Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

126: Slint - Spiderland (1991)

“Spiderland is a majestic album, sublime and strange, made more brilliant by its simplicity and quiet grace. Songs evolve and expand from simple statements that are inverted and truncated in a manner that seems spontaneous, but is so precise and emphatic that it must be intuitive or orchestrated or both.”

—Steve Albini


Slint are a true one-of-a-kind band - they showed up seemingly out of nowhere, singlehandedly defined an entire genre on a single album, and disappeared before that album was even released. What happened? Why is Spiderland so influential? And, beyond its influence - does the album still hold up today? Phil certainly thinks so - in his opinion, its grandeur has been frequently imitated, but never duplicated. He, along with Mike, Rich, and Dan, are here to talk about just what makes this album so special.

Miscellany

  • As Rich mentioned, it’s doubtful that Slint were getting inspiration from obscure house 12-inches, but one unexpected influence they did name was Madonna. Exactly how the music reflects that influence is unclear, but the title of “Don, Aman” is indeed an anagram for “Madonna.”

  • As further evidence that Slint had no idea what they had, the liner notes to Spiderland actually included a call for “interested female vocalists.” One who responded was PJ Harvey. 

Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • Phil Maddox (host)

  • Mike DeFabio (moderator)

  • Rich Bunnell

  • Dan Watkins 

Spiderland tracklist 

  1. Breadcrumb Trail

  2. Nosferatu Man

  3. Don, Aman

  4. Washer

  5. For Dinner …

  6. Good Morning, Captain 

Other clips used 

Slint:

  • Glenn

  • Ron

  • Nosferatu Man (Basement Practice) 

Others:

  • Squirrel Bait - Kick the Kat

  • Shellac - Didn't We Deserve a Look At You the Way You Really Are

  • Nirvana - Milk It

  • Chavez - Break Up Your Band

  • The Velvet Underground - The Murder Mystery

  • Black Flag - Damaged I

  • Stone Temple Pilots - Creep

  • Underworld - Cups

  • The Velvet Underground - The Gift

  • Black Country, New Road - Science Fair

  • Pinback - AFK

  • Talk Talk - Eden

  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Moya

  • Polvo - Fast Canoe

  • Fugazi - Exit Only

  • Tortoise - In Sarah, Mencken, Christ, and Beethoven There Were Women and Men

  • Mogwai - Like Herod

  • Unwound - Look a Ghost

Band/album personnel 

  • Todd Brashear – bass guitar

  • David Pajo – guitar

  • Brian McMahan – vocals, guitar

  • Britt Walford – drums, vocals, guitar

  • Brian Paulson – engineering 

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • Slint - Good Morning, Captain (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Spiderland and the one other album by Slint at slint.bandcamp.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

This website and all episodes' discussion/commentary © 2018—2024 Discord & Rhyme. Excerpts from recordings appearing in episodes are included for purposes of review only, and all rights to such material remain property of their copyright holders. Please note that we make a good-faith effort to ensure all information included in these episodes is accurate, but if we get something wrong, let us know at discordpod@gmail.com and we will print a correction in the show notes. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Website design by Amanda Rodgers. Thank you for visiting, and keep as cool as you can.

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