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Recording:
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Here's To Shutting Up |
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Artist:
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Superchunk |
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Label:
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Merge |
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Release Date:
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18.September.2001 |
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Reviewed by:
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Malimus,
PostLibyan,
and Tracers
(moderated by Brendan) |
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Rating:
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Brendan:
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Superchunk, ah Superchunk.
Anytime the Minions gather it is only a matter of time until
someone puts a Superchunk CD in to listen to. Albums such as
Foolish, Here's Where The Strings Come In,
and Indoor Living are cornerstones of Minion Civilization.
As such, the release of a new full-length album from Superchunk
is more than just a mere chance to purchase something, it is
an event of huge cultural signifiance to us. No one minion could
review it -- it's too big for one person to handle. Therefore,
i have captured (and edited -- learn how to spell, PostLibyan!)
a brief portion of the large debate that has occurred on the
subject.
Enjoy.
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Brendan:
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First things first: the title -- is this the last
album? We have to ask! |
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PostLibyan:
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I dunno. That title might seem to imply so. At any rate, i
think it's great that Superchunk have finally followed up 1997's
Indoor Living.....
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Tracers:
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I'm ready to pretend Come Pick Me Up
never existed. |
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Malimus:
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Well, okay, but this album isn't that different
from CPMU in material or tone, it just doesn't have
that sticky O'Rourkeness about it, and that makes it much better,
much closer, to Indoor Living (which was good),
than CPMU (which was too concerned with it's own
production to be anything but a placeholder).
My initial impression, and it holds through the several listens
was this: "Ah, finally the two Macs meet and shake hands. Welcome
to SuperPortaChunkaStatic. Is this the same band that recorded
Slack Motherfucker at all?" |
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PostLibyan:
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Hmm... i have been totally underwhelmed by everything
that i have heard from Portastatic. I look at it this way -- Mac
needs Jim there to write an interesting guitar (or in this case
keyboard) part. He needs Jon there to do something cool with the
drums. He needs Laura there to thump on the bass. In Portastaic,
he lacks those elements, and the drumming and the guitarwork are,
to me, boring. It' just showcasing his lyrical ability, which
i don't care about.
On Here's To Shutting Up, you have interesting riffs
from Mr. Wilbur, you have some decent drumming from Mr. Wurster,
and it makes for something more interesting. To me at least. |
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Tracers:
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I'd agree with Portastatic being more about songwriting/lyrics
-- one of the reasons i like it (at times). |
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Brendan:
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Okay, let's consider the individual songs. |
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Malimus:
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I like the first track, Late Century Dream,
a lot. The strings at the end seem a bit extracurricular, but
they're not overbearing. The keys are the same keys introduced
on Indoor Living, only Superchunk don't seem embarrassed
about using them now.
On track 2, Rainy Days, the guitars move back to rhythm
and the keys carry the counter melody to Mac's singing. I like
both of these songs. |
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PostLibyan:
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I can live without Rainy Days -- it does
nothing for me. It's not bad, but it's not great either. I don't
find it as catchy as Late Century Dream.
But the next song. Ugh. You know, i liked the demo version of
Phone Sex that they had available for download on the
site earlier this year. However, i hate the new production.
Specifically i hate that they slowed it down a bit and added slide
guitar. Yuck -- now it twangs. I hate twang.... |
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Tracers:
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I was gonna ask if you'd noticed the slide guitar. |
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PostLibyan:
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How could you NOT notice it? |
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Malimus:
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I've never been opposed twang, but it's unusual
to hear it on a Superchunk record. The thing that i don't like
about this song is actually the "sugar pop" inflection mac uses.
"Keep your nose doo-own..." It's almost, i don't know, infantile
in inflection. Very odd. |
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PostLibyan:
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Yeah, the singing bothers me too, for the most part.
However, the little backing vocal bit that comes in, very subtly,
after the bridge, is really nicely done. I wonder who is singing
that part? It really counters Mac's voice. However, for the most
part this song is ruined for me by the overpowering slide guitar. |
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Malimus:
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I don't think the slide guitar "overpowers" the
song. I just think they wanted a new sound to carry the melody.
They're just too old to do that rock-and-scream thing anymore. |
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PostLibyan:
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I think it stands out: This is the one pseudo-country
number on an otherwise keyboard-y album. |
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Tracers:
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You know, it's the slide guitarist from Japancakes.
(Actually, the girl who plays cello is also from Japancakes). |
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PostLibyan:
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There's real cello? I thought that was a synthesized
cello! |
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Tracers:
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Personally, i think the slide guitar isn't necessary,
and tends to be mixed a little too loud. |
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PostLibyan:
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I find that it distracts from the song too much. |
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Tracers:
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One other thing though -- did you notice the chorus
line about "Plane crash footage on TV/I know that could be me"?
What is it with Superchunk and the airplanes? |
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PostLibyan:
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My guess is that Mac, like you, has a fear of flying. |
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Malimus:
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Someone does, perhaps Mac, perhaps Laura, but someone
has some serious issues with flying and Mac uses that as a metaphor
to relay general uneasiness with relationships very well. (Animated
Airplanes Over Germany is a better song, all around, though.) |
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Tracers:
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That was my thought as well -- the lyrics of Phone
Sex don't really compare to "He thought he saw his life flash
between his knees/On an animated airplane over Germany." In that
case, the lyrics were funny and somewhat oblique; in the case
of Phone Sex, it's more of a straight narrative. |
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Brendan:
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Moving on, track 4 is called Florida's
On Fire. |
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Malimus:
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It may officially rend the title of "worst Superchunk
song ever" from Marquee. |
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Tracers:
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Never. Absolutely friggin' never. |
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PostLibyan:
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I don't like this one. It sounds like a mid-80's
schlock metal power ballad, complete with cheesy guitar solo and
strings at the end. |
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Brendan:
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Track 5: Out on the Wing. |
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Malimus:
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This is a great song, IMHO. (Again with the airplane
imagery.) Simply a great song. Subdued, driving bass line, Jim's
guitar is subtle to the point of sub-conciousness, a light spattering
of keys to accent counter-melodies, Mac's voice and lyrics at
their best since Like A Fool, and Jon's drumming gets to
come out of the bag a little. This song will kick ass live. |
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PostLibyan:
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Well, it has a Moog in it, which is not exactly
great IMHO. (Are they going to have a designated keyboardist live???
They will sure need one....) I really like the bridge on this
one though -- where the guitars swell up then descend into power
chords. yeah! |
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Tracers:
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OK -- here comes my dissent. I know Malimus loves
this song and PostLibyan, you seem to like it as well. I think
it's OK -- somewhat catchy and enjoyable, but it doesn't just
enthrall me.....I can't put a finger on why, but I'd rank it on
the same level as most of the other songs. |
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PostLibyan:
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That's fair. In fact, i do think that many of the
guitar riffs are recycled.... Or at least that they are very very
"typical" of Superchunk. |
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Brendan:
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Track 6: The Animal Has Left Its Shell. |
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Malimus:
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This is a Portastatic song. Again with the baby-talk
singing ("we all shrug oooh weeeeee-eeeeell"). Is anyone else
getting this?
I'm not a real fan of Act Surprised (track 7), either.
Didn't really like the demo download from the Merge site. Seems
like they're trying too hard to write a cute little pop song. |
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PostLibyan:
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I like this track -- in all of it's forms. The demo was good,
and live
it rocked. This version takes the demo and hardens it. The guitars
are more forceful, and the drumming is tighter. It is as if
this song has passed through the fiery crucible of The Tour
and come out stronger, unlike it's sibling Phone Sex,
which came out changed greatly....
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Brendan:
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Track 8 is called Art Class (song for Yayoi Kusama). |
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PostLibyan:
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The backing vocals on this -- is that Chris
Lopez? I would lose them -- totally unnecessary and out of
place. |
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Malimus:
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I have to agree. I saw the Lopez credit and listened,
and it's just a couple of backing vocals on two choruses. Couldn't
Jim do that? It's one of those "guest appearances for the sake
of guest appearances", and i don't really get those at all. Lopez
does well enough, or as well as you can do with a three word contribution,
but i don't get why he's there. |
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PostLibyan:
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It's a "label politics" move, what with the RATS
next release NOT coming out on Merge.... So Lopez gets to sing
on the newest Superchunk album just to prove that everyone is
still buddy-buddy. A nice gesture, but unnecessary musically. |
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Tracers:
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I agree -- lose the Lopez backing voice. His harsh
voice doesn't lend well with Mac's somewhat more delicate one.
However, i'd like to state up front that's *my* favorite song
on the album. I'd argue that it rocks, it's funny, and it's pretty
durn catchy. Hell if even has the Nu Bruises-esque break
down and a guitar solo. |
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Malimus:
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It's a pretty decent song, but not great. Although
it does include the line "Welcome to art class, and yes it does
include shaking your ass", which is just too funny. |
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Tracers:
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Damn straight -- a return to lyrical form. |
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PostLibyan:
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I do have a question though: who is Yayoi Kusama?
In an attempt to answer this, i wil now go and feed that name
into Google
and see what happens.
Wow, lotsa hits! Take a look at: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/kusama/.
Apparently this is some japanese artist chick.
How boring. I was hoping that Yayoi Kusama was, like, "The Butcher
of Osaka" or some other medieval japanese warlord. Some connection
to Samurai Drama. Anything but modern art really....
I guess this shows the difference between Mac and me! Oh well.
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Tracers:
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OK PostLibyan, now this is funny. Only you would
hope/think that Superchunk would ever write about Samurai. |
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PostLibyan:
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Sorry, but i would make a damn good samurai warlord
name! |
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Brendan:
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Next track: What Do You Look Forward To?. |
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Tracers:
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It's kind of noodly..... |
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PostLibyan:
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I like the keys in this song. One set of keyboards
is doing a low organ drone, which reminds me of going to Mass
(is Mac Catholic?). The higher, second keyboard part plays a nice
accompaniment to it. I also think that both keyboard parts blend
nicely with the strings... However, the end is really Sterolab-ish.
(That is, silly keyboard stuff.) |
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Malimus:
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Not Stereolab. Portastatic. Those little key-bleeps
are all over the Portastatic catalogue. |
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PostLibyan:
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Really? I associate that sound with Stereolab.... |
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Brendan:
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One more track: Drool Collection. |
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PostLibyan:
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Again a nice little keyboard number. I like it. |
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Tracers:
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I think that the keyboards are a little fruity on
this one. |
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Malimus:
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Not as fruity as the carnival organ on What Do
You Look Forward To?. |
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PostLibyan:
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I would never call that a carnival organ. It is
a cheapo electric organ, the kind that reminds of Mass in poor
parishes in rural Ohio, where The Church couldn't afford to put
in a pipe organ, and couldn't afford a really expensive electric
one either. This sound has a lot of connotative meaning for me....
And i don't think it's fruity -- there is a low-pitched drone
and a higher melody. If the exact same thing were played on a
big pipe organ you would not call it "fruity". I think that perhaps
the choice of instrumentation is a limiting factor here. I really
like the organ, so i can transpose this sound to a different specific
instrument. Does that make any sense? |
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Tracers:
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OK, so maybe it's just like the opening for Pain's
Gavin. I guess i'm just not a big organ fan. |
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Brendan:
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Okay, any general comments on the album as a whole? |
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Tracers:
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I have one, and that is that the strings seem a little orchestral.
On the whole I think the keyboards and strings are a little
overdone and not necessary.
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Malimus:
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I don't think the keys do anything more or less
than the strings do, honestly. They're little add-ins and dabs
of audio color. I don't think the strings overpower anything any
more or less than the keys. They both distracts as much as anything
that slide guitar ever thought about distracting, IMHO. |
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PostLibyan:
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This is a very subjective statement. The organ =
goodness to me, while slide guitar is meaningless in my world
and is just an irritating sound. For you, that's opposite. |
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Tracers:
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I think that perhaps they are a little overdone
in places. |
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PostLibyan:
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The only spots where i find the keys odd or really
bad is at the start of The Animal Has Left Its Shell. I
even think that that bit at the end of What Do You Look Forward
To? makes sense it that it flows into Drool Collection. |
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PostLibyan:
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I think that they could lose the strings and i wouldn't
notice.
My general comment: all of the albums weaker tracks are clustered
at the front. It gets better. |
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Malimus:
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I think the opening 3 tracks work, they're just
pop songs, not punk songs. Florida's On Fire is just abyssmally
bad. |
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Tracers:
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I would also like to point out that, overall, Mac
has kept with the Come Pick Me Up tradition of singing
instead of screaming. I suppose this may be a sign of growing
up -- or perhaps his voice can't handle yelling as much anymore.
Still, he does seem to be crooning a bit more on this one (and
it seems a little out of place at times -- such as when he goes
into that falsetto during Art Class). |
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PostLibyan:
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Hmmmm... I didn't notice that so much. I would say
this though -- i think that the vocals on Drool Collection
are the most natural sounding vocals on the album. No, they don't
sound like old punk rawk Superchunk, but they don't sound as forced
as some of the others. It's as if that is Mac's natural voice,
with absolutely no falsetto attached. |
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Malimus:
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The only strained or unnatural voice i hear is Florida's
on Fire, which, by the way, is just a horrible song. |
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Tracers:
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Strained voice number two: during Art Class. |
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PostLibyan:
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I think that there are moments in many
of the songs where Mac consciously tries to sing subtly. I noticed
some spots where he changes inflection just a little. Listen on
headphones and you might notice this. |
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Tracers:
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I caught this too -- i'd have to go back and listen
closely, but it seems that i'd be going along, enjoying a song,
and then *poof* it's weird inflection time!
But enough about that -- let's talk drumming. Have you noticed
how Jon Wurster plays the same syncopated drum fills over and
over again? |
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PostLibyan:
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I didn't notice that. However, i do think that the
production on the drumming, while clear, tends to flatten out
the drum sound. |
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Malimus:
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It's all about the direction of the songs, really.
Jon's a punk rawk drummer. He's very talented, but he likes to
hit things real hard. As such, that's a sound we've come to associate
with Superchunk. Clearly, that's not what he's doing here. |
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Tracers:
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Normally, I don't think I'd point it out, but this
album seems driven by the drums in a way previous Superchunk albums
aren't (usually I think they're driven more by the guitars). |
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PostLibyan:
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Actually i would say that this album is driven by
keyboards. |
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Malimus:
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I think because the melodies are more keyboard driven,
and the guitar accompaniment is more muted and less distortoramaish,
you get a better notion of what the rhythm section (Jon and Laura)
are actually doing. The bass isn't just that thunk-thunk reverb
you get in your chest cavity during old numbers performed live.
The drums are less "muppet" and more music. It's all about how
Mac's pulling off the verses, really. |
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PostLibyan:
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Exactly. One point i really want to make is that
the bass-work on this album is some of the best that i have heard
from Laura. |
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Tracers:
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I still disagree about the drums. Listen to the
drum intros on most of the songs, it's like other parts start,
then Jon does this fill and begins to do the same beat over and
over again. |
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PostLibyan:
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Yeah -- he is restrained a bit too much. Perhaps
the whole band needs to re-think / re-work what they are doing. |
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Malimus:
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Um, i think they already have. I think Indoor
Living was the turning point release, where the rest of
the band sort of followed Mac out of punk/pop and into jazz/pop,
and then Mac went a little too far astray on Come Pick Me
Up, at which Laura and the boys reeled his fruity ass
in. |
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Tracers:
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I would agree that the focus has shifted. Aside
from Out On The Wing, Rainy Streets, and Art
Class, the album doesn't really have any rockers. |
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Malimus:
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Out On The Wing is the only song i can see
being played between Water Wings and Slack Motherfucker
without the crowd collectively going to get a drink. |
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PostLibyan:
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I dunno. Act Surprised was good live
and i think it will be good live. Art Class also has that
"jump up and down" sort of vibe, although to a lesser degree.
But you are right, Out On The Wing is the only real old-fashioned
Superchunk mosh pit tune on the disc. |
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Malimus:
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But i think the songs will rock more live -- you
can almost hear Superchunk holding back at times. |
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PostLibyan:
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Yeah, i would agree with that. However -- it raises
an interesting question. Specifically, why? Why make an album
like this, and then play the songs differently live? Especially
considering that in the past Superchunk have pretty much recorded
"live" albums. |
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Malimus:
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Because Mac wants to write jazz-influence pop songs,
not punk rawk anthems, but Merge depends on Superchunk's cash
flow, which depends on the fan base, which expect punk rawk shows
when they tour. The diplomatic solution is for Mac to write jazz-influenced
pop songs that can be turned into punk rawk songs for concerts. |
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PostLibyan:
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I don't disagree with the bulk of your reasoning,
but as the token person here who has actually listened to some
jazz i gotta say: this is not jazz in any way shape or from. i
don't even hear a real jazz influece to it at all. It's pop, pure
and simple. |
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Tracers:
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Hmmm....this is an interesting thesis, especially
considering that Mac's other label is Wobbly Rail, which specializes
in more jazz-y stuff. And, as you've stated before, Here's
To Shutting Up has more of a Portastatic feel to it. I
wonder what this says about the unity of Superchunk as a whole? |
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PostLibyan:
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Yeah, now i remember reading that his other label
is jazz. However, this ain't jazz. Malimus -- if you are in doubt
i can bring some Jazz for you to listen to. I have Coltrane's
Meditations and some other stuff.
But Tracers is on to a bigger question here. Given the title and
the fact that Superchunk seem to moving towards the sound of Mac's
"solo" project -- is this the last album? |
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Tracers:
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If Mac is able to drawn the band towards this more
mellow future, why does he need a stable lineup? He certainly
doesn't in Portastatic... |
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PostLibyan:
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Well i for one think that Superchunk hasn't become
Portastatic yet. I still think that there are other voices here.
Sure, Mac's voice and vision dominates the album, but Superchunk
is still a chorus whereas Portastatic is purely a solo show. |
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Tracers:
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I'd agree with your comment about this still being
more collaborative than Portastatic, but my point still is: although
there is a chorus here, will there be one in the future? |
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PostLibyan:
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Sigh. That's the BIG question, isn't it? |
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Malimus:
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Is it? I think Superchunk as a unit is probably
good for a couple more albums at least, probably one every three
or four years. Mac will be arty and such with Portastatic and
his pet projects on Merge (um, those Athens muppet-head freaks,
for example), Jim will likely look a little more in depth into
his side project (or just go be a happily married 40 year old,
maybe). Laura's big into running Merge as i understand it, and
Jon, well, Jon's a freak as far as i can tell. Maybe he'll move
back to a small Menonite town in Pennsylvania. |
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Brendan:
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So, to sum up a bit, Here's To Shutting Up continues
Superchunk's progression towards more mellower pop and less
punk rawk that began on Indoor Living.
The general consensus is that this album is stronger than Come
Pick Me Up, their last full length. The production
is clearer, and the band seems more confident with their new
direction. Perhaps they still have some growing to do, but Here's
To Shutting Up certainly indicates that the journey
will be interesting at least.
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Related Links:
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Artist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superchunk
http://superchunk.com/
http://www.twitter.com/superchunk
http://www.last.fm/music/Superchunk
http://www.myspace.com/superchunkmusic
http://www.mergerecords.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Merge-Records/88476979019
Also on EvilSponge:
Introduction to Superchunk
Album: Superchunk
Album: No Pocky For Kitty
Compilation: Tossing Seeds (Singles 89-91)
Album: On the Mouth
Compilation: Incidental Music 1991-95
Album: Here's Where the Strings Come In
EP: Laughter Guns
Album: Indoor Living
Album: Come Pick Me Up
Album: Here's
To Shutting Up
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