Superchunked II

On Dec. 2 I took my first trip to the Metro in Chicago to see Superchunk for the first time (exactly 2 months after seeing The National in Indy). I came late to Superchunk, so late that they'd been on hiatus for a few years already and only doing occasional shows. During the months before their fantastic new album Majesty Shredding came out in Sept., I started hitting up their catalog and fell head over heels. When I found out they were coming to Chicago I just knew I had to go. I was not disappointed.

The members of the band are only a few years older than I am and they just had so much energy, particularly Mac McCaughan. He was jumping all over the place while ripping off great solos. Jon Wurster kept the beat going and Laura Balance was doing some pogoing while holding down the bottom end. Jim Wilbur plays it more cool but you could tell he was enjoying himself.

I had no complaints with the set list, a mixture of new songs and old favorites with some solid tracks from the middle years thrown in. I couldn't pogo for a whole song but I did some work on many many songs. You could see my head bobbing up and down during "Precision Auto" in a video shot by a guy who wasn't standing far behind me but it looks like he took it down.

The Metro is a cool place to see a show - it isn't a big room and the stage is up higher than everyone. I'd definitely go back.

It was an awesome night and one of the highlights of my 2010.

Set list:

Learned to Surf

My Gap Feels Weird

Punch Me Harder

Cursed Mirror

Crossed Wires

Rosemarie

Detroit Has A Skyline

Song For Marion Brown

Watery Hands

So Convinced

Digging for Something

Late-Century Dream

Hyper Enough

Slack Motherfucker

Everything at Once

Encore:

Driveway To Driveway

I Don't Know (Naked Raygun cover)

Precision Auto

Throwing Things

Superchunked I

I have lots to write about Superchunk over the next month or so and to kick it off, here they are from The Current the other day.

Heavy Rotation #12

It's almost mid-September and time to take a look at what I've been listening to the last few weeks...

Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan/Hawk - How have I ignored this combination before now? Wow. The sweetness of Campbell's voice paired with the weariness of Lanegan's is a winning combination on songs like the torchy "Come Undone" and the driving "You Won't Let Me Down Again," which also features a great little guitar solo from former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha.

Delta Spirit/History From Below - The song taking up the most headspace the past few days has been "Bushwick Blues" but the rest of the album is just as entertaining in its mix of folk and rock and solid lyrics. This is my first time with this band as well.

My Morning Jacket/Evil Urges - I don't know that I ever really embraced this album when it came out. I loved Z, which was my introduction to the group, and this one...I don't know. I liked songs for sure but the whole feel just felt off. However, I'm rediscovering it now and liking it more than I ever thought I did. I think we'll get a new one next year too.

The National/Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers - I grabbed this from eMusic a couple years ago and played it a few times. For some reason, it didn't scratch the same itch as Boxer or Alligator. Lately? Hell yeah. I think it was the version of "Lucky You" from their Daytrotter session a few years back that made me go back to it. Thanks, Daytrotter! Of course, the fact I'm seeing them three weeks from tonight might have helped too.

Superchunk/No Pocky For Kitty and Superchunk/On The Mouth - These are the remastered versions put out a few weeks ago. I'd never heard these albums - a fact I will probably talk about after Majesty Shredding is released on Tuesday. Until then, suffice it to say I'm enjoying them and "Throwing Things" is one of my new favorite songs.

Tokyo Police Club/Champ - Unlike a lot of people on the internet, I was a big fan of TPC's debut album, Elephant Shell. A big fan of all their work, really, so I was eager for this record to come out. It felt a little off to me after the first listen or two but I've finally plugged into it and can't get the songs out of my head. It still feels like they're an unappreciated band these days. Maybe that's what happens when you have early music blogger mythic status?

Heavy Rotation #11

My music listening was fairly scattered through the early part of the summer and included a fair amount of shuffle mode both on iTunes and my iPod. Over the last few weeks, however, a few albums have been played repeatedly and it's time to talk about them.

The Afghan Whigs/1965 - This album represents another in a long line of groups that I missed out on the first time around. I'd heard about The Afghan Whigs, of course, but I don't think I really ever heard any of their stuff. Thanks to eMusic, I took the plunge with this album late last year. It didn't sink in immediately and I forgot about it until recently...and now I can't get enough of it. It's slinky and sexy and creepy and stylish and Greg Dulli is one of a kind. Once I've had my fill of this one, I'll be delving into some more - should I go Congregation or Gentlemen next?

Band of Horses/Infinite Arms - So, for this band the backlash came with album #3 and not the sophomore release. I think people just decided it was time to turn on Ben Bridwell, maybe because the rest of the band is different from the first 2 albums or maybe it's just not as majestic-sounding as those albums were. I read a lot of mediocre reviews and I'm not sure why. Yes, I did take a few listens to for the album to fully sink in but once it did, I was hooked. This is melodic folk-pop in the finest sense. Kudos to those few critics brave enough to avoid the rock critic playbook on this one.

Pernice Brothers/Goodbye, Killer - This is the new album and it is packed full of great pop and country-inflected songs. As always, Joe Pernice writes with a wonderful melodic sense and a way with words that can be depressing and beautiful at the same time. So good.

Bruce Springsteen/Born To Run - A recent purchase and viewing of his new DVD, London Calling, had me grabbing this classic album from 1975 (the remastered version from a few years back) and playing it for the thousandth and one time. "Thunder Road" is my favorite song ever and songs like "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," "She's The One," and the title track sound great blasting on my car stereo with the windows down on my way to and from class.

Superchunk/Indoor Living - I came late to the Superchunk party and am very excited that I get to buy one of their albums upon release, as I can in Sept. with the upcoming Majesty Shredding. I spent some time on my Blip account posting older songs of theirs that I mostly don't own and decided it was time to devote some listening time to this album. I grabbed it from eMusic a while back and mostly ignored it but I won't make that mistake anymore. Mac McCaughan is someone I have a lot of respect for as an artist and businessman (as one of the heads of Merge Records, my favorite indie label). Again, once I exhaust this album, I'm going back for more.

Sunday Shuffle #155

I got three posts up this week, which isn't too bad. I still want to get into the other two projects I outlined a few weeks ago and maybe this is the week that will happen. Stay tuned...

1. 16, Maybe Less/Iron And Wine & Calexico (15)

2. Uniform/The Essex Green (21)

3. Without You/Centro-Matic (15)

4. No Lucifer/British Sea Power (6)

5. Savannah Smiles/Okkervil River (12)

6. You Can Always Count On Me (In The Worst Way)/Superchunk (10)

7. Josephine/Portastatic (7)

8. Wall of Dumb/Higgins (5)

9. Headed For a Fall/M. Ward (17)

10. Odalisque/The Decemberists (7)

Sunday Shuffle #143

I broke my streak of 11 straight days with a post earlier this week and it's been hard getting back into the groove. Still, I'm not going to give up and hope today's entry can get me started on another nice run. I may even post something else later today...we'll see. For now, let's just get to the music...

1. What Do You Look Forward To?/Superchunk (15)

2. Out Of Reaches/Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks (14)

3. For Beginners/M. Ward (13)

4. Pictures Of Me/Elliott Smith (13)

5. Red Cotton/Elvis Costello (4)

6. Money In the Afterlife/Saturday Looks Good To Me (7)

7. I'm Not Mad Enough/The Ladybug Transistor (10)

8. Elmo Delmo/Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks (13)

9. Old Hat/Ben Kweller (8)

10. Sin City/The Essex Green (18)

Sunday Shuffle #142

This morning I wanted to get to my chores and just shuffled up a few songs on iTunes but now it's after 7:30 and I'm in the mood to follow my tradition. So, here we go...

1. Scene From #12/M. Ward (11)

2. Gold Soundz/Pavement (15)

3. Great Dane/Mates of State (6)

4. White Winter Hymnal/Fleet Foxes (10)

5. The Coroner's Gambit/The Mountain Goats (13)

6. Dead To Rights/The Twilight Singers (16)

7. Cardinal Points/The Essex Green (21)

8. Stand Ins, Three/Okkervil River (7)

9. Act Surprised/Superchunk (16)

10. Little Fern/Portastatic (5)