Outdated reference point or not, the anti-apathy sentiment on Superchunk‘s sophomore single “Slack Motherfucker” still seems characteristic of Mac McCaughan 20 years after he wrote it. The recently dormant Superchunk is moving again, and McCaughan also fills his time with Portastatic and co-ownership of Merge Records. As if that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, McCaughan is guest editing magnetmagazine.com this week.
McCaughan: How can music that reminds me so much of some other music still be so compelling? There’s certainly something comforting about the familiar strumming-on-top-of the-fuzzing and the cooing-over-the-buzzing, but if there aren’t songs underneath all that early-’90s throwback coating, who would take the time to dig them out? Well, there are songs and there’s also the comforting part and even if you still have your Black Tambourine and Pale Saints and Swirlies records you will be quite happy to add the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart to the shelf. I was impatient so I bought the CD, but I bet this rules on vinyl.
“Come Saturday” (download):
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Reminds me of the band that sang the opening theme to Pete and Pete, Polaris.
[…] —Finally, McCaughan also recently served as the guest editor of MAGNET. There’s an introductory Q&A with McCaughan here, but the Magazine’s Guest Editor archives offer access to McCaughan’s pieces on—among other things—The Carolina Hurricanes, The Durham Farmers Market and bands including The Dirty Projectors, Amadou & Mariam and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. […]