SOME bands arrive on the music scene in a blaze of pre-publicity and critical acclaim.

But while the likes of The Strokes, The Darkness and Gay Dad enjoyed their brief period in the sun (often only to crash and burn just as quickly) it took time for others to be appreciated – frequently only being championed once the band came to the end of its natural life.

Two such seminal 1990s bands were post-rock pioneers Slint from Louisville, Kentucky and Neutral Milk Hotel, who hailed from the same Georgia college town as international unit-shifters REM.

Both bands’ final albums received little fanfare on release – aside from a glowing review in Melody Maker in 1991 for Slint’s Spiderland by production legend Steve Albini.

But Spiderland and Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea have grown to be regarded as classics frequently found on critics’ best albums of all time lists.

And both reformed bands are playing rare Sussex shows on Tuesday – making for some difficult decision-making among fans.

Slint was formed from the Louisville hardcore and punk scene – including members from Dave Grohl favourites Squirrel Bait. The teenagers recorded their debut album Tweez with Albini in 1987.

Its follow-up Spiderland was reportedly recorded in just four days in the August of 1990 with producer Brian Paulson.

With a certain amount of foresight Albini said in his review of the album: “No one still capable of being moved by rock music should miss it. In ten years’ time it will be a landmark and you’ll have to scramble to buy a copy then.”

Today Spiderland sounds out of this world – with its competing dual dark guitar tones and unusual drum patterns miles away from the band members’ punk roots. Frontman Brian McMahan’s vocals vary dramatically between barely audible spoken word to screaming at the top of his voice as he explores teenage fears, suicide and fairground horror. Following the album’s release he was hospitalised for depression – having nearly been killed in a road accident in the run-up to the album sessions.

His fellow band members have since played with the likes of Tortoise, Palace, The Breeders, Interpol and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, before reuniting for the 2005 All Tomorrow’s Parties in Camber Sands, a festival they helped close last year.

This year saw Spiderland receive the box-set treatment – with the original six tracks augmented by a book, DVD and 14 out-takes from the intense rehearsals leading up to the recording sessions.

Listening to Neutral Milk Hotel’s 1998 album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea it is easy to hear the influence it had on Arcade Fire, Beirut, Bright Eyes and The Decemberists with its combination of dream-inspired lyrics, folky acoustic arrangements and occasional brass.

Sadly, following the album’s completion, songwriter and frontman Jeff Mangum suffered a breakdown and the band was unable to capitalise on their eventual word-of-mouth success. The album has now sold more than 300,000 copies worldwide.

A 2005 re-release by Domino featured back cover quotes from some of those who found a space in their hearts for Neutral Milk Hotel – including Robert Hardy of Franz Ferdinand and Gruff Rhys’s regular collaborator Boom Bip who said: “Jeff Mangum’s lyrics are the closest anyone has ever come to putting my dreams into music”.

Following the band’s break-up its members went various different ways – the most notable being Jeremy Barnes’s folk-inspired A Hawk And A Hacksaw. Mangum was spotted infrequently playing live shows, as well as curating the 2012 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival at Minehead, ahead of the reunion tour last year.

On seeing the reformed band earlier this year on one of three sold-out Roundhouse nights, the Guardian’s Mark Beaumont underlined how much things have changed. He noted the last time Neutral Milk Hotel played in London in 1998 the crowd was barely 100 people.

Duncan Hall