Slint - Spiderland

Wow. I can't emphazise enough how good Slint's Spiderland actually is. I know that sounds like overblown fanboy gushing, and it probably is, but hear me out. Released in 1992, Spiderland was forgotten amidst the waves of Seattle grunge, and that's too bad, for this is an incredibly unique work.

This Louisville, Kentucky quartet was once a hardcore punk outfit, though you would never realize it by listening to this album. The guitars are spidery, the tempos slow and methodical, and the vocalist recites muted spoken word in the darkened recesses. The arrangements are somewhat spare and repetitious on first listen, yet there is an underlying mathematical structure to them--the buildups are truly staggering in their power. Overall, the sound is distant, dark, and vaguely unsettling. This album conveys the sound of an overcast and windy autumn night, the leaves rustling in the trees, the fog rolling in. Delicate and meloncholy, yet shadowy and intense at the same time.

Spiderland rewards a patient listener. The songs are extended somewhat, hovering in between five to almost nine minutes. The chiming guitars of the opener Breadcrumb Trail begin the journey, followed by the wonderfully creepy Nosferatu Man, probably the most aggressive track on the album. Don, Aman is a moody piece full of whispered lyrics and strummed guitars that ominously build and build, until a wave of distortion breaks through as if to signify something dramatic and terrible has happened. Washer, the longest track, is a downbeat and poignant song full of yearning and emotionally naked lyrics.

For Dinner.. is an instrumental. While it is not the strongest track on the album, it serves as a breather for the finale Good Morning, Captain, one of the most emotionally intense pieces of music I've ever heard. The way the singer whispers toward the end, "I'm trying to find my way home..I'm sorry, and I miss you," followed by a dramatic crescendo and his cries of "I miss you!"--it leaves a pit in my stomach. Every time. Sounds cliche, I know, but it must be heard to be believed.

Although later post-rock bands such as Tortoise, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and Explosions In The Sky have attempted to replicate the power of this album, nothing can beat the original. Spiderland is pure emotion set to music, and one of the most powerful records of the '90s. Calling it "essential" is an understatement.

d/l

My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise

'You Made Me Realise' was the circa-'Isn't Anything' LP that made critics stand up and take notice of the brilliant things MBV were up to; it developed some of the stunning guitar sounds that would become the band's trademark, and features tracks which (while more pop-oriented than those of Isn't Anything) are just as innovative. Thankfully, both 'You Made Me Realise' and' Feed Me With Your Kiss' (the band's other Isn't Anything single) aren't as difficult to find as their earlier work -- between the two of them, there's practically an album's worth of work. Each of the five tracks on this EP are worth hearing -- standouts are the incredible title track, "Slow," and "Thorn."

d/l

SILVER SCOOTER - ORLEANS PARISH

Silver Scooter's second full-length album, 1999's Orleans Parish, continues in the style they established with 1997's The Other Palm Springs: catchy, driving indie pop with lyrics alternately sad and hopeful. The drums are restrained and simple, laying a solid foundation on which the guitar and bass build shining melodies. Songs such as "Sleight of Hand" and "Cancer & Wide-Eyed Looks" are both melancholy and catchy, the at times mournful lyrics balanced by the bouncing instrumentation. "Deliver Me Driver" could be a letter from a Silver Scooter fan, the narrator singing, "I love your songs/they're filled with melody and melancholy." This, in fact, is the essence of this Austin band: emotional songs often touching on themes of loss and loneliness, but delivered in such a way that makes these things not seem so bad....

D/L

Lync had this way of making melodies out of messes and mountains out of molehills. The distortion, hiss, and slightly untuned strings created huge songs from modest means. Lync formed in 1992 in the musically incestuous Olympia, Washington and released singles on Magic Pail, Candy Ass, Landspeed, and K Records, and one full-length on K Records (These Are Not Fall Colors) before disbanding in 1994.

In 1997, Troubleman Unlimited and K were kind enough to collect the band's singles and unreleased tracks and release them on one stunning compact disc, Remembering The Fireballs (Part 8). This disc reminds us of their influence and style, as echoes of their driving bass, ringing guitars, and urgent vocals resurface in many other bands from the Northwest. While Lync may no longer exist, its members continue to rock. Guitarist/vocalist Sam Jayne and drummer Dave Schneider are now inLove As Laughter , and bassist/vocalist James Bertram regularly plays in Red Stars Theory and 764-Hero, and has played with Beck, Built To Spill, and Satisfact, to name a few of his many projects. Jayne also contributed vocals to Beck's K Records release, One Foot in the Grave.


Both albums