There’s a good case to be made that Slint is the Velvet Underground of its generation.

The Louisville, Kentucky–spawned band didn’t achieve much in the way of commercial success during its initial run (1986 to 1992), but its esteem has increased exponentially since then, with its 1991 album Spiderland now considered one of the founding documents of postrock and cited as an influence by the likes of Tortoise, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Mogwai. Existing at an intersection of prog, indie rock, hardcore, and metal that has yet to be fully explored, Spiderland doesn’t sound like anything that had come before it.

Slint—which plays the Rickshaw Theatre on Friday (August 29)—has an impossibly big reputation to live up to. The group’s stage presence is legendarily nonexistent, but if you’ve heard Spiderland (or its predecessor, Tweez ), you’re not going to show up expecting a Mötley Crüe show.