Pitchfork: Superchunk Ready New Live LP, Portastatic to Release Studio Album and EP

Superchunk Ready New Live LP, Portastatic to Release Studio Album and EP
Mac McCaughan terror level raised to orange; Americans advised to duct-tape jeans

Were you at M10K? You know, Merge Records 10th Anniversary party in 1999, when Superchunk (as well as 14 other bands) played a live set at the Cats Cradle? If you said "masturbating to Home Improvement and choking down a tub of Blue Bunny ice cream," you're in luck: The 'Chunk have decided to release that live set as the third installment in their Clambakes series of official bootlegs-- and they're planning on having it out in time for Merge Records' 15th Anniversary Party, which will, naturally, mark the 5th anniversary of the actual live performance in question. That's a damn lot of anniversaries.

Titled When We Were 10: Live at the Cats Cradle 1999, the band's official website reveals the performance to have been "not only mohawk-wiltingly hot and sweaty, but also...one of our rockingest shows ever, if we may be so immodest." But hold up, there, pioneers: The first two Clambakes releases were limited edition dealios, and while the site isn't saying whether that's the case with this one, we must follow our frame-of-reference and assume that it is possible that this record may be of a similarly fleeting nature. Therefore, hardcore Chunklets may want to get themselves off to the label's 15th Anniversary Weekend celebration (which begins Thursday, July 29th), where the record will be selling like the hott merch it certainly is. Or, you can just travel your mouse on over to the Merge website, where the band will later be hawking it. Tracklist:

01 Unbelievable Things
02 Cursed Mirror
03 Skip Steps 1 & 3
04 Throwing Things
05 Hello Hawk
06 Smarter Hearts
07 Nu Bruises
08 The Question is How Fast
09 Watery Hands
10 Pink Clouds
11 Driveway to Driveway
12 Hyper Enough
13 Martinis on the Roof
14 Like a Fool
15 Slack Motherfucker
16 Cast Iron
17 Precision Auto

Now, as you may have noticed, Superchunk have been noticeably lacking in the new LP department since the release of 2001's Here's to Shutting Up, although they have been releasing material in the form of singles, live albums, compilations, and DVDs. Well, we're sorry to have to tell you this, but don't expect that trend to change anytime soon. However, the band's website does note that they recently recorded three new tracks at Duck Kee Studios, one of which ("Freaks in Charge") appears on Merge Records' newly released 15th Anniversary compilation, Old Enough to Know Better.

Pitchfork spoke with Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan via email, who revealed that the other two tracks will either be released as a seven-inch, or that the band will "possibly put them towards a new album, but with some family expansion happening within the band (I've got a 1-year old daughter and Laura is expecting a baby this fall), our time table for albums and tours has become elongated over the last couple years." Basically, the band is enjoying their success and their families, and though a new Superchunk album may be a bit longer in coming as a result, you can't help but be happy for them. Unless you're an asshole.

Yet, take heart children! In the very same email, McCaughan revealed to us that LO! he has, under the banner of his solo side project Portastatic, "started writing songs and recording demos for [a new] album" which is "tentatively titled Every Generation Gets Bit in the Ass." Additionally, he's begun work on an EP to be released early next year by the Spanish label Houston Party. And yes, finally, Portastatic will be opening for Guided by Voices on several dates of their fall farewell tour-- not to mention some shows in Brazil in late October, where the good sex is.