the literary aspiration found on
Spiderland
in songs like “Nosferatu Man” or “Good Morning, Captain.” Rather, McMahan talks of two platonic friends who become romantically involved. It’s the kind of topic a high school senior might have on his mind, as opposed to the content of
Spiderland
, which seems to come from the head of a college kid immersed in lit studies.
“Darlene” ends with McMahan ominously repeating “We know what happened to them. We know what they did,” hinting at the creepy monotone that would permeate
Spiderland
. “Kent” is the other song on
Tweez
that foreshadows some of the ideas the band would explore in the next few years. 2 At nearly six minutes, it is the longest track on the album. It’s also the only song that really shifts into more than one movement, compared with the other tracks which are mostly built on two riffs each. It begins (after the sound of someone sipping a refreshing beverage) with a cool, almost groovy, clean-tone vamp that Walford quickly cuts off with a snare hit, propelling the band into a jaunty, playful instrumental jam. At one point the band pauses, Walford hits the snare again, and they resume the romp. After a second pause, however, “Kent” movesinto a whole other territory. Buckler hits a stray note on his bass which prompts him and Walford into a tense one-note build. One guitar drops in and out with moody volume swells while the other plays a minimal but discordant lead. Buckler’s voice comes in and cryptically says, “Don’t worry about me / I’ve got a bed / I’ve got a Christmas tree / Inside my head,” sending the song back to that original intro groove, now in full swing as Walford pounds his kick and snare to slowly but forcefully drive the rhythm. McMahan’s guitar enters, doubling the main groove higher up on the neck before moving into a solo that is alternately menacing and disjointed. McMahan’s lead (written by Buckler), all mood and texture, is a contrast to Pajo’s flashier, harmonic-heavy leads on the rest of
Tweez
. In its length, texture, composition, and mood, “Kent” seems to point the way forward for the band.
A New Sound
Slint returned to Louisville in the fall of 1987 with a finished album, but the recording experience created a fissure within the band. Buckler left the
Tweez
sessions incredibly deflated by its outcome. “[Albini] had a kind of sonic ideology he applied to all the groups he produced, which I don’t think was meant for Slint,” he told
Alternative Press
. “He would produce bands to sound raw and abrasive; I wanted Slint to sound warm and delicate.” Pajo noted to me that, though all four bandmates went into the studio eager to work with Albini, Buckler grew more and more frustrated as the session progressed. “All [the studio experimentation] was done after the basic tracks were recorded, so Ethan didn’t envision the record sounding like that. He wasn’t into the end product at all . . . We wanted the record to sound like you’d hit the loudness button on your stereo, which scoops out all the mids — all low end and high end, no midrange — and he was really madabout that. He thought it sounded really false . . . He thought it made a joke or a novelty of the songs; he liked the songs the way they were.” Angered by
Tweez
’s outcome, Buckler left the group.
The band found Buckler’s replacement in the summer of the following year, when Todd Brashear returned home from Indiana University in nearby Bloomington. Still good friends following Solution Unknown’s breakup, Pajo had given Brashear a copy of
Tweez
soon after it was recorded. Unlike Buckler, Brashear was instantly on the same page as Pajo and the rest of Slint. “I liked it; I thought it sounded unique . . . The Albini influence was pretty obvious, [but] there was still a lot of cool musical stuff going on. That’s what drew me to it.”
Brashear soon developed stronger musical and personal relationships with all three
Spiderland
in songs like “Nosferatu Man” or “Good Morning, Captain.” Rather, McMahan talks of two platonic friends who become romantically involved. It’s the kind of topic a high school senior might have on his mind, as opposed to the content of
Spiderland
, which seems to come from the head of a college kid immersed in lit studies.
“Darlene” ends with McMahan ominously repeating “We know what happened to them. We know what they did,” hinting at the creepy monotone that would permeate
Spiderland
. “Kent” is the other song on
Tweez
that foreshadows some of the ideas the band would explore in the next few years. 2 At nearly six minutes, it is the longest track on the album. It’s also the only song that really shifts into more than one movement, compared with the other tracks which are mostly built on two riffs each. It begins (after the sound of someone sipping a refreshing beverage) with a cool, almost groovy, clean-tone vamp that Walford quickly cuts off with a snare hit, propelling the band into a jaunty, playful instrumental jam. At one point the band pauses, Walford hits the snare again, and they resume the romp. After a second pause, however, “Kent” movesinto a whole other territory. Buckler hits a stray note on his bass which prompts him and Walford into a tense one-note build. One guitar drops in and out with moody volume swells while the other plays a minimal but discordant lead. Buckler’s voice comes in and cryptically says, “Don’t worry about me / I’ve got a bed / I’ve got a Christmas tree / Inside my head,” sending the song back to that original intro groove, now in full swing as Walford pounds his kick and snare to slowly but forcefully drive the rhythm. McMahan’s guitar enters, doubling the main groove higher up on the neck before moving into a solo that is alternately menacing and disjointed. McMahan’s lead (written by Buckler), all mood and texture, is a contrast to Pajo’s flashier, harmonic-heavy leads on the rest of
Tweez
. In its length, texture, composition, and mood, “Kent” seems to point the way forward for the band.
A New Sound
Slint returned to Louisville in the fall of 1987 with a finished album, but the recording experience created a fissure within the band. Buckler left the
Tweez
sessions incredibly deflated by its outcome. “[Albini] had a kind of sonic ideology he applied to all the groups he produced, which I don’t think was meant for Slint,” he told
Alternative Press
. “He would produce bands to sound raw and abrasive; I wanted Slint to sound warm and delicate.” Pajo noted to me that, though all four bandmates went into the studio eager to work with Albini, Buckler grew more and more frustrated as the session progressed. “All [the studio experimentation] was done after the basic tracks were recorded, so Ethan didn’t envision the record sounding like that. He wasn’t into the end product at all . . . We wanted the record to sound like you’d hit the loudness button on your stereo, which scoops out all the mids — all low end and high end, no midrange — and he was really madabout that. He thought it sounded really false . . . He thought it made a joke or a novelty of the songs; he liked the songs the way they were.” Angered by
Tweez
’s outcome, Buckler left the group.
The band found Buckler’s replacement in the summer of the following year, when Todd Brashear returned home from Indiana University in nearby Bloomington. Still good friends following Solution Unknown’s breakup, Pajo had given Brashear a copy of
Tweez
soon after it was recorded. Unlike Buckler, Brashear was instantly on the same page as Pajo and the rest of Slint. “I liked it; I thought it sounded unique . . . The Albini influence was pretty obvious, [but] there was still a lot of cool musical stuff going on. That’s what drew me to it.”
Brashear soon developed stronger musical and personal relationships with all three
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