Their first full-on studio recording brims with confidence and verve. It's a rollicking, tuneful guitar-rock record made for driving fast with the windows down. Stripped down to the guitar-bass-drums essentials (with occasional violins and keyboards), these songs soar and harken back to a time when records had two sides, good songs were on the radio, and the word "album" meant something. More Badfinger than Buzzcocks, Bright Ideas captures the more rocking side of Portastatic that has emerged in live   [ read more ]

CD $14.99

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Receive a FREE bonus disc when you purchase this album!Their second release of 2006 and ninth full-length sounds as fresh as ever. Analytically angry, melding darker imagery with indignation, Mac McCaughan also musters the wherewithal to remain hopeful. "Be Still Please" continues the full-on rock band sound of 2005's "Bright Ideas" but with more of an emphasis on the orchestration featured in his soundtrack work, "Who Loves The Sun".<   [ read more ]

CD $13.99

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The solo project of Mac McCaughan, known for his work in Superchunk and as co-owner of Merge Records. The latest in a long series of seminal recordings from one of indie rock's most distinguished and prolific songwriters, and the first proper Portastatic full-length since 1997's "The Nature of Sap". Far from lo-fi, it's a fully realized musical statement. Guests include Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi), Tony Crow (Lambchop), Margaret White (Sparklehorse, North Elementary), Matthew McCaughan, Aaron Oliva,   [ read more ]

CD $13.99

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Five songs by Brazilian singers & songwriters of the late-60's / early 70's Tropicalia and Música Popular Brasileira movements of that large South American nation visited in the late 90's by Mac's other band Superchunk. Artists interpreted include Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Joyce and Caetano Veloso.

MP3 $5.25

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?As a side project of Superchunk's Mac McCaughan, Portastatic provides an outlet for ideas that would sound out of place on a Superchunk album, and others that would fit right in. Playing by himself for the most part -- with some help from local musicians -- and recorded on a four track, the project has a modest low-fi feel. Quieter and gentler than his regular gig, Mac experiments with analog synths, lap steel, and other instruments, while creating songs with a soft, somber quality about them. While tracks   [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

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?Mac McCaughan became an indie rock hero while fronting Superchunk and by founding and managing the successful Merge Records -- Portastatic was the outlet for his solo recordings and songs that didn't quite fit his day job band. The side project began in 1992 when Tom Sharpling of 18 Wheeler Records asked McCaughan to release some of his lo-fi four-track recordings; he obliged with the singles 'Sandals with White Socks' and 'Starter.' Then in 1994 McCaughan released an entire Portastatic album, I Hope Your    [ read more ]

MP3 $4.20

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This record was culled from the "Summer Of The Shark" sessions and includes three covers (Badfinger's "Baby Blue", Springsteen's "Growin' Up", and Ronnie Lane?s "One For The Road"), a full band version of "In The Lines" from "Summer Of The Shark", and old and new Portastatic material recorded at various live, on-air radio sessions during their spring tour.

CD $10.99

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Looking For Leonard is the fourth full-length release from Portastatic, the side-project that has blossomed into a second full time musical endeavor from Mac McCaughan of Superchunk/Merge Records. Over the years Portastatic has evolved from a lo-fi home recording outlet for McCaughan's less 'rock' composition to a fully realized muscial entity, one that is constantly evolving. After taking a foray into classic Brasilian pop for 2000's De Mel De Malaeo EP, McCaughan expands his musical vocabulary furt   [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

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The solo project of Mac McCaughan, known for his work in Superchunk and as co-owner of Merge Records. The latest in a long series of seminal recordings from one of indie rock's most distinguished and prolific songwriters, and the first proper Portastatic full-length since 1997's 'The Nature of Sap'. Far from lo-fi, it's a fully realized musical statement. Guests include Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi), Tony Crow (Lambchop), Margaret White (Sparklehorse, North Elementary), Matthew McCaughan, Aaron Oliva,   [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

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?Following in the tradition of his peers, Mac McCaughan devoted his 1997 Portastatic album to mild progressive-rock, experimenting with keyboards, pianos and even clarinets. McCaughan doesn't veer away from punk-pop song structure, but he expands it with his increased instrumental palette, creating an album that is intriguing but difficult to meet halfway?. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

MP3 $10.49

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This marks Mac McCaughan's second foray (following 2001's 'Looking For Leonard') into soundtrack work in the guise of his musical alter ego, Portastatic. Inspired by film music from composers such as Henry Mancini, Ry Cooder, Francis Lai, and Piero Umiliani, Portastatic's score is a beautiful musical interpretation of the themes of the people we love and how much we hate them, sex, and the ensuing tensions that can arise within the confines of friendship and the extended family. In addition to Mac's traditi   [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

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Their second release of 2006 and ninth full-length sounds as fresh as ever. Analytically angry, melding darker imagery with indignation, Mac McCaughan also musters the wherewithal to remain hopeful. 'Be Still Please' continues the full-on rock band sound of 2005's 'Bright Ideas' but with more of an emphasis on the orchestration featured in his soundtrack work, 'Who Loves The Sun'.

MP3 $9.45

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