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This ‘King of the Hill’/‘Spiderland’ mashup could not be more perfect
03.30.2016
01:32 pm
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Hey Internet, can we get this fantastic image on a T-shirt, please? Thanks so much.

Most readers of this site will be familiar with the iconic cover art of Slint‘s second and final album Spiderland, released in 1991.

This amusing reworking inserts the familiar foursome of idle males from the long-running FOX series King of the Hill into the album cover. So according to this, moving from left to right, Dale is bobbing where Todd Brashear once bobbed, Bill is Brian McMahan, Hank is Britt Walford, and Boomhauer is David Pajo.
 

 
As we learned a couple years back, the quarry in which the picture was taken is located in or around Utica, Indiana, not far from Louisville, whence the band hailed. The original photograph was taken by Will Oldham.

This clever image appears to be the product of a fellow named J.W. Friedman, who along with the intrguingly named Chris Collision runs I Don’t Even Own a Television, which is a “podcast about bad books.” Hats off to you!

After the jump, there’s an 8-bit rendition of “Good Morning, Captain”...

READ ON
Posted by Martin Schneider
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03.30.2016
01:32 pm
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Slint and Will Oldham discuss that famous ‘Spiderland’ album cover
12.18.2014
11:41 am
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Brashear, Walford, and Oldham treading water
 
Spiderland was that haunting and evocative bit of early-‘90s indie rock, the second (and final) album from Slint, four fellows from Louisville, Kentucky, the reconstituted shards of Squirrel Bait. It took a long while, but it has emerged as one of the profoundly influential albums of the post-classic era, contributing to the foundations of post-rock and inspiring acts as disparate as P.J. Harvey, Pavement, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, and Sebadoh. No small part of the album’s appeal derives from the photograph that graces the cover, a black-and-white, ever-so-blurry pic of the band members bobbing in the waters of a quarry somewhere. The picture suggests the frolics of summer and youth, but the lack of color lends it a foreboding aura—a wholly apt introduction to the bracing, enervating music of the album. The picture was taken by Will Oldham, a buddy of the band’s who went on to record scads of music under the name Bonnie “Prince” Billy, among others.

In the following clip, filmmaker Lance Bangs brought Oldham and Slint members Britt Walford (drums) and Todd Brashear (bass) together to reminisce about the shooting of that cover. There’s some talk of Slint guitarist Brian McMahan cooking up some mayhem with a “sacrificial goat” and the entire band, save McMahan, getting arrested for trespassing. It’s evident that the quarry is the site of a tony residential community of some kind, we catch a glimpse of a billboard for a building development company from southern Indiana called Quarry Bluff, which bills itself as (initial caps and all) “A Unique Development Located on the Banks of the Ohio River in Utica, Indiana Just Across the New East End Bridge!” So it appears that the quarry isn’t in Kentucky at all but in Jefferson, Indiana.

This clip comes from Breadcrumb Trail, Bangs’ recent documentary on the band and the album. The clip ends with Oldham, Brashear, and Walford jumping into the water to re-create the album cover as best they can.
 

 
via Biblioklept

Posted by Martin Schneider
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12.18.2014
11:41 am
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Slint announce tour dates
03.18.2014
03:35 pm
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On the heels of the announcement of the insanely posh Spiderland boxed set and the Breadcrumb Trail biographical documentary, the ridiculously influential band Slint have announced dates for a full tour.

April 29—Boston, MA, Paradise Rock Club
April 30—Asbury Park, NJ, The Stone Pony
May 01—Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer
May 04—New York, NY, Bowery Ballroom
May 06—Brooklyn, NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 08—Cleveland, OH, Grog Shop
May 09—Detroit, MI, Saint Andrews Hall
May 10—Chicago, IL, Bottom Lounge
May 29-31—Barcelona, ES, Primavera Sound
June 05-07—Porto, PT, Optimus Primavera Sound
July18-20—Louisville, KY, Forecastle Festival

Formed in mid-‘80s Kentucky by still-teenaged refugees from the punk band Squirrel Bait, Slint created a dynamic, unnerving, ponderous and emotionally resonant sound that was entirely novel, and though they broke up before the release of their signature LP, their ideas were all over the music of the 90s. Slo-core, post-rock, and post-hardcore all bear Slint’s deep fingerprints, and they’ve intermittently reunited since 2005 to reap the overdue benefits of inventing a few genres without even trying. No new Slint music has been released since an instrumental 10” single in 1994, though guitarist Dave Pajo has had an intriguing career with Tortoise, Papa M, and the Billy Corgan-led Zwan, and drummer Britt Walford re-emerged pseudonymously in an early version of The Breeders, then in Evergreen, and much more recently, in the new band Watter. For those who are curious to go deeper into the band’s history, I will go to my grave unconditionally recommending the superb 33 1/3 book on Spiderland.


Here’s a bit of what you can expect to hear if you nab one of these coveted tickets, recorded in Italy in 2007.
 

Via Consequence of Sound

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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03.18.2014
03:35 pm
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New Slint documentary trailer released
02.14.2014
03:11 pm
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On the heels of Touch & Go’s announcement of an insanely comprehensive Slint box set comes the release of the trailer for Lance Bangs’ documentary on the band, Breadcrumb Trail. Bangs’ impressive resume includes music videos for Arcade Fire, Pavement, Kanye West, The Shins, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, and Belle & Sebastian. Slint, of course, were the band of Louisville kids who dropped a very quiet atom bomb called Spiderland in 1991. The album hugely influenced math rock, slo-core, and Post-Rock, and so had a massive impact on the independent music of the 1990s and beyond. I’ve drooled on at length about it before, so I’ll not rehash. I’ll just point you here.

One thing about the trailer that’s just killing me—I am about Slint’s members’ age, and so I was a 19-year-old kid in college when the album came out, and damn if they don’t look ridiculously young to me now. So, how’d YOU change the world before you finished school?

Per Vice, screenings of Breadcrumb Trail don’t begin until mid-March, but I’m crazy-excited to see it. I’m especially keen to see how well it complements the 33 1/3 book on the album, which is thus far the single best source of information I’ve found on the somewhat mercurial band.

Enjoy the trailer.
 

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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02.14.2014
03:11 pm
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Slint’s epochal ‘Spiderland’ LP finally getting deluxe reissue treatment
01.30.2014
03:31 pm
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HUGE news from Touch and Go:

In August of 1990, SLINT recorded their second album Spiderland at River North Recorders in Chicago. Over the course of only 4 days, the four young musicians created what would come to be regarded as one of the most important and influential records of the past thirty years. Adding to the mystique surrounding SLINT, they disbanded shortly before Spiderland was released on Touch and Go Records in April of 1991. There was no tour to support the album. There were no interviews with the band members. Just one eerie, now-iconic photo of the band members’ heads breaking the surface of the water and an album of six taut, menacing, and haunting songs.

Twenty-three years later, and five years in the making, Touch and Go Records will once again release the album Spiderland in April of 2014 - this time as a deluxe limited edition remastered box set. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl and packaged in a gatefold jacket, the entire Spiderland album has been remastered from the original analog master tapes by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. The box set includes 14 previously unreleased outtakes and demos mastered by Bob Weston and pressed on 2 additional 180 gram vinyl albums packaged in a gatefold LP jacket.

 

 
It is no exaggeration to say that for independent rock in the 1990s and beyond, Slint’s Spiderland is every bit as important a release as My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless or Nirvana’s Nevermind. It’s justly hailed, along with Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, as a pivotal seed of the Post-Rock movement, and it influenced more musicians than can possibly be comprehensively listed. The jaw-dropping dramatic breadth of the band’s claustrophobic tension and gloriously high release dynamics still amazes after over two decades and countless listens. If you’re not familiar with this album, good LORD, do yourself a favor. We’ll wait.
 

Slint, “Breadcrumb Trail”
 

Slint, “Nosferatu Man”
 

Slint, “Don, Aman”
 

Slint, “Washer”
 

Slint, “For Dinner”

Slint, “Good Morning, Captain,” contender for most devastating album ending ever.

Also, I cannot recommend the album’s 33 1/3 series book highly enough. It’s a gripping read, its author, Scott Tennent, did a fantastic job.

The fervent devotion with which the album’s many, many fanatics cling to it seems like it would have merited a deluxe remaster ages ago, but we’re not complaining. In addition to the remastered vinyl, the set comes with an extremely generous array of bonus goodies, and if pre-ordered directly from T&G, can be had with the band members’ autographs. Gotta move quickly on that, though, as that perk is limited.

Slint have, from time to time, reunited for short tours and festival shows. Here’s “Breadcrumb Trail,” performed in London just last month, uploaded by YouTube user Rairun.
 

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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01.30.2014
03:31 pm
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8-Bit version of Slint’s ‘Good Morning, Captain’
01.27.2012
06:31 pm
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image
 
If you’re a fan of Slint, you’re either going to love or hate this 8-bit version of ” Good Morning, Captain.”

The Nintendo-style version of the Spiderland album cover is a nice touch, too.

YouTuber methodairmoshpit admits, “I’m a nerd with too much time on my hands.”
 

 
Thank you Jeff Albers!

Posted by Tara McGinley
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01.27.2012
06:31 pm
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