Slint at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, March 9

When Slint first made the scene back in the latter '80s, I was caught up in the whole Sub Pop and Amphetamine Reptile thing, with occasional forays into bands like Drunks with Guns and Lazy Cowgirls. Pavement was in my consciousness if only because Slay Tracks was being sold (for less than $2 !) through Blacklist (an MRR loosely affiliated mail order record thing) where I sometimes volunteered, but they were hardly a force of any sort at the time.

I sneezed when Tweez first came out on Jennifer Hartman. Even when Touch and Go reissued it, while I bought the CD, I hardly gave it the obligatory listen. Similar with Spiderland. They sat in my stacks for a pretty long time before their majesty ever graced my stereo. I never even made the Slint connection with Squirrel Bait or Ethan Buckler's band King Kong, both of whose records I had (tho again, never took the time at the time to absorb in any capacity other than enjoying their great cover art). I do remember, on my friend Ken Katkin's recommendation, buying 5 or so copies of the first King Kong 7" directly from Ethan (still got his handwritten letter) in its original pre-Drag City pressing.

I vaguely remember through the 90's when I finally gave the 2 Slint releases a spin or two, concluding only that Spiderland was better than Tweez and that the vocals were a little Albini-esque, but really that's about it.

Why did I not get it at the time? Or anytime after, at least for a long time? Ken tipped me off on this Slint reunion and so did my friend Dan, whose tastes in the pop domain always ran with mine (Sneakers, Big Star, Game Theory) but had a penchant for NZ Dead C-isms that we never explored together. However, since I pretty much only go to see band reunions (pre-past the point of no return) these days, I obliged to go check them out.

First, dragging out the old CD's I was instantly blown away by the crystalline and powerful Spiderland. While exhibiting some elements of what was happening at the time, it carried through some freshness.

It wasn't till the drive up to the city with Dan and Shannon that I heard Papa M for the first time, Dan playing me their wonderfully lowkey version of the Misfits' Last Caress. It was Wednesday night, the first of three Slint shows in SF. The Thurs and Friday shows sold out immediately, with the wednseday show subsequently prepended.

Unfortunately, Faun Fables were the opening band. How horrific this sister bad hippy duo were, with their bandanas and overalls and bad dancing and sprout-laden shite. This was a worse bill than the Carmaig De Forest/Television lineup a couple years ago at the same club. Carmaig was about as much a warmup for Television as the log lady is a prelude to sex. They should have been playing (Cafe) du Nord on Vegan Night. It's as if the Indigo girls were trying to go underground, but not deep enough so that you could no longer hear them.

Slint came on like a glint of light that shone infinitely. The unlikely frontman was drummer Britt Walford, while the rest of them took peripheral positions. But everyone was there in the mix pushing it up a notch.