Goat, though I haven't listened to either record in a long time.

Also, the posts in this thread are a lot less ridiculous then I hoped, c'mon you sub-human mongoloids you can do a lot better. This thing better be twenty pages deep by the time I get home tonight.

LaSalle bon Dioxide wrote:This is really an apples vs. oranges argument. Apples taste better. No oranges do... And so on. tJL is the best tasting apple. Slint is the best tasting orange. Whether or not this best tasting orange is better than this best tasting apple is an argument that just cannot be won. I voted Goat because I prefer apples. But I also love me some oranges.

So what you're saying is this is an apples and oranges argument? I don't understand.

AAAAAAAARGH wrote:

LaSalle bon Dioxide wrote:This is really an apples vs. oranges argument. Apples taste better. No oranges do... And so on. tJL is the best tasting apple. Slint is the best tasting orange. Whether or not this best tasting orange is better than this best tasting apple is an argument that just cannot be won. I voted Goat because I prefer apples. But I also love me some oranges.

So what you're saying is this is an apples and oranges argument? I don't understand.

Well, you see, it's really very complex and will certainly be a difficult thing to explain unless you've had years of literary training through one of the premier graduate-level institutions in the nation.

Marsupialized wrote:Nice to see the PRF finally came to it's fucking senses, Slint...give me a fucking break.

I hereby declare Aluminum Beard dead as a genre. Pitchfork, you may now start using it.

The hilarity of this statement? Duane from TJL was the one playing the aluminum (Bean). Nobody in Slint played any aluminum instruments as far as I know.

scott wrote:

Marsupialized wrote:Nice to see the PRF finally came to it's fucking senses, Slint...give me a fucking break.

I hereby declare Aluminum Beard dead as a genre. Pitchfork, you may now start using it.

The hilarity of this statement? Duane from TJL was the one playing the aluminum (Bean). Nobody in Slint played any aluminum instruments as far as I know.

Aluminum Beard had nothing to do with the types of instruments someone played or whether or not they had a beard.
Aluminum beard was a state of mind, man.
Duane played an aluminum guitar yes, but they were as far away from Aluminum beard as I can imagine a band being.

Personality and excitement are the sworn enemy of Aluminum Beard.

Slint!

Get dog costumes wrote:The limitation of The Jesus Lizard was that they played only rock songs. That's not a problem, since they were a rock band. But if you tread the same narrow ground forever, you are certain to write an unremarkable tune like "South Mouth" now and then.

so, i guess the cut tape aspect of the song does nothing for you.

unremarkable my butt.

I can't believe the blasphemy on this thread! Spiderland in a trot.

Liar is my favorite TJL album though.

10 years ago, spiderland would have won.

now, goat.

Goat.

As I grow older, Spiderland and the speak-talk, plinky guitar clean/soft distortion pedal juxtapositions on it prove less listenable as time goes on. Yes, Slint's once grand entry into the halls of mr.arrison's rock hall of fame were soon tainted by the legions of sub-par copycats ("boat-rock", "mogwai" etc.) and then destroyed by seeing the "legends" perform live, appearing bored out of their skulls 14 years later. All of this has the effect of watering down the original masterpiece.

I can't make it through Don, A Man. Turn it off. Were there really like four people on stage playing this song live? WTF? (OK, admittedly it was neat to hear that second guitar fade in from the side of the stage)

The rest of Spiderland is a great. Too bad I rarely want to listen to it.

TJL influenced bands were usually easy to ignore, or just different enough they mutated into something else unique in their own right (i.e. Shellac, Uzeda, Shorty, etc..) And most of them seem to use Liar as a reference- a more brutal, balls-out Jesus Lizard!

That said, Goat is untouchable. Even bands that try to sound like TJL can't get close to this. They either get too man-rock, too grotesque or too brutal. You see, Goat swings and has ambience to it. There's not a bit of metal on this. It's ROCK. It walks the tightrope of all things ugly and beautiful and never falls. It has songs that are better than others, but not a single clunker.

guitar arpeggios and rock riffs: Gold +10
tasteful borrowing of birthday party/blues/jazz/rockabilly constructions: amazing.
drum patterns: sick
bass lines: absolutely nail it home every time.
vocals: just perverse enough to make you cringe and scratch your head.
engineering: great use of space, huge drum sound, amazing guitar sound.

A solid, perfect record.