Developer (album)

Last updated
Developer
SilkwormDeveloper.jpg
Studio album by
Released1997 (1997)
Genre Indie rock
Length36:44
Label Matador [1]
Producer Steve Albini [2]
Silkworm chronology
Firewater
(1996)
Developer
(1997)
Blueblood
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Developer is the fifth full-length studio album by indie rock band Silkworm, released in 1997. [5] [6] It was their second and final album released on Matador Records before they moved to Touch and Go.

Contents

A remastered and expanded 2x12" edition of Developer, including five Japan-only bonus tracks, was announced by Comedy Minus One for release in early 2025. [7]

Critical reception

The Stranger called the album "dour, funny, casual, intense, refined, and raw." [8] CMJ New Music Monthly wrote that the songs "seem to have been sequenced to maximize the contrast between bassist Tim Midgett's tersely emotional lyrics and guitarist Andy Cohen's sardonic, anecdotal style." [9] Miami New Times wrote that Silkworm's songs "unwind slowly and abstractly, with Cohen's busy but lyrical solos tearing out a center in the rhythms -- skidding off on surprising tangents, never going for any predictable or simple momentum." [10] The Chicago Reader praised the album's "frantic guitar, strangulated vocals, and drunken drumming." [11]

Track listing

  1. "Give Me Some Skin" -- (3:33)
  2. "Never Met a Man I Didn't Like" -- (3:18)
  3. "The City Glows" -- (3:06)
  4. "Developer" -- (3:04)
  5. "The Devil Is Beating His Wife" -- (3:09)
  6. "Ice Station Zebra" -- (3:16)
  7. "Waiting on a Train" -- (3:27)
  8. "Sheep Wait for Wolf" -- (4:38)
  9. "Goodnight Mr. Maugham" -- (5:19)
  10. "It's Too Bad..." -- (3:14)

Personnel

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References

  1. "Silkworm – Developer – This Day In Matador History".
  2. 1 2 MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1014.
  3. Kellman, Andy. Developer at AllMusic
  4. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 453.
  5. "Silkworm | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  6. "Silkworm: Developer". Music. 29 March 2002.
  7. comedyminusone (2024-12-06). "Expanded 2xLP reissue of Silkworm's "Developer" album announced, out February 2025". Comedy Minus One. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  8. Nelson, Sean. "Silkworm Resurrects Rock". The Stranger.
  9. "Reviews". CMJ New Music Monthly (June 1997): 40.
  10. Tignor, Jesse Ballinger, David Cantwell, Eddie Hankins, Rickey Wright, Stephen (March 27, 1997). "Rotations". Miami New Times.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. Kendrick, Monica (May 1997). "Spot Check". Chicago Reader.