Portastatic

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Mac McCaughan genre bending Portastatic project originally began in the early 1990's as an aside from his work as the creative dynamo of the boisterous US indie rockers Superchunk. Legend has it that Tom Scharpling of 18 Wheeler fanzine was so impressed by the material McCaughan was creating as an escape route from Superchunk that he cajoled him into releasing it under the fanzines own imprint.

So came 1993s "Starter" 7", a record which could not possibly indicate that well over a decade later McCaughan would have recorded more than a dozen lo-fi, soundtrack and Brazilian flaovoured gems under the Portastatic moniker.

Things looked bright for Portastatic with the critically well received 2005 album "Bright Ideas" (as with the majority of his releases on Merge Records). In 2006, there were two more records from McCaughan. The first, a sparse, delicate and beautifully orchestarted soundtrack to the film Who Loves the Sun? and the second, the pitchforkmedia.com favorite Be Still Please.