Incidental Music 1991-95

Superchunk

Merge

20.June.1995

As discussed back when we looked at Speed of Cattle, the rarities/b-sides collection by the Archers of Loaf, these types of compilations fall into two broad categories: rarities that should have remained in the "unreleased" bucket and compilations that gather together generally good material that isn't available in one convenient location. While Speed of Cattle mostly fell into that first category, luckily Superchunk's Incidental Music compilation , released in 1995 between Foolish and Here's Where the Strings Come In falls mostly within the latter category. In fact, I'd go so far as to state that with the two afore-mentioned releases, this record forms the last leg of the "Superchunk trifecta" of must-have albums.

Having said all that, it seems vaguely ironic that most of the songs (including 2 of the best on the compilation) predate the Foolish years. In my head, I always think of Foolish as the album on which Superchunk found their strength, and since Incidental Music has always felt like a companion piece to that album and the one that came after, I find it hard to reconcile the dates of the recordings with the mental timeline I've always had. Likewise, it's difficult to understand some of the choices Superchunk made in leaving some of these tunes off of their recorded albums, especially in light of the weaknesses I've heard in No Pocky For Kitty and On The Mouth.

Incidental Music begins with Shallow End, a post-Foolish tune that appeared on The Jerky Boys soundtrack. Clearly influenced melodically by The First Part, this is a very lovely mid-tempo pop-punk song that falls well within the mid-Superchunk oeuvre. It has a nice bounce, courtesy of Jon Wurster's drumming, and a pretty alternative riff courtesy of Jim Wilbur's guitar. Over it all, Mac sings somewhat matter of factly about dealing with a shallow female, including the witty chorus of "I know you think you're deep alright, but you should stay at the shallow end."

From there, the band moves into Mower, which we first heard back during On the Mouth. I think this is in fact the same recording heard there and it apparently made its way onto this compilation because it was released as a single. In this context, the crunchiness of the song melds nicely and it provides a great lead into the following track, On the Mouth. That tune is one of the omissions from the album of the same title which I can never understand. On the Mouth is a punky, emphatic little tune that begins with lots of distortion. Then, the speed picks up (although the distortion stays in place) and the guitars go all crunchy, similar to Mower and the song bops along at a prodigious pace. Honestly, this not-quite title track, with its relatively short length and happy bounce, is better than much of what we heard back during On the Mouth.

Cadmium is another great song from Superchunk and it's one that many fans seem to remember. It was released as an Australian compilation and dates to the post No Pocky For Kitty period. This is a slower tune that On the Mouth, but the distortion is in place, albeit in a more tremolo-y sense, and there is a particularly nice harmony on the chorus between Mac and Jim. Then in the middle of the song, all of the higher-pitched instruments fall out so that there is a bridge which consists solely of Wurster's drums and Laura Ballance's bass before everything comes back and grows more chaotic. Nicely done. The even slower Who Needs Light, which dates to the immediate pre-Foolish period, comes next. Filled with echoey distortion, emphatic drums, shouted vocals, and a 6/8 beat, in some ways this is a tune that I would have loved to hear The Rock*a*Teens cover, just because this falls so deeply within their genre. Nevertheless, I do like this one.

And then we come to pre-Foolish Merge single, Ribbon. I'll state upfront that this is my second favorite Superchunk song ever. It's positively upbeat, with cymbal heavy drums, a quick pace and relatively straight-forward guitarwork. It also manages to work in multiple key changes and the most cathartically positive combination of lyrics/melody that I've ever heard from this band. Honestly, when I listen to Ribbon (and especially the shouted bridge of "When will everything be quiet? When will our fucking hearts cease to riot?"), I get chills. It's really a beautiful song, which makes the anger and heartbreak of Foolish, the next not-quite-title track, stand out in relief. Foolish is stripped down, almost demo-y sounding song that replays the melody of the opener from Foolish, Like a Fool. As Mac half-sings, half chants a list of cities and event he recalls, one guitar repeats the melody quickly whilst another distorts almost aggressively in the background. You can almost feel the anger, but perhaps you can pass it off as a passing fancy until the song gets close to the end and Mac yelps numbly, "I remember how foolish I was. I remember how foolish I was." And that one line brings everything into focus and makes me (at least) go, "Ouch".

Luckily, when Foolish ends, we move directly into the best cover Superchunk has ever recorded. This is The Magnetic Fields' 100,000 Fireflies, which has become nearly iconic over at EvilSponge HQ. Come on everyone, sing it with me: "I have a mandolin. I play it all night long…" Yes, the witty, ironic words and catchy melody music are straight out of Stephin Merrit, but the phrasing and instrumentation are all classic Superchunk.

Listening to this, it's hard to think that, recording-wise, this predates both of the songs which came before. But these three songs are the best of the album and, together, they are all solid enough to stand amongst the best of Superchunk's catalogue.

Funnily enough, we're not even halfway to the end of Incidental Music and I'm well content with the record. Invitation is a nice little pop-punk tune in the vein of Cast Iron or Tossing Seeds. The bass is very prominent and, again, we have some nice chording changes throughout the tune. Likewise Makeout Bench (Which until the second I wrote this review I thought was called Makeout Beach) has more prominent basswork and a bouncy beat, even if the drumming feels a bit out of time, especially at the end. Furthermore, I do admit to liking the next song, Baxter, with the combination of melodic bass and Mac's vocal of "He's always happy about Sunday" underlined by some loudly distorted guitarwork.

At this point, the rarities aspect of the compilations comes to forefront as the song quality begins to slip in comparison to the tunes which have come before. Connecticut, may come from the same recording session as Foolish, but it's primarily memorable as Jim Wilbur's vocal debut. Similarly, the cover of The Verlaines' Lying in State only gets the dubious distinction of being the third best cover on Incidental Music. But then things turn around with an acoustic version of Throwing Things (the original is found on No Pocky For Kitty). This version is rather slowly with a strong emphasis on the acoustic guitar and some very light drumming. In this context, Throwing Things becomes the lament that it isn't in the original and shows off the prettiness of the melody.

But from here on in, it's back to rarities. The next tune, a cover of Motorhead's I'll be Your Sister is fun and interesting in a "I always knew Mac like his metal" kind of way. It's also the second best cover on the album.

But if you make it through, and then are willing to sit through a minute of silence, you get to the hidden track: a rather silly recording/demo of Precision Auto. Although the melody is basically the same albeit with tons more distortion than the album version, the lyrics only pick up during at the beginning of the second verse. Before that, there's some unexpected "Ooh"-ing, which carries through the lyrics, and a very quick punk pace. Still, for a true rarity, it's very fun and works as a better end to Incidental Music than any of the previous three tracks.

On the liner notes to my copy of Incidental Music, McCaughan discusses the length and quality of the record, "So pick up the needle when you feel like it, put your CD played on 'random,' program your own sequence to this compilation, whatever. It's just a bunch of songs." However, I beg to disagree. While some of the tunes aren't particularly memorable, the opening 10 songs or so are strong enough to stand beside almost everything Superchunk has ever recorded. As such, it's hard to dismiss this as just another compilation.

Label: http://www.mergerecords.com/
Artist:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superchunk
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Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidental_Music_1991-95
Also on EvilSponge:
   Introduction to Superchunk
   Album: Superchunk
   Album: No Pocky For Kitty
   Compilation: Tossing Seeds (Singles 89-91)
   Album: On the Mouth
   Album: Foolish
   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
   Concert: Thu.8.Sep.11