability to navigate social dynamics appropriately.

Don, Aman - The story of this song is super simple, but has massive implications for Don as a character. He goes to a party, gets overwhelmed, tries again, gets overwhelmed again, and then leaves to take some form of responsibility for his actions the next morning. Don, very clearly, has social anxiety. He knows this, as evident by the Carnival, but chooses to go anyway. Likely because of the breakup with the Fortune Teller. "Don woke up... friend" is the most important part of this song. It shows that, one, he recognizes himself as a friend, whereas he denies that privilege to all of the party goers prior, and 2, he believes he's responsible for fixing how he felt the night before. I personally think that this harkens back to the end of Nosferatu Man, and is insisting that he blames the Fortune Teller for his now apparent social anxiety. His internal ridicule MUST be her fault. This, of course, is faulty thinking.

Washer - My personal favorite song in the album, and the one that ties the story all together. The Fortune Teller is now dead, Don having killed her. Each verse is Don reflecting and emotionally changing through his reflection on killing her. While I cannot literally prove that she is dead between songs, I believe that the "early grave" line in Nosferatu Man, "He knew what he had to do, he was responsible," line in Don Aman, and the opener "Goodnight my Love", in Washer really insist upon her murder. Without breaking down each individual line, the first verse is Don speaking to her with a tone of satisfaction. He's glad the murder is now over because he believes he's now solved his issues. The second verse, Don is a tad more agitated. He's critiquing her previous actions towards fear by comparing to the developments he's made in himself, and doing so in a reflective manner, positive toward himself. The third verse, is remorse. He wants her back, and he's literally begging for it. The fourth verse is acceptance, in which Don chooses to kill himself. "Tonight's dreamless sleep" also paralleling the "goodnight my love" in the opening being a reference to death, further enforcing the idea that she is dead.

Love this album.

My opinion on Slint's Spiderland:
Without a doubt, this album deserves a 10/10. Absolutely amazing. Probably one of the most addicting albums to me. I've heard it in its entirety 4 times in the past week. It's easy to come back to, and it's so easy to get lost in. With that said, my ranking of the tracks goes as follows:
6. For Dinner... The weakest song on the album. An 8.5/10. It's a soothing break, and it works nearly flawlessly in the album, but... on its own, it suffers a wee bit. It's still amazing.
5. Nosferatu Man. This one is the second lowest because I didn't understand it until my third listen. At first, I thought that it was just the band dicking around a bit and making a vampire song, but it's actually using vampires as a metaphor for isolation in a relationship. It went from a solid 8.5/10 to an excellent 9/10 when I learned about the song's metaphor. The music is also great, but it's probably one of the weaker songs on the album musically.
4. Washer. Ranking these remaining 4 was hard. They're all 10/10s, and I love them all a ton... but with that said, Washer is the least phenomenal of these 4 exceptional songs. Not because of its length, but because even though my autistic ass is very iffy when it comes to longer songs, this one wastes no time and earns its length fair and square. It's because... well, the other 3 are just more noteworthy than this one! Sure, it has one hell of an ominous riff, and it's just lyrically excellent, but the other 3 are just more... replayable, and they catch my eye more.
3. Don, Aman. Lyrically, this song is undoubtedly the best one. While the other 2 have lyrical moments that I enjoy a little more, this song has consistently perfect lyrics. This song is absolutely fantastic, but I have 1 issue with this song; what's up with that ending? The guitar solo from earlier in the song kinda fades in, plays for about 5 to 10 seconds, then fades out. I don't think that having this ending adds much to the song because of how short this ending is. If it were just a little longer, it wouldn't feel as questionable, but as is, it's a minor blemish on an otherwise near-perfect song. And keep in mind that it still gets better.
2. Breadcrumb Trails. This song has become one of the most replayable songs for me. It's so easy to revisit, it's infectious, and that first verse where McMahan screams the words "CREEPING UP INTO THE SKY" is such a powerful way to open an album, purely because of his vocal performance. But I feel like it's missing a bit of emotional power in its lyrics. The vocals make up for it most of the time, but it also gives me the feeling that the lyrics are being carried by the vocals. It's the most replayable song on the album, but it's not the best song on the album.
1. Good Morning, Captain. The lyrics on this song are second only to Don, Aman. The music on this song is nearly perfect. The way McMahan screams the words "I MISS YOU" for that ending makes for one of the most potent album endings ever. It's one of the best album closers I've ever heard. It fits the album well, feels climactic, and is a near-perfect closer for Slint's career.

I found Slint by accident through the algorithm when I was stoned.

I have been wanting more Slint ever since. I mean the overall sound was like nothing I have ever heard before.

I look forward to finding new an exciting music after this

I do like this album. It was overlooked in its day but I find it to be a bit overrated today. Clearly, they were influenced by Slint but I prefer Pavement all day.

Good morning captain is one of the best album closers ever

Misinterpreted nearly every song he described, lol. The lyrics aren't that ambiguous.

Any chance someone out there could give me some guidance? My friend showed me Nosferatu Man from the original album, and then I threw it on a week later from the remastered version, and it sounds bigger or more compressed? Idk 🤷‍♂️ The drum hit right off the bat has more pitch/volume or something.

Long story short:
Should I listen to the original release or the 2014 reissue (remastered) release?! (strictly talkin the 6 songs that make up the actual album).

not ethan buckler, but todd brashear*

if you factor in the band members were just kids when they wrote and recording this awesome stuff. free thinking, creative smart kids. what an achievement!

THIS IS A TERRIBLE FUCKING REVIEW!! Just listen to the record and draw your own conclusions. These douchebags posting these pontificating reviews usually dissect everything down to it's derivative. WORD SALAD! It is an insanely introspective record. When it came out everyone who knew about Slint was gobsmacked. It shifted the needle big time. I worked in a used record store back then and their first album, Tweez, was a store fave. When we got this in I popped it on the turntable right after we closed for the night and we had all taken a few bong hits...gobsmacked, I tell you...absolutely gobsmacked...

In my mind I just classify Slint as "Noise". Some might take that as a bad thing, but I love noise and I adore the noise Slint makes - their noise contains emotions that can only be described through sound. I tend to think of them in the same grouping as Sonic Youth and the Breeders - sort of grunge, sort of alt-rock, sort of Noise.

melon stepped outside

You brought up some intriguing thoughts fantano, I’m feeling a strong 10 on this video!

The riff to breadcrumb trail might be the best riff I’ve ever heard

don stepped outside