It was one thing when the news was recently announced that Britt Walford of Slint and Zak Riles of Grails—two of post-rock’s best and brightest—would be teaming up with multi-instrumentalist Tyler Trotter to form Watter. But now we know that Tony Levin, longtime bassist of the legendary prog band King Crimson, will also be joining in the ambient-rock festivities. “Small Business,” one of the songs from Watter’s upcoming debut album, This World, will feature Levin on bass alongside Walford, Riles, Trotter, and guest vocalist Dane Waters. Other guests on the album include Walford’s fellow post-rock veterans Rachel Grimes of Rachel’s and Todd Cook of The For Carnation and Shipping News. But it’s the thought of King Crimson’s bassist and Slint’s drummer forming a rhythm section together that’s sure to make a certain subset of music nerds drool. Take one drooler’s word for it: It’s amazing.
Or take it from Walford. The drummer shared a few thoughts about the Levin collaboration with The A.V. Club, saying,
I am amazed by Mr. Levin's playing on [“Small Business”]. It was a lot of fun and awesome to hear what he did and cool that we all liked it. In addition to the parts and playing, it seemed as if Mr. Levin gave us lines that were sonically versatile. They sounded so thick and muddy when we got them, it was like creek mud, and Zak found in all that whatever we needed for the final song. So that was something.
This World comes out May 27 via Temporary Residence Ltd. Look for a debut of “Small Business” at The A.V. Club in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can listen to the krautrock-esque track “Rustic Fog” here. The deluxe, box-set reissue of Slint’s 1991 masterpiece Spiderland comes out April 15.