During the first half minute of My Sweet Carolina, a Ryan Adams cover, Merge Records founder, Indie Rock pioneer as Superchunk Frontman, and captain of the mighty S.S. Portastatic Mac McCaughan has never sounded more awkward. His nasally post-punk tenor warbles all over the alt.country standard for about 40 seconds unacompanied, and suddenly I remember why I love Portastatic.
Mac never claimed to be anything he’s not; he’s a hold over from the early 90’s Indie Rock scene of Chapel Hill, North Carolina who started a DIY label that just happened to turn in to a major indie label, releasing famed albums from M. Ward, Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel, Conor Oberst, Dinosaur JR, Stephen Merrit and countless other Gods of Indie-dom. When his career as a post-punk God began to slow and his career as a record exec began to bud, he needed a creative outlet for the more folk-based and sometimes orchestral songs he was writing post-Superchunk, so he started Portastatic, made a few 7 inches and the rest, as they say is history.
Fast forward several years, and six critically hailed, fan adored records later, and Portastatic has released Some Small History, a sprawling collection of covers, b-sides, fanzine vinyl, outakes, unreleased demos, and live and alternate versions spanning the career of the side-project turned band from 1990 to 2007. The covers are almost all of songs penned by his friends or bands on his label, which seems to reveal the core of the band Portastatic: a guy who really loves music – writing songs, releasing them, playing shows, and not caring about the rest. It would seem that Mac McCaughan may very well be one of the elast effected artists of our time, unflinchingly releasing over 40 tracks worth of bedroom material that most would hord and keep password-protected for the normal price of a new release.
Don’t get the wrong idea here, the majority of the disc is filled with great covers, beautifully intricate bedroom demos, artifact throwbacks, and raw songwriting muscle that will make the most seasoned word-writer envious, but every once in a while there’s an embarassing cover or squeaky closet demo thrown in to remind you not to take music too seriously. Essentially, Some Small History is a hosue party, and Mac is happy to play you songs in his living room for as long as you’re happy to listen. Well, I for one, am planning on being here all night my friends.
[mp3] Portastatic – Skinny Glasses Girl (From Some Small History)
[mp3] Portastatic – I Wanna Know Girls (From Bright Ideas)
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