Superchunk. Not just a type of peanut butter.
Also an amazing band.
Superchunk (the band) has a new album, What A Time To Be Alive, coming out on February 16th. A couple of tracks have already been posted, and they flat out rock. Superchunk started in 1989 as punk kids… they’re no longer kids, but they’re still punk. Here’s what lead singer/guitarist Mac McCaughan said about the new release:
“The album is about a lot of things of course, but mainly dealing with anxiety and worse in the face in incipient authoritarianism. It would be strange to be in a band, at least our band, and make a record that completely ignored the surrounding circumstances that we live in and that our kids are going to grow up in.”
That anxiety (and anger) come across loud and clear on the title tune:
Here’s another Mac quote from an Onion A/V Club interview with him and bassist Laura Ballance:
I’m really wary of calling this record “political” because it implies that you are offering some solutions or that you’re writing a white paper, like, “Here’s what we should do about this.” Where it’s really more about how do you be a person in the world when all this is going on and still have a life, and I think a lot of people are learning that.
This song features Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt:
I can’t wait for the entire album to come out. You can pre-order it here. If you’d rather have the peanut butter, try Aisle 2.
Good to hear they have new music coming out. I’ve been a fan since I played ‘The First Part’ on 97X eons ago…
I distinctly remember the first time I played one of their songs on 97X. “Cast Iron” from No Pocky for Kitty on a Gridloxx show on a Sunday night. Have loved them ever since.