Pitchfork

[Posted Wednesday, September 10th, 2003 03:30:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

According to Superchunk.com, October will find the elder statesmen and women of indie rock heading out on the road in support of recent rarities collection Cup of Sand, as well as the scheduled November 4th release of their video compilation, Crowding Up Your Visual Field. As previously reported here, the DVD release will contain a number of bonus features, including Quest for Sleep, a documentary shot by the band during their 2001 tour. Well, just in case you're getting all antsy waiting for your Amazon.com preorder (save $2.53 when purchased with 24 Hour Party People!), you'll be happy to learn that Superchunk will be premiering the film during their latest mini-jaunt, at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC. Here are the dates:

10-10 Athens, GA - 40 Watt *
10-11 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge *
10-16 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle +
10-17 Richmond, VA - Alley Katz (w/ 20 Miles) +
10-18 Washington, D.C. - Black Cat (w/ Army of Me, Washington Social Club) +
10-20 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
10-22 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (w/ Ladybug Transistor) +

* with Matt Suggs
+ with The Rosebuds

In not-exactly-new, but still interesting Superchunk-related news, frontman Mac McCaughan's increasingly prolific side project Portastatic is releasing an EP follow-up to this year's stellar The Summer of the Shark. Portastatic.com reports that Autumn Was a Lark finds the group in "full rock band mode," which is not something you usually hear attributed to a (mostly) one-man band. Apparently Mac was inspired by this summer's tour with Yo La Tengo and headed into the studio with his touring band and some guests of note (including Sara Bell from Sharkquest) to record a new track, a full band version of The Summer of the Shark's "In the Lines" and covers of songs by The Boss, Badfinger and Ronnie Lane. Never one to skimp on the extras, there are also eight (!) tracks culled from live solo Portastatic performances. Wait a second, I did say EP, right? The bonus tracks span the last three Portastatic albums, with another Springsteen cover thrown in for good measure. Release date is October 7th, and the tracklist is:

01 Autumn Got Dark
02 Baby Blue [Badfinger]
03 Growin' Up [Bruce Springsteen]
04 In the Lines [Full Band]
05 One for the Road [Ronnie Lane]
06 Clay Cakes *
07 A Cunning Latch *
08 Bobby Jean [Bruce Springsteen] *
09 Don't Disappear *
10 You Know Where to Find Me *
11 Drill Me #
12 San Andreas #
13 Isn't That the Way #

* live solo acoustic on WPRB
# live solo acoustic on WERS

And just to make sure that you're up on your Superchunk trivia, we're honor-bound to inform you of the upcoming third release from the comedy duo of Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster-- Superchunk's percussionist extraordinaire. New Hope For The Ape-Eared, due within the next two months, will contain more of their faux interviews, culled from broadcasts of "The Best Show On WFMU" which can be caught live on Tuesdays from 8pm to 11pm EST. I'd love to give you a detailed description of what this actually entails, but it's just too strange-- tune in and listen for yourself.