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No Pocky For Kitty

by

Superchunk

 
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No Pocky For Kitty
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Avg: 4.0 (196 ratings)

Want to hear indie rock invent itself?

  • We Say...

    A big, bright, bratty clusterbomb of sound, Superchunk's sophomore effort is a hot white streak that never dissipates and never relents. To listen to it now is to hear indie rock inventing itself: the band brazenly borrows the speed-racing, sludge-laden riffs of the SST era, but uses them to power songs that are ruthlessly melodic, crowned with Mac McCaughan's proudly imperfect yawp. The group is consistently defiant — "You think you see everything with those glasses," taunts McCaughan in "Cast Iron" — and as the record evolves it becomes clear that No Pocky is serving two purposes. It's an appropriation of punk for the bored and overeducated, a shift from simply thinking nothing matters to the anger and helplessness that comes when you realize why. More than that, though, No Pocky is a testament to the power of youth, revved-up and rambunctious — proud of its imperfections, brash enough to exploit them once more, with feeling.

  • They 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.

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