Scattered Remnants of the Ship Could Be Seen in the Distance

April 7, 2014 12:29 PM

"You'd see Britt and Brian and they were just like, little kids standing around with terrifying giant skinheads and weird dudes in dresses, it was heaven .... Slint were a unique band."

Breadcrumb Trail is a 90-minute documentary about Slint and their classic 1991 album Spiderland. (previously)

posted by mannequito (10 comments total)

I love Slint, and had the same relationship with Spiderland that Lance Bangs describes, albeit a few years later. That album is just so incredibly compelling.

Seeing them live is a revelation. It also led me to conclude that Steve Albini's production on Tweez really disserved a lot of the songs on that record, particularly "Charlotte," which recorded is buzzy in the way so much Albini stuff is buzzy and also a little ominous but live is this titanic monster of a song that just picks you up and tosses you around.
posted by saladin at 12:52 PM on April 7, 2014

Yeah, I picked up Tweez on vinyl a few years ago never having heard it before. I've maybe listened to it 5 times since. It was definitely a production issue for me, although I'd have to give it another listen to describe why exactly. I remember wondering if maybe it was a defective pressing on first listen.
posted by mannequito at 1:06 PM on April 7, 2014

There's also this.
posted by dobbs at 1:10 PM on April 7, 2014

Albini addressed his production on Tweez in the 33 1/3 book on Spiderland, which is a decent read. Really, any material that helps crack open the story on that record is welcome. I don't have it with me, but I recall him saying he regretted some of his decisions, especially regarding the interstitial noises and talking that string the songs together. he had done some of that (pretty famously) on The Pixies' Surfer Rosa the year before and it was something he kind of pushed on the band.

Or maybe that wasn't it at all. I haven't read that book in a couple years.

Really stoked about this documentary. Does anyone know if it's yet available separately from that tantalizing, yet expensive and sold out box set?
posted by Maaik at 1:24 PM on April 7, 2014

The documentary seems to still be in festival screening mode (having screened at the Roxie in SF in March). I am wondering if Spiderland producer Brian Paulson is in the documentary. Ok, looks like from this The Stranger article that he's in it. A lot of times people mistakenly think Albini recorded the second LP too.
posted by larrybob at 3:20 PM on April 7, 2014

There's a couple of really good live recordings here.
posted by carter at 5:44 PM on April 7, 2014

Holy shit they were young.

I love the structures of the long Slint songs. Unlike a lot of long tracks, they don't feel indulgent, or like just a couple other songs randomly glued together. To my non-musician ears, they still have an overall AABA or ABABCB kind of structure, but maybe more like (made up) AABA'ACA'BACDEA". They're still after the expected catharsis, but almost can't allow themselves to have it.
posted by bleep-blop at 6:56 PM on April 7, 2014

Holy cow. You hear "they were just kids" and you kind think, sure from our perspective 20 plus years on they seem young but yeah... were they like 16 or 17 in those clips?
posted by adamt at 7:40 PM on April 7, 2014

I saw this film in SF a couple weeks ago and holy shit is it good. Brian McMahan was there with Lance Bangs doing Q&A afterwords, which was great. If you get a chance to see it, do. Also, listen to Squirrel Bait.
posted by deadbilly at 8:32 PM on April 7, 2014

They're touring now. Can't wait; saw them, what, 2007 or so? Still epic.
posted by aramaic at 8:44 PM on April 7, 2014