Composer Reacts to Slint - Good Morning, Captain (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

[@dopenose]

Slint captured perfection in their parent’s basements. Please support your kid’s musical dreams so that maybe one day we’ll be gifted another masterpiece such as this.

[@Phiiiiiiiiiiiii]

I wouldn't be too happy as a parent that my kid created an album that landed him and his friends into a mental hospital. Some art comes at a great cost - being a parent is never that easy.

[@RhysGBiv]

@@Phiiiiiiiiiiiiibut what if the album is fire

[@donserono]

Also I’m from the same town as them, and met one of the members at my local skatepark back in March. I was getting a picture with him and told my friend “here’s my phone take this picture” and he was really confused because I was asking him to take a picture of me and some random middle aged dude so of course he asked “who is he” and before I could answer the he said to my friend “I used to be his old skate coach” and smiled at me and we took the picture. What a legend.

[@CriticalReactions]

That's an awesome story! So glad you got to meet the dude.

[@yared8771]

Cool! Was he Britt?

[@smoshbooz]

Who was it 😳 I'd love to meet one of them. If only I lived anywhere near and not in Europe lol. I'd go to Louisville just to meet them no joke

[@jacobswain2072]

@@yared8771 sounds like britt lol

[@iamthepinkylifter]

lol amazing

[@kanglongshankz3313]

The whole album is a masterpiece. There's something about the album cover as well which correlates perfectly with the anxious atmosphere of the music, in ways I cannot articulate.

[@joaomarcosmacedo7244]

I think it's the place. It looks like that kinda place you see in horror movies where one of the characters is gonna get killed

[@seanbarley9072]

The Pic was taken by Will Oldham

[@Tanikaze2]

it reminds me of one of those "last pictures before death" posts you see on social media

[@meltingpoint97]

After all these years of listening to this track I still get chills when I hear that first 'I miss you'

[@Musicalchores]

7:19 ??

[@meltingpoint97]

@@Musicalchoresyes sir

[@RSVTuono]

100% guarantee out-of-tune instruments is intentional. Totally serves the song and the vibes. I *love* songs that use dissonance and atonality to shift the listener out of their comfort zone. This song is a fricking masterpiece. It is never going to let you feel OK. I don't know why I like stuff like this, but I do...

[@MannyRivera-q6u]

at 6:06 you mention a muted bell sound. thats actually just brit or brian on the e1 string picking all the way down to and past the guitar pick ups

[@donserono]

May favorite song of all time. The storyline behind lyrics is based off of this poem called “The of Rime of the ancient mariner” and he compares it to his life; entering adulthood, and leaving his childhood behind. Dope review dope song

[@ambassadortourettes753]

Thank you for pointing this out 👌miss this band so much...

[@balls2442]

Hey u seem like you know a lot about the song, i didn't understand the last part of the song where he stood up and the child got afraid and everything after that can u explain it to me?

[@mazumnoob3510]

@@balls2442 for me, the captain is looking for help in a empty house and seeing an mirage of his son inside the house. I think it gives more sense for the line "I'll make it up to you". For me is like a dad suffering for not be able to see his son again (sorry for my terrible english)

[@eliasmsv3156]

Not true

[@dimiko8232]

This song is just so cinematic to me. The spoken word takes a role of a narrator, the dissonance of bass and guitars create a suffocating atmosphere, while drums move everything forward. Feels like a scene from a horror movie! Yeah, these guys were REALLY important for the formation of post-rock. Spiderland, their 2nd and the last record, focused on atmosphere, movement & all that jazz that we know today as post-rock aspects. They also helped in developing math rock and pushing forward post-hardcore. Overall, a very important band for rock & hardcore's history. Definitely one for the books! P.S. That "muted bell" sound you mentioned is actually a guitar! He goes down the string playing harmonics and sounds inbetween those harmonics to create this metallic sound. It's supposed to represent a chain of an anchor going up (again, so cinematic!).

[@CriticalReactions]

Wow, no kidding about their importance. Creative use of instruments and influencing a couple of different subgenres.

[@DrFonzo]

“A branch that post rock could’ve become”. This album is in 1991, it was WAS AND IS post rock before post rock was even a word or genre people used….

[@curtisw502]

This came out before Nirvana would take grunge to the forefront of popular music. They came up in Louisville's punk/metal scene and imo created the best album of the 90s...in 1991 Britt Walford's drumming is masterful as is David Pajo's guitar

[@irotinmyskin]

On top of that, from this Evergreen was born, which have one the most underrated albums ever

[@PEGGLORE]

Listen to Killing Joke - S036. That's the 1st ever grunge song, made in 1980. 1st song sung through a gas mask as well.

[@communionshaped]

6:10 this is supposed to be seen as the anchor being lifted onto the ship, very cool storytelling with the instruments

[@Lancelot30]

One of the greatest songs of all time imo

[@Debonair19773577]

It's easier to listen now, especially with the comfort of hindsight and the more modern touchstone bands that Slint influenced, but in 1990/1991...I mean, there was no context. There was no real precedence. Red-era King Crimson. Big Black. Maybe Television. But even those reference points don't account for much. It's like Slint developed an entirely new vocabulary using a language that didn't really exist.

[@Cynips]

I think I've heard OF them before, but definitely would've remembered if I had heard their music before. This hit the right vibes with me - but you probably know I like dissonance :) Music without tension can be enjoyable (like really beautiful) but most often leaves me untouched. And then those screams! Gave me goosebumps. Thanks for the pick, Justin!

[@CriticalReactions]

Definitely figured it would be up your alley. 100% on those screams too. They hit just right at that moment.

[@bobhackett8473]

The emotional depth to the WHOLE of Spiderland is astounding.

[@zumoss]

i like to think that the cymbals at 2:10 sounds like waves crashing, and that the guitar at 5:52 sounds like an anchor being pulled up

[@JeyP667]

I love this

[@peapods42]

I learned about Slint by listening to my brother learn to play guitar to them in the early 90's (in Louisville). "Washer" was always my favorite, but any song off Spiderland or Tweez can take me right back to childhood apparently

[@SanskarWagley]

This whole album is so damn good

[@VaughnBrown1965]

Slint is one of my favorites. I listened to them a lot when I lived in Seattle in the late 80s and early 90s. They are great to listen to on psychedelics :)

[@VaughnBrown1965]

check out a very slow band called Codeine

[@KommentarSpaltenKrieger]

"Spiderland" entirely consists of dissonant tracks which however function harmonically or melodically (idk which one of these two). It has the same energy as Nirvana, but even in a more concentrated form (somehow sinister), but there is also more to it. Really like it, but I feel I shouldn't listen to it too often in order to not take away too much from that listening experience. (PS: It is 1st gen post-rock, although probably more retrospectively than intentionally. I consider 1st gen to be the experimental phase - any band that used rock instruments to make something else belongs into this camp. 2nd gen to me is the Skinny Fists album of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. 3rd gen is, at this point, pretty much defined as instrumental (often quite emotional) guitar music with tremolo picking. But there is still experimental stuff, of course.)

[@north_7646]

my thoughts exactly, especially discipline to not subject myself to spiderlands grim reaper. it is an infinitely contradictory piece of art, but… what isnt anyway?

[@PEGGLORE]

Listen to Killing Joke - S036 and The Chameleons - Second Skin. This is the true 1st gen of this.

[@lazerblastoid]

good review bro. slint changed everything for me and a small few of my homies.

[@dmtree8570]

Please do more slint. Spiderland is a masterpiece

[@opalvillage]

Ive been a huge grunge fan my whole life and just discovered slint last year and they instantly are in my top 5 of all time. Super rad.

[@curtisw502]

I heard Kurt Cobain give an interview and guy asked what he was listening to and he said Slint...the producer Slint was working with was Steve Albini who later went on to produce In Utero

[@opalvillage]

Wow. So cool. Thats awesome

[@PEGGLORE]

Killing Joke - S036 is the 1st ever grunge song. You'll like that one.

[@jbasti227]

Love these guys and especially this album, very interesting work that ended up being super influential to a variety of subgenres that I enjoy nowadays

[@disasteriz3766]

Apparently Macmahan threw up and got sick after the recording and the band broke up a while after. It was somewhat written to his younger brother who was coming of age.

[@rosemariecompton]

People need to stop recommending Good Morning, Captain as an introduction to Slint, Washer is the most approachable song. I think either recommending Washer as an entry point , or recommending starting with the beginning of the album and listening to it in its entirety are the best ways to approach it.

[@ThoughtExperiment]

I think some consider Spiderland as the start of post-rock.

[@goreshadetube]

Great scream, the catharsis for all the tension.

[@klauskosmas841]

It's atmospheric because it's a tribute to the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which if you've ever read it, is a build up of extreme horror and tension. In that sense, these musicians are brilliant.

[@nyborg6425]

I think the genius of this album it is truly how teens feel, not the pretence of punk or hardcore (which is the ego of tring to cope). This is the raw fear and uncertainty.

[@larryriley8802]

To me the story is more like a child has drowned at sea but his ghost not realizing he’s dead has come ashore to visit an old sea captain. The music is a kind ot trance rock with the upping the tension like breaks. It is also extremely atmospheric. The spoken word thing is just a part of what they do. Also lyrically almost all of their songs are recited dreamscapes.

[@Absolute.Virtue]

You're checking out some really cool bands on this channel. Props.

[@CriticalReactions]

Just following suggestions from some great people :) Gotta give props to my community for leading me in interesting directions!

[@rjpaws]

One of the greatest tracks of all time

[@ThoughtExperiment]

Such an interesting take. I guess this album and Neurosis Souls At Zero came to me at a point where I was really developing my own style. The back and forth between dissonant and harmonic has been some of my favorite music since I was 17 or 18.

[@stephanlehner1533]

Loved this album when I heard it. Challenging and heavy with great lyrics and a deeep tone. The drummer moved onto other ground breaking albums. Why every house should have a basement. Kids still write in to join the band. A silent film sound track. F W Murnau, Ronert Weine put through distortion and produced by a legend.

[@ExterminateTheBrutes]

Amazing song. Amazing band. Amazing album.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

I have heard of Slint and knew this album was a critical darling but that's where my knowledge of them ends. This is an interesting track. It kinda sounds like an extremely stark, minimal version of post-rock, and given this album came out in the early 90s that would've put it extremely early in that genre's development, so these guys were probably quite original given the time period and also perhaps very influential. The spoken word aspect almost reminds me of a muted, less manic version of David Byrne from Talking Heads. There's also that early grunge/alternative rock sound to the whole thing where clean, simple guitar licks transition into wall-sound-distorted riffs... but this would also have been extremely early for that genre as well, basically the same year as Nevermind and Ten. With all that said, I do think I find it more interesting than enjoyable. It's a bit too repetitive and I'm not sure if the dynamic outbursts have the same impact as, say, the best of Pixies or PJ Harvey and similar bands using that device of that time. I do however think the tonal qualities are fascinating, like you said about it just sitting in that pocket of uneasiness. I just wish there was a bit more meat on the bones I guess.

[@ExterminateTheBrutes]

PJ Harvey wrote to them wanting to be their vocalist. True story.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@ExterminateTheBrutes Very cool! Guess I'm not just hearing things with the comparison then.

[@ExterminateTheBrutes]

@@jonathanhenderson9422 Yup. and re: Pixies, the drummer played on The Breeders Pod album + the Safari EP.

[@CGMiller]

It's really sad when you find out the lead singer was screaming "I miss you" referring to his younger brother back home after they started playing more gigs and he was hardly ever home anymore.... : (

[@smiauu]

The whole album had a very sinister feel that just got more intense as the album went on to the very last minute of this song with that release on slow fade down

[@Ac-dk9ki]

Breadcrumb trail and nosferatu man are personal favorites

[@OhanaFilms]

This song is perfect

[@abcrx32j]

Wait, Slint? Does that mean that there's a chance for Back midi and Black country new road? (They are still noisy, but more "in tune")

[@CriticalReactions]

YES! I released a black midi reaction exactly one day after this Slint one!

[@PapaShankFoot]

3:58 "muted drum work" ????

[@glueyprogg7273]

I’m surprised you haven’t reacted to Captain Beefheart yet. That’d be a treat

[@uggles_mcfuggles]

Sometimes what is overwhelming for one is enveloping and comforting for another. Obviously you know that. Lol. But I had to say. Music like this makes me feel safe.

[@stephennorred8115]

How did we miss this for so long right 😂

[@mry82]

One of the albums that were blowing my mind back in college... shit, I am getting old! edit: "proto-post-rock" yes. nice! p.s. still waiting on Explosions in the Sky - Greet Death.

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

Some classic early foundation of mathrock.

[@abcrx32j]

Funny how math rock now sounds like technical Lofi beats

[@CriticalReactions]

That's an interesting evolution there. Both are progressive and technical but the ways they took those ideas are wildly different.

[@carlospompeu3491]

@@abcrx32j that's something that happened to the genre in recent years as it grew in popularity, kinda like what happened to emo. If you check bands like Hella and Don Caballero you'll see they have nothing to do with Chon and that stuff.

[@PEGGLORE]

This Heat are the best early foundation of Mathrock. Hear Horizontal Hold. This was made in the 70s.

[@timrizzo3941]

Really enjoyed your comments on tonality, which added something to a song which is one of my favorites and a track I tend to spin when I want emotional support for calculated rage. Not by the lyrics, but that's what I get from it. I've come up with arrangements for it over the years, for solo acoustic and piano, and it's my own fault for doing nothing with them, but the elasticity and simplicity of the dissonant lines and the ways in which it resolves- I love this song so much. If I were to push you to a not-very-well-known band that is amazing, I'd point to Lift to Experience's album, The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads. Similarities to this in the partial spoken word aspect and more of a shoegaze vibe in terms of the band, in my mind it's the best concept album of all time. Frontman Josh T Pearson has had some success following this as an idiosyncratic singer songwriter, but the enormous sound of LTEs trio and classical crooning vocals that lay overtop outline its epic right-at-the apocalypse saga. It's anyone's guess what Pearson thinks of this. Those I know who lived in Denton, TX at the time of their heyday were at least convinced of Pearson's(a preacher's kid) passion for the subject were at least convinced of his ardent belief at the time. While it's not for the everyone, it's no hyperbole when I say I think(for me) it's the best album of all time. As far as others go, anyone who enjoys shoegaze in any respect I think will at least enjoy the ride.

[@K.Frizzy]

THANK YOU!

[@Jup1terr]

Your faces are so perfect lmao. I feel the same things every time I listen. 6:50

[@jebowar6679]

Don’t know why the commenter lied but they were between the ages of 20-22 not 18-20. Still very impressive.

[@AlectriXSharpness]

I really recommed you check "Athens, France" by Black Country, New Road. It's like if Slint were a modern band and mixed their style with some jazz. It's quite an interesting song that you should check out

[@gracecarter1031]

This song and many more by Slint were on the Kids soundtrack. Highly recommend it.

[@ggluckmanful]

Reminds me a bit of Fugazi.

[@curtisw502]

That's not coincidence... Steve Albini produced both bands

[@ambassadortourettes753]

SLINT?? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Flipping awesome stuff 👌 one of my favorite albums of all times 🤘🤘 This album is such a rare 💎 gem... Bands like this only come around every so often 👌 Saw these guys with "Steel Pole Bath Tubs" and "Jesus Lizard" 👌 Thanks for the "Time Machine Moment" 🤘

[@thewhorocks515]

I liked this for the most part. Still much of the song is simple and doesn't hold my attention. But the progression to the end and that ending made up for it. I also find the tones and dissonance enjoyable due to those emotions/atmosphere that they create.

[@abcrx32j]

You might like Sunglasses by Black country new road

[@TeddymanYT]

@@abcrx32j the world's second best Slint tribute act

[@ijustneedmyself]

@@TeddymanYT What's the first best?

[@Thomas-we5cy]

Who the eff is this drummer? The snare!

[@glamorousglue303]

Britt Walford. An underrated genius. He was only 19 when this was recorded.

[@ricklee9473]

The snare is insane , and believe he was very close to the same , in a good way.

[@Thomas-we5cy]

I make electronic music. Everything from drums, melody, timing is all mathematical. Structured. This band has a crazy no timing, no structure. But is Genius! They make the chaos ( for lack of a better word ) work. I’ve never heard a band with this same sound. Are they the pioneers of this sound, or were they influenced by another band? I don’t even know how to categorize their sound. Let me know…

[@glamorousglue303]

@@Thomas-we5cy I think they’d definitely be considered pioneers of the “math rock” genre but I’d say a few bands influenced them, namely The Minutemen and Sonic Youth.

[@Thomas-we5cy]

@@glamorousglue303 Thank you Ms. Veronica. I need to find out who owns the copyrights to Breadcrumb Trail. I don’t know if the Touch and Go have the rights, the artists? I remixed it tech/trance. Don’t want to get sued. Do you know who to contact for permission rights? You seem to know a lot about this band.

[@S4B3R117]

I've always preferred 'Don, Aman' over this track on this album, but it is still a masterpiece.

[@MrMmnngghh]

Every "Spiderland" reaction gets a comment and a thumb up from me. Thanks so much for doing this.

[@LanceElCamino7981]

A lot of use of the tritone

[@progperljungman8218]

A bit repetitive but overall I really liked it! Makes me wanna go for more. If you can master atonality/dissonance you've got a really powerful tool (paintbrush maybe...)

[@CriticalReactions]

Completely agree. I'm still not a huge fan of songs that expressly use it at all times but I do enjoy it as a contrasting element to consonance.

[@progperljungman8218]

@@CriticalReactions Then maybe you SHOULD check out The Mercury Tree - intricate and kinda poppy prog with dissonance as a standard tool in the mix. (Maybe some songs hit the right balance and some just makes you feel frustrated....) They'd certainly intrigue you!

[@CriticalReactions]

Will do

[@DanABA]

This is the beginnings of post rock.

[@devifae]

You’re so close, my friend.

[@johnhawk1089]

I think an interesting song to listen to is The Seasons Reverse by Gastr Del Sol.

[@jakemcculskey6824]

listen to famous prophets (stars) by car seat headrest most emotional 16 minutes in a song I’ve ever heard (not an instrumental either), if you liked the glow pt 2 I think you would like this song a lottttt

[@haatdawg]

Can you react to New terrain/nervous by Mew? Nervous is New terrain played backwards. Got ya a sub!

[@Kyrus92]

How about reacting to an australian progressive rock band called Karnivool? "We Are" is probably a good song to start out with, from their third (and latest) album "Asymmetry".

[@CriticalReactions]

Sure. I'll see what I can do.

[@VaughnBrown1965]

dude you talked through the best transition and missed the culmination

[@lovelygrey]

Personally, I like Washer more.

[@christianbua4900]

you should do more fall of troy