Pitchfork: Portastatic Extend North American Tour

Time was, you could count on a new Superchunk album (with accompanying singles and tour) every two years, like clockwork. However, since the release of Here's to Shutting Up in 2001, the band's been mostly silent when it comes to new material, with three "official" bootlegs, one DVD (Crowding Up Your Visual Field), and one compilation (Cup of Sand) to their credit; meanwhile, Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan has released two EPs and one full-length as Portastatic, with another album on the way. And with Superchunk on indefinite hiatus, Chunk guitarist Jim Wilbur has joined Portastatic full-time as a bassist, both on the upcoming Bright Ideas, and on the band's first ever full U.S. tour.

As previously reported, Bright Ideas, which is due out August 23 on Merge Records, is the first Portastatic album to be recorded as a full band-- McCaughan's brother Matt is on drums-- as well as, reportedly, the most rockin' Portastatic album so far. The new news is that the new Portastatic lineup will take to the road as of August 22 for a two-month tour that will see them team up with John Vanderslice, Mary Timony, and labelmates Tenement Halls, who, conveniently enough, also have a new album coming out on August 23. Merge is all about the synergy, people! Dates:

08-22 New York, NY - Other Music In-Store
08-25 Athens GA - Caledonia Lounge *
08-26 Winston Salem, NC - The Werehouse *
08-27 Durham, NC - Trokia Music Festival *
09-07 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle *
09-08 Louisville, KY - Uncle Pleasants *
09-09 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (with Mary Timony) *
09-10 Kalamazoo, MI - Kraftbrau Brewery *
09-12 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace *
09-13 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *
09-14 Boston, MA - Middle East (with Mary Timony) *
09-16 New York, NY - Rothko (Merge CMJ Showcase) *
09-17 Philadelphia, PA - Khyber *
09-23 Seattle, WA - The Crocodile Cafe ^
09-24 Portland, OR - Berbati's ^
09-25 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall ^
09-26 Chico, CA - TBA ^
09-27 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill ^
09-28 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland ^
10-14 New York, NY - Knitting Factory #
10-15 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw #
10-16 Boston, MA - Middle East #
10-17 Washington, DC - Black Cat #
10-18 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle #
10-19 Mt. Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern #
10-20 Atlanta, GA - The Earl #
10-21 St Augustine, FL - Cafe Eleven #
10-22 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder #
10-23 Orlando, FL - The Social #
10-25 New Orleans, LA - Twiropa #
10-26 Houston , TX - Mary Jane's #
10-27 Austin, TX - The Parish #

* with Tenement Halls
^ with the Rosebuds
# with John Vanderslice

Finally, in addition to the upcoming release of Bright Ideas, Portastatic recently recorded an EP for Houston Party, a record label based out of Barcelona, Spain. The EP, entitled Looking for a Power Supply, features two demo versions of songs off Bright Ideas and three other exclusive tracks. If you don't live in Spain (and yes, we're looking at you), you can pick up a copy on Merge's website. Tracklist:

01 Bright Ideas
02 Through With People
03 A Faithless Auld Lang Syne
04 It's All Over Now Baby Blue
05 Power Supply

And hey, maybe you weren't paying attention the first time we printed the tracklist for Bright Ideas. You loser:

01 Bright Ideas
02 Through With People
03 White Wave
04 I Wanna Know Girls
05 Little Fern
06 Truckstop Cassettes
07 Soft Rewind
08 Registered Ghost
09 Center of the World
10 Full of Stars