Memories of Underdevelopment formed in Miami, Florida in late 2000 by Tom Smith (To Live and Shave in L.A., Peach of Immortality, Pussy Galore) and Gerard Klauder, a prolific force in South Florida's underground experimental music scene from the late 1990s until his death by suicide in 2006. Their first group of recordings came to the attention of Menlo Park Records, who released Throat of a Black Kitten in 2004. Smith's Karl Schmidt Verlag imprint issued the group's collective 2000-2001 live recordings in 2011 as Stilted Airs Gave Way to Sterling Diction. Upon Klauder's death, the group ceased operations.