What is the name of the band whose sparsely adorned black-and-white covers listeners pondered?
The name Spiderland originates from McMahan's younger brother, who thought that the record sounded "spidery". The album's black-and-white cover photograph, which depicts the members of the band (Brashear, McMahan, Walford and Pajo, from left to right) treading water in the lake of an abandoned quarry, was taken by Will Oldham. An article in The Stranger credited the cover for creating a mystique surrounding Slint, noting "[m]ost people only had seen Slint as four heads floating in a Kentucky quarry on Spiderland's cover. Listeners pondered the band's sparsely adorned black-and-white covers as if they were runes bearing secrets." Chris Gaerig of the Michigan Daily wrote, "the cover of Slint's masterful Spiderland captures the joyous fear and violence of the album so precisely it shakes souls. The group—submerged in a lake to their chins with deranged smiles—seems to be stalking you, hovering out of the black-and-white façade." Several other promotional images have been taken from the same photo session with Oldham.A photo of a spider taken by Noel Saltzman is used on the back cover, reflecting the album's title. The inside sleeve contains the message "interested female vocalists write 1864 douglas blvd. louisville, ky. 40205". McMahan confirmed that this message was serious, and said "We did get some responses and we did listen to CDs and tapes. We didn't end up doing anything immediately, so that idea of adding someone sort of fell by the wayside." The message "this recording is meant to be listened to on vinyl" is printed on some CD issues of Spiderland, demonstrating Slint's preference of analog audio devices.
Slint