Reunions, reunions, reunions! Getting the old band back together is the new cool. Everyone's doing it... The Pixies... Chavez... Dinosaur Jr.... Gang of Four... Motley Crue. Who would have thought that the late-80s/early-90s Louisville sluggers, Slint, would ever join the ranks of the recently reunited? With the sheer number of bands that Slint's members, notably Dave Pajo, Brian McMahan and Britt Walford, have gone on to play with (Tortoise, Zwan, Palace, The Breeders, Aerial M, The For Carnation, to name just a few of the many), I assumed Slint was but a speck in the members' prolific musical history. But as we all know, history repeats itself. And Slint isn't a band easily forgotten.

It's almost become cliche to list Slint among your most influential bands if you're an indie rocker or an indie rock lover. It's like singer-songwriters citing The Beatles or The Beach Boys as inspiration for their melodies ("Wait, you think Lennon and McCartney wrote great choruses? OMG, me too!"). It's become a given... if a band plays guitar-driven music that's not instantly catchy, has a smattering of vocals that sound almost like an afterthought, and has a bunch of rhythm changes, they've probably listened to Slint at some point (or say they have, anyway). Slint has been cited as the source for everything from the terms "math-rock", "art-rock" and "post-rock" to the indie fashion staples of thrift store duds and black-framed glasses. Some say they even invented the electric guitar! Slint's influence on what we now know of as "indie rock" has been repeated so often that it has almost ceased to mean anything... until you revisit those old albums. Then you get the meaning. Math... art... post... whatever. They just really rocked.

This reunion show is going to kill. I don't care if they play old songs, new songs, or even sound like shit on old and new songs. It will be one of the more memorable show experiences of 2005 at the very least. Any time you can see a band that hasn't set foot on a stage in almost 15 years, a band that has meant something to just about everyone that likes the same music that you like, well, that's something. And what a better way to spend St. Patrick's Day than listening to me wee old Irish brother, Brian McMahan, make music (unless he's Scottish... in that case, screw this show).

Slint plays three shows at Irving Plaza, Friday, March 17th, Saturday, March 18th, and Sunday, March 19th.