The Independent Weekly’s words+ on music
Does it, or does it not, have pogo instructions?
I worried when I saw that the history of Merge Records, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, was co-authored by Gawker reporter John Cook and the Durham/ Chapel Hill label’s founders, Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It seemed like a recipe for bias or lack of candor, perhaps reading less like an intimate portrait than a 300-page press release. Continue reading »
Dude, indie rockers don't dance, right?
Oh, if only every birthday were as badass as Merge Records’ 20th: On Saturday, July 18, music from eight Merge artists—including The Arcade Fire, Spoon, Superchunk and The Magnetic Fields—will serve as scores for a set of new dance works presented by Triangle Youth Ballet in Carolina Theater’s Fletcher Hall. Raleigh’s The Rosebuds will perform a new piece of music for the event, which will includes works by North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, Pamela Pietro (American Dance Festival faculty/Tisch-NYU) and several others. The show comes, of course, the weekend before Merge throws its five-day birthday party in Chapel Hill (July 22-26 at Cat’s Cradle and Memorial Hall with Polvo, Conor Oberst, Richard Buckner, She & Him and at least two dozen others) and just days before the end of the 2009 American Dance Festival. The premiere will comprise part of the 2009 Triangle Youth Ballet & Friends series.
Speaking of The Rosebuds, follow the jump for some video of the band playing on Cabarrus St. in front of Lincoln Theatre during a Band Together benefit for the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood on Saturday. And it looks like the ’Buds spent its Sunday in a new Raleigh studio tracking a fresh tune. More on that soon… Continue reading »
Mac McCaughan gets his game face on
Briefly: Updated XX Merge lineup; Merge documentary; Superchunk and Mac McCaughan on ABC News; Mac McCaughan, MAGNET guest editor Continue reading »
Ready out of the gutter: Superchunk at Cat's Cradle, Wednesday, April 15.
Superchunk, Hammer No More the Fingers
Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
Wednesday, April 15
I’ve been trying to remember the last time Superchunk played, you know, a normal hometown gig, and I’m drawing a blank: Last year, they gigged for Barack Obama outdoors under the warm spring sun and for Cy Rawls inside a sweaty Cat’s Cradle; previously, there was the show with then-labelmates Dinosaur Jr. in which both bands only pulled from their first three albums, a Tsunami benefit, an Alejandro Escovedo benefit and Merge’s 15th anniversary party almost exactly five years ago.* But when’s the last time the quartet—closing in on two decades of two lineups and two names—simply got up on stage and played a casual set for the locals? Last night, April 15, actually.
If you were hoping to snag one of the five-day passes for Merge’s epic 20th anniversary celebration July 22-26 in Carrboro/Chapel Hill, N.C., you’re out of luck: The passes went on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. this morning, and they were gone in 30 minutes. Wednesday’s public sale follows a Monday offer to “Friends of Merge” and a Tuesday sale to those who subscribed to Merge’s 20th anniversary Score! package. No word as to how many five-day passes were sold, but remember that the Cat’s Cradle’s capacity hovers around 600 and that a whole slew of band members and Merge staffers will need to fit inside.
Despair not, though: Merge promises that some one-day tickets will go on sale “soon” through the Cat’s Cradle and the label’s Web site. The announced lineup so far includes Superchunk, Spoon, Conor Oberst, Spent, M. Ward, The Rosebuds, Destroyer, Guv’ner, Polvo, Pipe and The Broken West, with plenty more on the way. Best add those sites to your RSS readers, kids.
I spent most of last week either preparing in advance for a little trip to Georgia for a friend’s wedding or subsequently enjoying it, so we let a few a tidbits slip under the radar. Look for a round-up, as well as some news from Cesar Comanche and Kooley High, after the jump. Continue reading »
Yesterday, Pitchfork Media broke the news of Leaves in the Gutter, a five-track Superchunk EP due in April on Merge. The quartet hasn’t released a full album of new studio work since 2001’s Here’s to Shutting Up, though a rarities comp, four live releases, a Destiny’s child cover and a 7″ for Aqua Teen Hunger Force have all kept ‘Chunk on the right side of active.
Superchunk, Carrboro, 2008.
Earlier this afternoon, Mac McCaughan took some time to answer some questions about the EP and the future of Superchunk. “By having this out there, we can play some of these songs live and people will have heard them,” says McCaughan, “and we can also hopefully get to work on the next thing.” It looks like we’ll have a new album on our hands … sometime? Leaves in the Gutter tracklist and more from MacMc after the jump.
