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Review
Superchunk's music never really translated over here in the UK. Over in the States, however, back in the early and mid-90s, they helped define a sound that countless bands, from Sleater-Kinney to The Get Up Kids, …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead to Modest Mouse, The Dismemberment Plan to Ted Leo, have continued to shape and perpetuate to this day.
Infusing – as per usual – squalling, buzzsaw guitars and Mac McCaughan’s high-pitched, emotionally-charged vocals with simple yet cerebral lyrics that turn commonplace existence into something sad yet (as the title suggests) splendid, Majesty Shredding – their ninth album – brings their sonic template fully into the 21st century. Songs like opener Digging for Something, the upbeat chug of Slow Drip and the beautifully jittery Learned to Surf remain true to the time and place they come from, yet burst with the fresh enthusiasm of a band just out of college, an infinite American summer spread out in front of them.
Although that jubilant, sunny feeling permeates all of these 11 songs, it’s coupled with a sense of jaded, measured hindsight – that, despite the open, blue North Carolina sky above them and the youthful energy it inspires, you can’t recapture the past. "Collecting the notes you slipped under the door," sings McCaughan on the sublime, hyper Crossed Wires, "I go blank when I try to remember what we were good for." The soaring, searching crescendo of Everything at Once is full of careless, reckless abandon and a burning desire to absorb everything that life, past, present and future, has to offer all at once ("Here’s a song about nothing and everything at once / All the minutes and months, the feedback and the drums").
And that’s exactly it. This album, in a way, is the sum of the band’s collected experiences so far – the joy and jubilation of youth, the excitement of young love remembered and re-felt years down the line. To coin a phrase from Built to Spill, Majesty Shredding is Superchunk watching the movies of their dreams and lives. Their music may not have caught on so well over here, but there’s still time. In fact, that’s all there is, and all there ever will be.
--Mischa PearlmanFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superchunk are back,
By
This review is from: Majesty Shredding (Audio CD)
Having ordered this from One Four Seven records prior to the release date, I couldn't wait for it to arrive. Listening to On The Mouth and Here's Where The Strings Come In over the last few weeks whet my appetite as well as reading various reviews giving the album 4 and 5 out of 5.Usually on a first listen with albums I'm a bit sceptical but after one listen to Majestic Shredding I was already bowled over by what a great album the guys have yet again produced. Maintaining some raw energy from early in their career, there is certainly a 'gone back to roots' feeling to many of these songs. As you would expect from Superchunk, each song is raw and bass heavy with plenty of layering and emotive vocals. Standouts for me include My Gap Feels Weird, Crossed Wires, Winter Games and Everything At Once. Lets hope it isn't another 9 years before another LP is released!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rocking Majesty,
By Steebo (Northampton,UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Majesty Shredding (Audio CD)
I brought this album after reading a 5 star review in The Independent and it is brilliant!I know it`s a cliche to say that songs can hook into your brain,but these songs really do, after a couple of listens you just can`t help but sing along and jig about like a teenager ( great if you ARE a teenager even better if your a cynical old so and so like me )...highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Superchunk - A classic of frenzied intensity and pop swagger,
By
This review is from: Majesty Shredding (Audio CD)
Some where in a music quiz it would be wonderful to throw in a killer question on which band have left the longest gap between albums throughout their career? The Blue Nile are notoriously slow recorders of albums with gaps of five years and more; the recent Swans album with the title of the year - "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky" came thirteen years after their last release and now we have Superchunk with a mere nano second in comparison amounting to nine years since their last album 2001's "Here's To Shutting Up". Was it worth the wait, too bloody right it was for "Majesty shredding" is a power pop/rock diamond packed with great songs and huge choruses but infused with the punk ethic aptly summarised in their greatest in your face classic "Slack Motherf**ker" (they don't do titles like that any more!). Indeed "Majesty Shredding" sees the band turning back the clock to their early albums such as "Here's Where The Strings Come In" but at the same time sounding totally vital and contemporary.The songs on this album are relentless in their hook driven brilliance and it is the type of music that you need to play at Spinal Tap 11 to fully appreciate. Take for example the hugely propulsive "Digging for Something" which should be number 1 in seven continents. It starts with huge chords and a underpinning melody that calls down the ghosts of the Beach Boys and Husker Du in equal measure. Its one of those songs that requires 10,000 sweaty teenagers going mad in a field in middle England and giving the bouncers at the front of the stage all kinds of health and safety challenges. Likewise "Crossed Wires" is anthem laden crunchy pop of the highest order while "Learned to Surf" previously appeared on the "Leaves In The Gutter" E.P and sounds even more wonderful her with crisper production and enough feistiness and charm to have the bands name tattooed on your anatomy. The slightly heavier "Fractures in plaster" comes over like a metal version of a Teenage Fanclub song and I can think of no higher recommendation, while "Winter Games" start with drums that threaten your houses foundations and pile drives to a glorious conclusion. Finally "My gap feels weird" is like an Elliot Smith song on speed and one of this albums great highlights. By the time the album finishes with "Everything at once" all you can do is send singer and guitarist Mac McCaughan a heartfelt vote of thanks and ask him to pass your highest regards on to his chums in this great band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. If the world in 2010 played fair Superchunk would be plastered over bedroom walls and have songs covered by strange Brazilians on the X Factor. Alas you suspect its not to be. It should not however deter you from purchasing this great album of frenzied intensity and pop swagger which proves that while nine years may have past they were far from wasted.
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