First posted on Mark Is Cranky:
A coupla weeks ago, during the daily session of pouring words and coffee into my head, I came across a New Yorker article on this indie band named Slint.
Sasha Frere-Jones walks us through the short history of the band, the recent reunion tour and the record that defined them: Spiderland. Though I don't always agree with her, Frere-Jones does have way (I'll forgive her for employing one of those dreaded reviewerspeak things: "sui generis", which means either "unique, defining its own kind of thing" or "they should wash their hair more often", I forget which) with words, describing Spiderland:
- ...was like that grilled-cheese sandwich bearing the face of the Virgin Mary: an unlikely and irreproducible marvel.
The Saturday following that morning read, I found myself in the local record shop without my "look-for" list (In truth, the list is more conceptual than anything else. Somehow, I never get around to physically writing it out anymore). As luck/musical synchronicity would have it, Spiderland was sitting there right in front of one of the bins. Not one to mess with my musical karma, that CD just had to make the trip home.
Holy mother of busted guitar strings, this a great record. How the hell did I miss it? Soft guitar arpeggios, plucked harmonics, choppy and scabrous guitar, chords twisted out of shape and massive power chords. Their whole thing reminds me of a more rock and roll version of Godspeed Your Black Emperor. There are a few vocals on the record, but they're sort of whispered. Some would say that the lyrics are 'arty', maybe even 'pretentious'. I dunno. For me, they just add to the atmosphere.
Jones does say that Slint brought on a lot of imitators, Mogwai being the most prominent (which makes sense to me since the first time I heard Mogwai I thought it was Godspeed). One characteristic that all three of these bands share is the brilliant use of dynamics. The quiet parts allow tension to build...and when it releases, the heavy is heavy. Great stuff.
So Slint is now sitting atop the stack as my new favorite ear novelty. Man, when this happens is does remind me of when Mom & Dad would let me buy a new pair of sneakers, and every morning I'd get up and look forward to putting them on. So I guess this means that they've got something in common with PF Flyers.
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