March 17-23, 2005

musicpicks

Slint

Photo By: Sebastion Mlynarski

Indie Rock

Louisville's Slint is pretty much post-rock's Rosetta Stone: Understand them and you understand what followed. Formed in 1987 from the ashes of the equally overlooked and influential Squirrel Bait, Slint — Brian McMahan, David Pajo, Britt Walford and Ethan Buckler (later replaced on bass by Todd Brashear) — crafted two LPs and a posthumous EP full of buzzing, sprawling instrumental racket interspersed with lush melodies and snippets of abstract dialogue. Though Slint called it quits in 1992, the name is still spoken in hushed tones; the band's legacy is immeasurable. The members went on to bands including Tortoise, The For Carnation, King Kong, Palace and The Breeders. Unlike last year's bloated, way-hyped reunion of The Pixies, whose members' post-breakup careers were pale shadows, this tour promises tons of intrigue. How will Pajo, McMahan and Walford (the original members on the tour) interact after more than a decade apart? While the split was not acrimonious and the members have played together in various configurations since, it should be interesting to see if the late-'80s magic that spawned Spiderland, Tweez and the stunning eponymous EP is still alive. Reports from earlier stops on this brief tour, spawned by the band's invite to curate England's All Tomorrow's Parties festival, suggest that "Good Morning, Captain" and "Nosferatu Man" sound as good as they did back in the day.

Mon., March 21, 8 p.m., $20, with Icy Demons, Theater of Living Arts, 334 South St., 215-922-1011, www.thetla.com.

—Brian Howard