Superchunk Albums (8)
'Here's to Shutting Up'
Release Date 9/17/2001
Tracks 10
Label Matador
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Based on the first few musical moments on the opening cut, "Late Century Dream," the verdict is in: Superchunk has matured into an intelligent pop/rock band with commercial potential. Though indie purists may scoff at this revelation, Here's to Shutting Up is an enjoyable and refreshing collection that owes as much to the classic sounds of Brian Wilson or early-'70s David Bowie as it does to the punk ethic that established this band as an important alternative to the mainstream in the early '90s. Bursting out of the gate with "Rainy Streets" and the traditional country-tinged "Phone Sex," Superchunk flexes its melodic muscle with an array of textures, balancing a pedal steel with keyboards, acoustic/electric guitars, ambient noises, and strings. Producer Brian Paulson continues in the vein of the band's previous release, Come Pick Me Up, whipping up arrangements that serve the songs with clarity and precision playing. For those who need to rock there is "Art Class (Song for Yayoi Kusama)," and for those who need to reflect there is "The Animal Has Left Its Shell." ~ Tom Semioli, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Actually, here's where the strings come in. Come Pick Me Up is Superchunk's finest effort in years; a bright, infectious pop record that rejuvenates the group's trademark sound with the addition of producer Jim O'Rourke's candy-colored orchestral flourishes -- without losing sight of the music's punk roots. Tracks like "Hello Hawk," "1000 Pounds," and "Pink Clouds" achieve a perfect balance between Superchunk's patented brand of hyperkinetic indie rock and O'Rourke's avante-pop aesthetics, while drawing upon the talents of Chicago underground notables including saxophonist Ken Vandermark, trombonist Jeb Bishop, and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm to bring galvanizing new dimensions to Mac McCaughan's memorably melodic songs. A stunning and unexpected return to form. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Superchunk painted themselves into a corner long before the release of Indoor Living. By remaining true to their independent aesthetic and indie-punk sound, they earned a cult following with a series of records that essentially sounded the same. Like most indie bands, their earliest records were their rawest and most exciting, and their latter-day albums -- that is, any album after On the Mouth -- rely on craft rather than surprise. And there are no surprises on Indoor Living: it's simply another set of frenetic, tense, melodic and occasionally exciting punk-pop. Mac McCaughan is a solid songwriter, but with Superchunk he's not a particularly resourceful one -- he saves all of his experimentations for Portastatic, which leaves Superchunk a little predictable. Which means if you've followed them for this long, Indoor Living will provide some thrills. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Here's Where the Strings Come In'
Release Date 9/19/1995
Tracks 11
Label Merge
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Forged at a difficult time in the band's history, this album is a dark masterpiece that contrasts the band's signature high-energy power punk attack of On the Mouth with a far more somber, orchestrated approach, while still retaining the band's melancholy melodic majesty. From the opening track, "Like a Fool," with it's droning guitar and languid pace, Superchunk serves notice of their desire to move in new directions. The band itself was in flux, deciding to release Foolish on its own label, Merge, abandoning Matador, who'd help shepherd the successful On the Mouth album. There were also band tensions arising from the breakup of Mac and bassist Laura Ballance, hinted at in Ballance's morbid album art of a disgruntled woman with a butchered rabbit hanging behind her. There's also Mac's bitter words. He goes lyrically from the Icarus-fantasy "Water Wings," where a female "pointed to the black cloud in the sky/and said that's what happened when you try to fly," to "Without Blinking," where he laments, "when you said you're sorry, you did it without blinking/and you can not know how much that hurts." But great works are often forged out of misfortune. Wedding their melodic impulses with a more sedate approach that utilizes increasingly complexity, Superchunk create a emotionally taut album that maps the changing direction of the band as it moves away from its crunchy, arena-pop roots. ~ Chris Parker, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After pushing the buzzsaw abandon of their earliest records to its logical extreme on the masterful No Pocky for Kitty, Superchunk begins reinventing itself with their third full-length, On the Mouth, a record as invigorating as it is frustrating. Without sacrificing any of the energy or conviction of past efforts, many of the disc's 13 songs harness Mac McCaughan's breathless pop-punk melodies into tighter, more demanding contexts -- highlights, like the singles "Mower" and "The Question Is How Fast," introduce a new arsenal of shifting rhythms and explosively tense dynamics which reveal unexpectedly limitless possibilities within the classic Superchunk approach. The problem is that On the Mouth equates to something less than the sum of its parts -- while tracks like the blistering "From the Curve" and "Package Thief" barrel forth with the sheer recklessness of old, their adherence to the band's past makes for an ill-fitting match alongside the album's more ambitious moments. More problematic, the slow, plodding "Swallow That" -- while an admirable departure from the norm -- is simply tedious. Still, more often than not On the Mouth comes up with the goods, and remains a pivotal turning point in Superchunk's continued evolution. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Where Superchunk's self-titled debut otherwise failed to live up to the brilliance of its anti-anthem centerpiece "Slack Motherfucker," the follow-up No Pocky for Kitty is a complete and fully realized statement of purpose -- opening with the dizzying "Skip Steps 1 & 3," the disc never lets up for a second, crackling with an energy and breathless abandon that underlines the sheer exuberance at the heart of even Mac McCaughan's most superficially bitter songs. Although No Pocky for Kitty successfully channels the sound and spirit of punk's heyday, for all their whiplash guitars and spitfire rhythms Superchunk's songs derive their power not from nihilism and ennui but from optimism and passion -- implicit in McCaughan's lyrics is a belief in creation over destruction, hope over cynicism, and love over hate. Credit too Steve Albini's no-frills recording for the live-wire snap and crackle of standouts like "Seed Toss," "Punch Me Harder," and "Throwing Things" -- for all its earthy simplicity and everyman conviction, No Pocky for Kitty positively soars. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In respect to the rest of their impressive catalog, Superchunk's debut LP is basically a ragged hint of promise from a group who would later become a fixture of indie rock. Over ten tracks of poorly recorded albeit thundering rock & roll, singer/guitarist Mac McCaughan and crew play a punk rock hybrid that leans toward the possibility of a more complicated future but never really realizes it. The record has a few winning tracks, including the opening "Sick to Move" and the indie ethos affirmation "My Noise," but in retrospect, the only really important song included on the record is the longtime Superchunk anthem "Slack Motherfucker." The song's call to arms of "I'm workin'/but I'm not working for you," written while McCaughan was paying his bills with work behind the counter of a local Kinkos, has forever become a part of the band's legacy and has been covered by numerous artist since appearing on this record. Superchunk completeists will probably see a need for this record in their collections, but the much more accessible Tossing Seeds: Singles 89-91 collection contains all this record's high points as well as the follow-up singles that saw the band really get moving in a more inspiring direction. ~ Peter J. D'Angelo, All Music Guide
