On the heels of the announcement of the insanely posh Spiderland boxed set and the Breadcrumb Trail biographical documentary, the ridiculously influential band Slint have announced dates for a full tour.
April 29—Boston, MA, Paradise Rock Club
April 30—Asbury Park, NJ, The Stone Pony
May 01—Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer
May 04—New York, NY, Bowery Ballroom
May 06—Brooklyn, NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 08—Cleveland, OH, Grog Shop
May 09—Detroit, MI, Saint Andrews Hall
May 10—Chicago, IL, Bottom Lounge
May 29-31—Barcelona, ES, Primavera Sound
June 05-07—Porto, PT, Optimus Primavera Sound
July18-20—Louisville, KY, Forecastle Festival
Formed in mid-‘80s Kentucky by still-teenaged refugees from the punk band Squirrel Bait, Slint created a dynamic, unnerving, ponderous and emotionally resonant sound that was entirely novel, and though they broke up before the release of their signature LP, their ideas were all over the music of the 90s. Slo-core, post-rock, and post-hardcore all bear Slint’s deep fingerprints, and they’ve intermittently reunited since 2005 to reap the overdue benefits of inventing a few genres without even trying. No new Slint music has been released since an instrumental 10” single in 1994, though guitarist Dave Pajo has had an intriguing career with Tortoise, Papa M, and the Billy Corgan-led Zwan, and drummer Britt Walford re-emerged pseudonymously in an early version of The Breeders, then in Evergreen, and much more recently, in the new band Watter. For those who are curious to go deeper into the band’s history, I will go to my grave unconditionally recommending the superb 33 1/3 book on Spiderland.
Here’s a bit of what you can expect to hear if you nab one of these coveted tickets, recorded in Italy in 2007.