Superchunk album news

From Merge Records:

Superchunk's "Crossed Wires" b/w "Blinders (Fast Vers.)" was produced by Scott Solter (John Vanderslice, The Mountain Goats) at Overdub Lane in Durham, NC, and will be available in a limited edition of 1,000 copies on clear vinyl. “Crossed Wires” comes in a beautiful picture sleeve featuring artwork by New York artist, Will Yackulic, and comes with a digital download code that gets you both songs plus a demo version of “Crossed Wires.”

Merge to release Wwax compilation

Mac McCaughan's pre-Superchunk band (which also featured Brian Walsby on drums and Wayne Taylor on bass) has become a bit legendary in its own right. In honor of the label's 20th anniversary, they're going to release a compilation of their works. Here's the info from the press release: As part of our 20th Anniversary year, we are clearing out the Merge vault! Like It Or Not is a compilation of casettes and 7" releases from Mac McCaughan's pre-Superchunk band, Wwax. Like it Or Not is available exclusively as a digital download in the Merge Store. Stay tuned for more Merge classics re-issued digitally as 2009 continues! Mac's description: This is a collection of all the studio recordings that Wwax made, all done at Duck Kee Studios on Bickett Blvd in Raleigh in 1987 and 1988. Tracks 1 & 2 were released by our friend Steve Skrzyniarz on his label Leopard Gecko out in Tacoma. The next seven tracks came out on Merge in a double 7" format. The Songs "All Begins Again," "Just Like" and "Misinvite" were originally released as part of the 7" box set Evil I Do Not To Nod I Live, a collection that also included records by Egg, Slushpuppies, Black Girls, and Angels of Epistemology. The last two tracks were on a Wwax cassette that was Merge's second release ever. They include a Saccharine Trust cover we did live, plus the demo of the song "Seven" that we recorded at my house and that I always preferred to the better-sounding studio version. We took turns singing the songs in Wwax, but they all bear the mark of Wayne's idiosyncratic sense of timing and Brian Walsby's uncanny ability to keep up with him. The sound is also shaped by the fiberglass Ovation Breadwinner guitar that I borrowed from Wayne and played exclusively through his tiny gray spray-painted Peavey Champ, which achieved a brittleness I've not been able to capture since! This is the first digital release of Wwax songs other than a couple stray tracks here and there, and it's strange to hear recordings that are certainly artifacts of a certain era that's not hardcore but not really something else specific either...which is how they sounded then, too. Tracklisting: 1. Pumpkin 2. Inn Town 3. Seven 4. Like It Or Not 5. Straw Man 6. Corduoroy 7. Grows On Trees 8. Price of Gas 9. Counting Thoughts 10. Beachworld 11. All Begins Again 12. Just Like 13. Misinvite 14. I Am Right (live) 15. Seven (demo) Wwax was: Wayne Taylor - Bass / Vocals Brian Walsby - Drums / Vocals Mac McCaughan - Guitar / Vocals

A new (old) Superchunk release

Just got this from Merge:

On January 13, 2009, Superchunk will release the fourth volume in their Clambakes series: Superchunk -- The Clambakes Vol 4 -- Sur La Bouche -- Live in Montreal 1993.

Recorded on a cold March night at the club Backstreet by Howard Bilerman (later of the Arcade Fire and current engineer and operator of Hotel 2 Tango Studios in Montreal), Sur La Bouche captures Superchunk in the midst of touring for On the Mouth, out on Matador a few months previous. The sound is not pristine -- guitars and drums are cranked and overload the tape occasionally -- but the energy of the night is definitely captured and after all, it's a bootleg! Howard even dug up the flyer from the show from the depths of his archives.

Available for digital download exclusively from the Merge digital store, Clambakes Vol 4 will also be sent for free to all subscribers to the SCORE! Merge 20th Anniversary Box Set as the first of many archival downloads Merge will make available to SCORE! subscribers throughout 2009.

Superchunk -- The Clambakes Vol 4 -- Sur La Bouche -- Live in Montreal 1993 will be exclusively available as a digital download in the Merge store on January 13, 2009.

Since I didn't make it out to the Arcade Fire/Superchunk show ...

You should check out the photos on Triangle Music.

Mac McCaughan testifies before Senate committee

Read what the Superchunk leader/Merge Records founder had to say on the subject of "The Future of Radio" last week before the Senate Commerce Committee.