Lateduster was formed by guitarist JG Everest (Neotropic, Skemp & Weather, Roma di Luna) in 1998 as a spinoff project from his collective improvisational ensemble Fresh Squeez that played monthly multi-set jam sessions at the Freeloaded Wednesdays series he curated at The Front venue in Minneapolis from 1996-98. The band was originally called Cropduster, and featured a symmetrical lineup of two guitars (JG Everest & Bryan Olson (The Sensational Joint Chiefs) two drum kits, (Martin Dosh (Dosh) & Damon Ewing) and two DJs on 4 turntables (Andrew Broder (FOG) & DJ Stage One aka Ryan Dillard) and were recognized as a "super group" of Minneapolis musicians. Within their first year, the lineup was pared down to a quartet of Everest, Dosh, Broder, and Olson, and they changed their name to Lateduster, focusing on instrumental post rock mood music. A breakthrough gig was opening for @Golden Smog at First Avenue in late 1999. They released a series of handmade EPs, the first of which was recorded with Jeremy Ylvisaker (Andrew Bird, Alpha Consumer ). All members are multi-instrumentalists, and would switch instruments on various songs. In 2001, they performed in London, U.K., where NME described their set as “…electrifying fusioneering explosions which scorch the tedium of the post rock set with sheer ambition and invention…”