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Avg: 3.5 (19 ratings)
- Date Released: September 9, 2008
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Indie Rock
- Label: Merge Records
A look at Mac's Portastatic in 44 chapters
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We Say...
Many indie label entrepreneurs with musical ability probably ask themselves the question: "If I didn't own the label, would I sign me?" Guitarist, singer/songwriter and Merge Records co-founder/co-owner Mac McCaughan has answered in the affirmative with both Superchunk and Portastatic, each of which have been around about as long as the 20-year-old label that hosts them. Portastatic's Some Small History is a rather vast archival undertaking: 44 tracks, singles, B-sides, album cuts, covers, promotional 7-inch releases and the like. If Superchunk is the arena alt-rock killer app, Portastatic is the low-tech workshop, a band to which the phrase "acoustic distortion" is not a contradiction.
With the exception of set opener "Starter," Portastatic's spare, coherent-yet-blustery first recording, there's no particular order here (thanks, Mac), any more than there is a pattern to artists covered, other than with great respect and fearless vision: Dylan, Sandy Denny and the Strawbs, Ryan Adams, Galaxie 500 ("Tugboat"), American Music Club ("Firefly"), Hot Chip ("Boy from School") and the Magnetic Fields among them. Counterintuitive strategies abound: the Undertones' raucous "Teenage Kicks" is gutsily executed as an acoustic love ballad. From the big originals pile, "Trajectory" could be a Nirvana B-side, "Soft Fruit" lounge reggae. "Easily Aroused" is pretty and stimulating, the swell pun "San Andreas Crouch" sounds better than its lowest-fi origins might promise, while "Too Close to the Screen," recorded for fanzine Trash Heap, might be quintessential: putting drum machines through distortion and effects boxes, Casio organ sounds, the voice setting on Korg Micro-preset synth … It sounds like bagpipes 'n' drums funk drone, but always in service of a hand-crafted song. In other words, music to these ears. -
They Say...
Mac McCaughan is nothing if not prolific. As if cranking out the indie rock for Superchunk wasn't enough, in 1994 he started Portastatic as an outlet for his solo recordings and songs that wouldn't fit within the Superchunk esthetic. The two bands ran neck and neck for years in terms of both frequency of release and high standard of quality until Superchunk was semi-retired in the early 2000s. Portastatic never slowed, though, and now some might be bold enough to say the side project has surpassed the day job band. Doubters should check some of the recent Portastatic releases or maybe this collection of single tracks, demos, versions, and cover songs for some independent verification. Some Small History is a career-spanning set that documents McCaughan's growth as a songwriter, his knack for knocking out a stunning cover version (his take on Hot Chip's "And I Was a Boy from School" is worth the price of admission, and the acoustic treatment of the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" somehow makes one of the most joyous songs ever written into a melancholy ballad) and gives fans a chance to have all these rare and collectable songs in one handy package. The non-chronological track list may frustrate strict collector types, but the quality and rarity of the tracks here should take away any slight sting the sequencing may inspire. Full of emotional songs and the kind of inspired performances that made him an indie rock hero, Some Small History is a true treasure for fans of Mac McCaughan and Portastatic.
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| 01. |  |
Starter |
4:59 |
|
| 02. | |
Sandals With White Socks |
3:06 |
|
| 03. | |
Oh My Sweet Carolina |
3:50 |
|
| 04. | |
Lousy Penpal |
3:15 |
|
| 05. | |
A Cunning Latch |
3:17 |
|
| 06. | |
Teenage Kicks |
2:29 |
|
| 07. | |
Too Trashed to Smoke |
2:07 |
|
| 08. | |
Skinny Glasses Girl |
4:26 |
|
| 09. | |
Trajectory |
2:59 |
|
| 10. | |
Power Supply |
4:56 |
|
| 11. | |
Josephine |
3:49 |
|
| 12. | |
Race You Home mix |
3:55 |
|
| 13. | |
Make You Up |
3:06 |
|
| 14. | |
Your Own Cloud |
3:20 |
|
| 15. | |
When Love Breaks Down |
4:04 |
|
| 16. | |
Portraits From Before the War |
4:46 |
|
| 17. | |
Gray Robins |
4:15 |
|
| 18. | |
Easily Aroused |
2:33 |
|
| 19. | |
Guessing |
2:28 |
|
| 20. | |
Little Fern |
3:39 |
|
| 21. | |
All I Need Is You |
2:56 |
|
| 22. | |
You Love To Fail |
3:34 |
|
22 Total Tracks, 77:49 Total Length
eMusic Tip
Paid downloads are counted towards an album discount but free downloads are not.
COMPLETE FOR FREE!
You can download the rest of the tracks from this album for free! Just click the Complete Album button.
We’re sorry this album can only be downloaded using paid subscription download credits.
We recommend you Save it for Later by clicking the Save for Later button shown just above this message. For a list of related albums you can download right now, check out these recommendations.
| 01. | |
Some Small History |
4:19 |
|
| 02. | |
San Andreas Crouch |
2:48 |
|
| 03. | |
Not the Same |
2:17 |
|
| 04. | |
And I Was a Boy From School |
5:19 |
|
| 05. | |
Spying on the Spys |
3:53 |
|
| 06. | |
Too Close To the Screen |
4:16 |
|
| 07. | |
Weighted Raft |
1:41 |
|
| 08. | |
Dragging A Crow |
3:22 |
|
| 09. | |
Soft Fruit |
2:23 |
|
| 10. | |
I Wanna Know Girls |
4:22 |
|
| 11. | |
Feel Better |
2:16 |
|
| 12. | |
Useless Switch |
4:16 |
|
| 13. | |
Had |
3:59 |
|
| 14. | |
Secret Session |
2:22 |
|
| 15. | |
Tugboat |
4:28 |
|
| 16. | |
Codes, Runes, Dunes |
4:58 |
|
| 17. | |
Candy Cigarettes |
2:01 |
|
| 18. | |
Firefly |
3:52 |
|
| 19. | |
La Pelicula |
4:03 |
|
| 20. | |
Look, Honey, Peaches |
2:53 |
|
| 21. | |
Replacement Parts |
3:20 |
|
| 22. | |
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue |
4:48 |
|
44 Total Tracks, 77:56 Total Length
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Credits
- Mac McCaughan - Liner Notes // Amy Sillman - Cover Design // Maggie Fost - Art Direction // Maggie Fost - Design
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