Indie and Lo-Fi music reviews

Portastatic has always been an interesting side project, prolifically releasing albums and EPs full of 4-tracked bedroom recordings, experimental gems, oddball covers and quirky production explorations. The last few years has seen Mac's "band" picking up steam, offering consistently more streamlined CDs like 2003's rewarding "Summer of the Shark" and the "De Mel, De Melao" EP of tropicalia covers.

Portastatic has become a bonafide band while Superchunk takes a break (bassist Laura Ballance is a mom now!), with 'Chunk guitarist Jim Wilbur assuming bass duties and Mac's brother Matt ensconced in the drum seat. The result is that -- predictably -- they sound like a band rather than a collection of lovingly self-produced songs.

"Bright Ideas" flows with a bigger sound and groove from start to finish, with the possible exception of the title track which references Mac's recent lo-fi history. There's even a little -- is that Southern Rock? -- in the arrangements and solos, allowing Mr. McCaughan to exercise his Badfinger, Springsteen, and Dylan ghosts. The songs are a little more expansive musically, but every bit as tightly written as we've come to expect.

Or at least the best release of Portastaic's career. I've been a huge Superchunk fan for years, but I admit I had written off Portastatic as nothing more than an outlet for Mac to indulge in his more experimental urges. I had only previously owned Portastatic's "Nature of Sap," which, though I enjoyed it enough, was most defintely experimental in nature and I never felt compelled to play over and over. In an attempt to fill the huge void of a lack of new Superchunk material, I decided to give Portastatic another chance. I had read about Bright Ideas on other review sites and decided to give it a shot. Bright Ideas is every bit as good as Superchunk's best material, and Mac has really matured into a first class songwriter. There's not a bad song on it, every song is catchy and memorable. Buy it and keep indy music alive.

Portastatic is the new project by ex-Superchunk member Mac MacCaughan. Though I haven't heard any other Portastatic albums and although this is their seventh (wow) studio album, I think I can be knowledgable in saying that this is a great good album. The album starts off well with several great tunes like the title track "Bright Ideas", "Through With People" and "I Wanna Know Girls". The rest of the album isn't as easy to get into, but they'll definitely grow on you. It's kind of cheesy at times, but not so much so that it'll turn you off. The singing is similar to Superchunk although Mac seems like he's whispering with a raspy voice most of the time. Lyrically the songs are pretty memorable if not eventually forgettable. They're relatively simple and easy to sing along with. The production is very good as well as the musicianship. I'm giving this "5" stars because every track here is very good, and the first three songs are great. Not everyone will like it but I think Superchunk and indie/pop rock fans will really enjoy it Highly recommended!

Highlights include:
"Bright Ideas"
"Through With People"
"I Wanna Know Girls"
"Truckstop Cassettes"
everything else is slightly less than good (so still worthy of listens)

This has to be the best album they have released up to this point. I mean, it has a different sound, but it is still Slowride. I guess it grows off the last album, but leaves it in the dust. The tracks seem really well worked, they have gotten into thier own. Key tracks ahve to me Morals & Dogma, Rust Killer, It's Good To Be Back, and A NEw Day Is Upon Us. Get this if you like them or if oyu ahve never heard them.

Robert Pollard writes and records music the way most people breathe - as a matter of biology, not choice. Sometimes his breathing sounds more labored than others, wheezing through quickie albums of nominally-inspired indie rock, stretching his songwriting gifts too thin. His 2005 release schedule is littered with albums under various fantastical names (The Moping Swans, Circus Devils, etc.), plus a solo offering here and there.

But since Pollard's prolific ways have become shorthand for his varying output, many that once lauded him (and his late band Guided By Voices) have inched away from that hasty praise - especially the drooling indie press that canonized GBV in the first place (and yes, I am guilty of this too). Given Pollard's prolificacy, it's refreshing to see him pare down his output to EP-length, such as the February release of Zoom (2005, Fading Captain Series #31).

The new soundtrack to Steven Soderbergh's Ohio-based documentary Bubble is another solid EP, energetic from start to finish and crackling with an unusual professionalism. "It's a pop album," Pollard told [...] about Normal Happiness, the forthcoming album of songs that didn't make the Bubble cut. He could easily have said the same of Bubble, which despite (or maybe due to) its brevity, packs one hell of a punch.

Thin as it may be, Bubble finds Pollard paying a lot of attention to his guitar playing and the nuances of smoke-stained his voice. "All Men Are Freezing" is a satisfyingly prog-addled rocker, as galvanizing as anything on GBV's swan song, Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004, Matador). On "747 Ego," a song that appears in two slightly different mixes here, Pollard belts out soulful melodies over dark, chugging guitars a sludgy drum stomp. The acoustic guitar/drum instrumentals "Boxing About" and "Searchlight Pick-ups" sound like slowed-down versions of GBV's "Girls of Wild Strawberries," which isn't a bad thing. The vocal style of "I'm No Child" is ironic in its squirrelly, petulant meandering.

Like a lot of Pollard's recent output, there's nothing revelatory or innovative here (go back to the mid-to-late `90s GBV, or one of Pollard's weirder side projects for that). However, it only takes a few listens for the melodies to work their way into your brain and, like all the best pop songs, get stuck there against your will.
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