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= Spiderland =
Spiderland is the second and final studio album by the American rock band Slint . It was released on March 27 , 1991 , through Touch and Go Records . Featuring dramatically alternating dynamics and vocals ranging from spoken word to shouting , the album contains narrative lyrics that emphasize alienation . Spiderland was Slint 's first release on Touch and Go , and the group 's only album to feature Todd Brashear .
Although Spiderland was not widely recognized on its initial release , it eventually sold more than 50 @,@ 000 copies and became a landmark album in underground music after Slint broke up . The album has been highly influential on the styles of many bands in the post @-@ rock and math rock genres , including Mogwai and Godspeed You ! Black Emperor , and has been named a favorite of several indie rock musicians . In 2007 , Slint reunited for a tour consisting of performances of Spiderland in its entirety .
= = Context = =
Slint formed in 1987 in Louisville , Kentucky , from the remnants of the punk rock band Squirrel Bait ; the founding members included Brian McMahan ( guitar , vocals ) , David Pajo ( guitar ) , Britt Walford ( drums ) and Ethan Buckler ( bass guitar ) . The band 's debut album , the Steve Albini @-@ produced Tweez , was released on the group 's self @-@ owned label Jennifer Hartman Records and Tapes . The album 's sound has been described as a combination of " scratchy guitars , thumping bass lines and hard hitting drums " . Buckler promptly left the band out of dissatisfaction with Albini 's production , and was replaced with Todd Brashear . The band 's second recording was for the instrumental extended play Slint , which included a new version of " Rhoda " from Tweez . The EP , which would not be released until 1994 , was a departure from Tweez 's sound and reflected the band 's new musical direction .
After the band ended its brief tour in support of Tweez , most of its members attended college . Around this time McMahan and Walford began writing together for the band 's next record , creating six new songs which the band practiced throughout the summer of 1990 . Slint entered River North Records in August 1990 to record Spiderland . At that time there were no vocals or lyrics prepared for the album , so the band wrote them while in the studio . The album 's producer , Brian Paulson , was known for his " live " recording style in the studio , with minimal takes . Paulson recalled " It was weird while I was doing [ Spiderland ] because I remember sitting there , and I just knew there was something about it . I 've never heard anything like this . I 'm really digging this but it 's really fucking weird . "
The recording sessions for Spiderland are reputed to have been difficult for the members of the band and were , according to AllMusic , " intense , traumatic and one more piece of evidence supporting the theory that band members had to be periodically institutionalized during the completion of the album . " Rumors circulated that at least one member of Slint had been checked into a psychiatric hospital . Walford later addressed these stories in an article in Select by saying , " [ We were ] definitely trying to be serious about things , pretty intense , which made recording the album kinda stressful . " The recording was completed in four days .
= = Music = =
The music of Spiderland is noted for its angular guitar rhythms , dramatically alternating dynamic shifts and irregular time signatures . McMahan 's singing style interchanges between mumbling spoken word and strained shouting . The lyrics of Spiderland are often written in a narrative style . Influences on the record included Gang of Four , Black Sabbath and Sonic Youth . Will Hermes of Spin summarized the album 's sound as " mid- ' 70s King Crimson gone emo : screeching guitar chords and gorgeous note @-@ spinning in odd @-@ metered instrumentals speckled with words both spoken and sung " .
The album 's opening track , " <unk> Trail " , describes a day spent at a carnival with a fortune @-@ teller . The song features a complex arrangement with sharp transitions , and the guitar fluctuates between a clean @-@ sounding riff with harmonics in the verse to heavy distortion featuring extremely high @-@ pitched notes in the chorus .
" Nosferatu Man " , the second track , is inspired by the 1922 German Expressionist silent film Nosferatu . The song 's verse includes a dissonant guitar riff , which uses high @-@ pitched notes similar to those in " <unk> Trail " and a drumbeat based on snare and toms , absent of cymbals . The chorus , featuring " jagged " distorted guitar and a thrash @-@ influence beat , segues into an extended jam before the song ends with 30 seconds of feedback .
" Don , Aman " features Walford on lead vocals and guitar . Delivered in a hushed tone , the song 's ambiguous lyrics depict the thoughts of an " isolated soul " before , after and during an evening at a bar . The tempo quickens throughout , and then becomes loud and distorted before slowing back to the original tempo .
" Washer " , the album 's longest track , features a " barely audible " intro with guitar and cymbals before the rest of the band comes in . The song builds tension until the final verse , which features loud distortion , and is followed by a lengthy outro .
" For Dinner ... " is an instrumental track . Beginning with a quiet section of " brooding chords throb [ <unk> ] with the occasional rumble of muted toms and bass drum " , the song cycles through sections of building and releasing tension . One guitar chord is repeatedly strummed for the last minute of the song before ending .
The final song of the album , " Good Morning Captain " , is a tribute to the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner . The song features a two chord guitar structure , a " spindly , tight riff " from the rhythm section and a " jerky " beat . During the recording of the song 's final chorus , McMahan became physically sick due to the strain of yelling over the guitars . David Peschek of The Guardian compared " Good Morning Captain " to Led Zeppelin 's " Stairway to Heaven " , writing that " the extraordinary Good Morning Captain is [ Slint 's ] Stairway to Heaven , if it 's possible to imagine Stairway to Heaven bleached of all bombast . "
On the iTunes edition of the album , an additional track is added to the end of the album , entitled " Utica Quarry , Nighttime " . The track is , simply , 15 minutes of field recordings of Utica Quarry , the same place where the photos for Spiderland were taken .
= = Title and packaging = =
The name Spiderland originates from McMahan 's younger brother , who thought that the record sounded " spidery " . The album 's black @-@ and @-@ white cover photograph , which depicts the members of the band ( Brashear , McMahan , Walford and Pajo , from left to right ) treading water in the lake of an abandoned quarry , was taken by Will Oldham . An article in The Stranger credited the cover for creating a mystique surrounding Slint , noting " [ m ] ost people only had seen Slint as four heads floating in a Kentucky quarry on Spiderland 's cover . Listeners pondered the band 's sparsely adorned black @-@ and @-@ white covers as if they were runes bearing secrets . " Chris Gaerig of the Michigan Daily wrote , " the cover of Slint 's masterful Spiderland captures the joyous fear and violence of the album so precisely it shakes souls . The group — submerged in a lake to their chins with deranged smiles — seems to be stalking you , hovering out of the black @-@ and @-@ white façade . " Several other promotional images have been taken from the same photo session with Oldham .
A photo of a spider taken by Noel Saltzman is used on the back cover , reflecting the album 's title . The inside sleeve contains the message " interested female vocalists write 1864 douglas <unk> <unk> , ky . <unk> " . McMahan confirmed that this message was serious , and said " We did get some responses and we did listen to CDs and tapes . We didn 't end up doing anything immediately , so that idea of adding someone sort of fell by the wayside . " The message " this recording is meant to be listened to on vinyl " is printed on some CD issues of Spiderland , demonstrating Slint 's preference of analog audio devices .
= = Reception = =
Spiderland received positive reviews from music critics , including Spin , NME , and The Village Voice . In a contemporary review for Melody Maker , Steve Albini , producer of Slint 's 1989 album Tweez , gave the album ten stars and called it " a majestic album , sublime and strange , made more brilliant by its simplicity and quiet grace . " Albini found its unadorned production impeccable and said that it vividly captures McMahan and Pajo 's playing so well that their guitars " seem to hover in space directly past the listener 's nose " , while " the incredibly precise @-@ yet @-@ instinctive drumming has the same range and wallop it would in your living room . "
In a retrospective review for AllMusic , Dean Carlson said that Spiderland is " one of the most essential and chilling releases in the mumbling post @-@ rock arena " . However , he felt that it is " slightly overrated " and that McMahan 's vocals convey " strangled pity instead of outright empathy . " Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic and wrote that , despite their " sad @-@ sack affect " , Slint are actually " art @-@ rockers without the courage of their pretensions " with poor lyrics . In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide , Rolling Stone journalist Mac Randall felt that the album 's music lacks <unk> , even though it sounds more accessible than Tweez : " [ t ] he absence of anything resembling a tune continues to nag . "
In 2003 , Pitchfork wrote of Spiderland : " a heady , chilling listen ; the irregularity of its hypnotic melodies , fractured beats and mismatched lyrics demand a new kind of appreciation , independent of traditional notions of songcraft . With its half @-@ mumbled , half @-@ hollered vocals , deliberate percussion and drone @-@ gone @-@ aggressive guitars , Spiderland 's urgency is almost traumatic to swallow : despondency never tasted so real . " They named it the twelfth best album of the 1990s . In 2014 , Spiderland was reissued with 14 previously unreleased tracks and received universal acclaim from critics .
= = Legacy = =
Though largely ignored upon its initial release , Spiderland has attracted greater attention through time . This growth in popularity has been attributed in part to the appearance of the track " Good Morning , Captain " on the soundtrack to the 1995 film Kids . The soundtrack has sold over 50 @,@ 000 copies , though Kory Grow of the College Music Journal suggested that the album " has inspired countless bands ( and therefore fans ) far beyond its SoundScan numbers " . Spiderland has become a landmark indie rock album and is considered , along with Talk Talk 's Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock , to have been the primary catalyst of the post @-@ rock genre . The album is also regarded as being essential to " the fabric of math @-@ rock genre " . David Peschek said that the album is " the ur @-@ text for what became known as post @-@ rock , a fractured , almost geometric reimagining of rock music stripped of its <unk> impulse . " Rachel Devine of The List called Spiderland " arguably the most disproportionately influential [ album ] in music history " . Pitchfork Media reviewer Stuart Berman commented : " Spiderland ’ s greatest legacy is not that it motivated a cluster of semi @-@ popular bands in the late @-@ 90s and early 2000s to adopt its whisper @-@ to @-@ scream schematic . It ’ s the boundless inspiration it perpetually provides for all the bands that have yet to emerge from the basement . "
McMahan reflected on the album 's success : " We worked really hard on Spiderland . I mean , I definitely felt much more personal about it . I thought it represented us as people , musically , a lot more than Tweez did . That 's about it . It seemed like when we were around , and actively playing and stuff , that people 's responses to us were fairly ambivalent . I thought it was funny when the press picked up on it . For an independent release , it had a strange sort of audience and kept selling three or four years after we recorded it ; it still sells more copies than when it first came out . " Touch and Go founder Corey Rusk said that Spiderland is " like an icon now . But when it came out , nobody cared ! The band had broken up by the time the album came out , and it really didn 't sell particularly well or get written about all that much in the year it was released . But it was a revolutionary , groundbreaking record , and it 's one of the few instances where people catch up to it later on . "
Post @-@ rock bands Mogwai , Godspeed You ! Black Emperor , Isis and Explosions in the Sky have been influenced by Spiderland . Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh member Lou Barlow said of Spiderland , " It was quiet @-@ to @-@ loud without sounding like grunge or indie rock . It sounded more like a new kind of music . " PJ Harvey has named Spiderland as one of her favorite albums , and supposedly contacted Slint regarding the band 's request for a female vocalist . Bob <unk> of Pavement and Mark Clifford of Seefeel have also cited Spiderland as among their favorite albums . The album cover of Spiderland was recreated by The Shins in the music video for " New Slang " .
= = = Reunion = = =
Despite having plans for a tour of Europe to promote Spiderland , Slint broke up in 1991 for reasons that were not revealed . Members of the band went on to join other musical projects , including Tortoise , The Breeders , Palace and The For Carnation . Slint reunited briefly in 2005 for an eighteen @-@ date tour . Pajo said , " We don 't want to be a reunion band that keeps reuniting . [ ... ] I know that this is going to be it . " However , in 2007 Slint reunited again for a tour featuring performances of Spiderland in its entirety as part of All Tomorrow 's Parties ' " Don 't Look Back " concert series celebrating classic albums . The tour included appearances at the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival and Primavera Sound Festival . McMahan said in an interview at the Pitchfork Music Festival that performing the album live was " pretty cool . It moves a little slower than it does on the record , but it 's all there . [ ... ] It took some getting used to , some revisiting the material and rehearsing . " In an August 2013 interview with <unk> Khanna , former producer Steve Albini revealed that the band was working on remastering Spiderland with engineer Bob Weston .
Critical responses to Slint 's reunion has been mixed , with detractors commenting on the music 's unsuitability for a live setting . Chicago Sun @-@ Times music critic Jim DeRogatis wrote that although " fans greeted [ Slint 's performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival ] as manna from heaven . [ ... ] the musicians ' fragile , intertwining guitar lines , mumbled attempts at poetry and uninspiring <unk> personas were poor matches for the setting and the occasion , especially during the static , percussion @-@ deprived ' Don , Aman ' and the bloated anthem ' Good Morning , Captain ' . " According to members of The A.V. Club , Slint 's performance of " Don , Aman " at the festival " capture [ d ] the band 's greatness and its greatest weakness : Slint completely lacks stage charisma , and playing a deathly quiet , moody song on a big outdoor stage just doesn 't work . " Both DeRogatis and the A. V. Club review also noted that the band 's performance was plagued by sound problems . A New York review of a performance at Webster Hall opined " the deeply brooding , fussily @-@ executed album finally sounded , sixteen years later , like the existential , cosmos @-@ annihilating shrug it was envisioned as . Which is to say : It sounded fucking great . "
= = Track listing = =
All songs written by Todd Brashear , Brian McMahan , David Pajo , and Britt Walford , except where noted .
= = Personnel = =
Slint
Todd Brashear – bass guitar
David Pajo – guitar
Brian McMahan – guitar , vocals
Britt Walford – drums , vocals , guitar
Technical personnel
Will Oldham – photography
Brian Paulson – engineering
Noel Saltzman – photography
= = Accolades = =
= Phil Pressey =
Phillip Michael " Phil " Pressey ( born February 17 , 1991 ) is an American professional basketball player for the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA Development League . His prior professional teams were the Boston Celtics , Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association and the Maine Red Claws of the NBADL . As a junior playing point guard for the 2012 – 13 Missouri Tigers men 's basketball team , Pressey announced on April 10 , 2013 , that he would forgo his senior season of eligibility at Missouri and enter the 2013 NBA draft instead . He led the 2011 – 12 Big 12 Conference in assists , steals and assist @-@ to @-@ turnover ratio and was a 2011 – 12 All @-@ Big 12 team selection as a result . He shares the Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) single @-@ game assists record ( 19 ) and was the 2012 SEC Preseason Player of the Year . He earned 2012 – 13 All @-@ SEC First team selection and was the conference assist champion . He earned Associated Press 2013 All @-@ American honorable mention recognition . He holds Missouri single @-@ game , single @-@ season and career assists records and numerous Missouri steals records , including career steals .
Pressey was a high school basketball All @-@ state selection by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches ( TABC ) and helped his team achieve 2009 and 2010 Southwest Preparatory Conference ( SPC ) state championships in basketball . In high school , several YouTube videos of him dunking ( often over much taller players ) became popular . He is the son of 1982 NBA Draft first @-@ round selection and 1982 Consensus All @-@ American Paul Pressey .
= = Early years = =
In June 2006 , Pressey stood at 5 feet 3 inches ( 1 @.@ 60 m ) . That year , he led the Boston Amateur Basketball Club ( <unk> ) , also known as the Boston Amateur Athletic Club , to the 2006 Amateur Athletic Union ( AAU ) National Championship . He had joined the team as a seventh grader in 2005 . He played his freshman and sophomore high school basketball seasons for Cushing Academy . As the family moved for Paul 's jobs with various NBA franchises , Pressey spent summers with <unk> teammate ( and future Missouri teammate ) Alex Oriakhi .
In 2008 , Pressey 's family moved to Dallas when Paul took a job with the New Orleans Hornets , and Phil began to play with Episcopal School of Dallas for his junior season . During his two years at Episcopal , the team won its second and third consecutive SPC Division I boy 's state championship in 2009 and 2010 . He was one of the two best point guards at the July 2009 LeBron James Skills Academy , according to reports in The Plain Dealer . Pressey made his verbal commitment to Missouri on September 13 , 2009 . Pressey 's father , Paul , had been teammates with Missouri head coach Mike Anderson . Anderson had known Pressey since he was an infant and remained close to the family as " Uncle Mike " . On April 12 , 2010 , Pressey 's older brother Matt , who was a junior college transfer , gave his verbal commitment to join his brother in Missouri 's 2010 entering class . On April 15 , Oregon attempted to lure Anderson , but after meeting with Oregon 's athletic director , Anderson decided to stay at Missouri .
As a senior Pressey earned TABC All @-@ state recognition and Dallas Morning News first team All @-@ area recognition . The All @-@ area team included Perry Jones , Le 'Bryan Nash , Marcus Smart and Kyan Anderson . During the 2010 SPC championship game , Pressey tallied 32 points , 9 assists , 8 rebounds and 3 steals against Greenhill School . Videos of him dunking in high school have made him a YouTube sensation . During the 2010 TABC All @-@ star game , he dunked over Tony Mitchell , who at the time was a player approximately a foot taller than Pressey . As of 31 December 2012 , this video has about 800 @,@ 000 views . Because of his diminutive stature , he is often compared to another undersized Dallas basketball player , Spud Webb .
= = College career = =
= = = Freshman season = = =
On December 18 , 2010 , Pressey tallied 11 assists while adding 15 points against the Central Arkansas Bears . This tied a Missouri Tigers freshman single @-@ game assist record ( Shawn Teague , 1980 vs. Lamar ) . Then , he broke his right index finger prior to the December 22 , 2010 <unk> ' Rights game against Illinois . Pressey missed four games and did not return to the lineup until the January 8 Big 12 Conference opener against Colorado , where he appeared in the second half . Another highlight for Pressey came when he posted 6 steals for the Tigers against the Texas A & M Aggies in the 2011 Big 12 Men 's Basketball Tournament on March 10 , 2011 . This established a new Missouri Tigers postseason single @-@ game record . Freshman single @-@ game records do not appear in the media guide . He started 12 games for the 2010 – 11 Tigers and set numerous Missouri freshman season records , including average steals ( 2 @.@ 0 ) , average assists ( 3 @.@ 9 ) and total assists ( 117 ) .
= = = Sophomore season = = =
In a January 14 , 2012 contest against the Texas Longhorns , Pressey posted 18 points and 10 assists for his second career double @-@ double . During his sophomore season for the 2011 – 12 Tigers , he recorded 12 assists in a game four times : Villanova ( 12 / 6 ) , Texas Tech ( 1 / 28 ) , # 5 Kansas ( 2 / 25 ) and Oklahoma State ( 3 / 8 ) . At the end of February , he was named to the Naismith Award top 30 midseason Watchlist . Pressey 's total of 223 assists and average of 6 @.@ 4 assists broke Anthony Peeler 's school single @-@ season records ( 179 , 5 @.@ 8 ) set for the 1989 – 90 Missouri Tigers . For the 2011 – 12 Big 12 season , he was an All @-@ Big 12 selection ( 1st team - CBSSports.com ; 2nd team - Associated Press ; 3rd team - Big 12 coaches ) . He was also a 2012 Big 12 Men 's Basketball Tournament all @-@ tournament selection and a Bob Cousy Award finalist .
= = = Junior season = = =
Pressey became captain of the Missouri team as a junior . CBS Sports listed him as a 2012 first team preseason All @-@ American and the 8th best player in its preseason top 100 . Sports Illustrated also named him to its preseason All @-@ American first team . CBS also named him the second best point guard ( behind Isaiah Canaan ) . Pressey was both a preseason John R. Wooden Award top 50 selection and a preseason Naismith Award top 50 selection in 2012 . Pressey was the preseason SEC player of the year selection by the SEC media and a first team All @-@ SEC selection by the coaches . Pressey holds the Missouri career assists average record and entered the season within striking distance of Peeler 's Missouri career assists and career steals totals of 497 and 196 .
In December , the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame named Pressey as a Cousy Award nominee . In the December 22 , 2012 <unk> ' Rights game against Illinois he posted 11 assists and 12 points for his third career double @-@ double . In Missouri 's subsequent game on December 28 , 2012 , he recorded another double @-@ double with 19 assists and 19 points against UCLA tying the Southeastern Conference single @-@ game assist record ( Kenny Higgs , 1976 @-@ 77 LSU ; Bill Hann , 1967 @-@ 68 Tennessee ) . On January 5 , Pressey established a new career high with 26 points , while recording 5 assists and 3 rebounds against Bucknell . This earned him SEC player of the week . On January 8 , Pressey tied the Mizzou Arena single @-@ game assist record with 13 against Alabama along with 11 points as part of his fifth double @-@ double . On January 9 , he was selected as one of 20 Cousy Award finalists . At the time , he was described as the most efficient defender in the nation in terms of points allowed per play defended . On January 10 the Wooden Award midseason top 25 list , which included Pressey , was announced . On February 9 , he surpassed Peeler 's career assist total of 497 against Ole Miss . Pressey posted a new career @-@ high 27 points along with 10 assists and 4 steals on February 23 against Kentucky as part of his fourth double @-@ double of the season and sixth of his career . On March 12 , the U.S. Basketball Writers Association named Pressey to its 2012 – 13 Men 's All @-@ District VI ( IA , MO , KS , OK , NE , ND , SD ) Team , based upon voting from its national membership . That same day , he was a selection to the 8 @-@ man 2013 All @-@ SEC First Team by the SEC coaches . He was a selection to the 5 @-@ man 2013 All @-@ SEC First Teams by three of four FOX Sports South writers . Pressey was also an All @-@ SEC First Team selection by the Kansas City Star . Pressey ended the season with 196 career steals , tying Peeler 's school record , and bettered his own school single @-@ season assist records with 240 and 7 @.@ 1 / game . He was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I All ‐ District 21 first team on March 26 , as selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC , making him eligible for the State Farm Coaches ’ Division I All @-@ America team . Pressey earned Associated Press honorable mention All @-@ American recognition . He was the 2012 – 13 Southeastern Conference men 's basketball season assist champion with a 7 @.@ 1 assists / game average .
= = Professional career = =
= = = 2013 NBA Draft = = =
On April 10 , 2013 , Pressey announced he would not be returning to play his senior season for the Missouri Tigers , choosing instead to enter the 2013 NBA Draft . Pressey stated his intentions in a statement posted on the Tigers team website . According to the Associated Press , while averaging a career @-@ best 11 @.@ 9 points and 7 @.@ 1 assists as a junior his play was erratic as he also committed an average 3 @.@ 5 turnovers . Pressey had a 37 @.@ 6 % field goal percentage during his final season , which the Associated Press described as one in which he " struggled with late @-@ game decision @-@ making in losses to UCLA , Louisiana State , Texas A & M , Arkansas , Kentucky and Tennessee " . ESPN noted that he is projected to be a late second round draft selection at best . Three senior starters , including Oriakhi , as well as Laurence Bowers and Keion Bell were graduating . Pressey was one of 60 players invited to the NBA Draft Combine .