Album: Majesty Shredding
Year: 2010
Superchunk put out just a single album after the turn of the century, 2001’s (un?)ironically-titled Here’s To Shutting Up before taking an extended break that felt for all the world like they were breaking up, even if they released live albums and compilations throughout much of the 2000s.
And it wasn’t like the band members totally faded into the woodwork, either. Mac McCaughan continued to release his solo albums under the Portastatic moniker and drummer Jon Wurster not only became a radio star from his work on The Best Show on WFMU — just as I only know him from his drumming (sorry gang, I don’t have unlimited time for everything I would love), other folks probably only know him from The Best Show — he also became the full-time drummer for both The Mountain Goats and the Bob Mould band and a shitton of other great great artists.
Oh, and Merge Records — the label that Mac and Laura Ballance started back in 1989 as a way to release their and their friends music — also signed some of the biggest acts of the decade, folks like Spoon, She & Him, and of course The Arcade Fire, who hit both #1 and won a Grammy with 2010’s The Suburbs, which I rated as the third-best album of 2010.
The album that I rated as the best album of 2010? The first Superchunk album in nearly a decade, Majesty Shredding. Trust me, no one was more surprised that I was about that: while I liked all of their previous records, Majesty Shredding was just one winner after another, starting with the opening track, “Digging For Something.”
Opening with a bunch of chunky power chords, squealing guitar leads and blocky drumbeats, “Digging For Something” announced they were back from the very start, as Mac starts taking a look back at wayward youth.
I hear there’s a classic mess out on Old 86
A ride out there could be the thing to get us fixed
I left a shadow there last month stuck in the ground
Could still be around
On the verses, it’s all near chaos — controlled chaos, to be sure, but on the verge, especially Wurster’s drums on the opening line — which makes it just that more thrilling when they all lock together on them pre-chorus.
And we laughed when the paddle boat sank
We were dancing on the propane tank
Everybody in the half-light out on the lawn
They were kicking up dust ’til they were gone
All of this leads to an instantly catchy chorus, with Mac, Laura Ballance and Jim Wilbur helped out by John Darinelle of the Mountain Goats.
Oh, oh, oh
They were digging for something
Oh, oh, oh
They were digging for something
Oh, oh, oh
They were digging for something
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
They were digging for something
I had no idea how much I missed this stuff. All of the melody and all of the guitars and all of the forward momentum, coming to a head on the bridge, as Mac joyously yells.
It’s just getting dark and you’re waking up
Waking up, waking up
It’s just getting dark and you’re waking up
Waking up, waking up
His broken-voiced yelp on the second “waking up, waking uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-oohhhhhhh-oh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhh-oh-oh-ohhhhhhhhhhh” is a thing of wonder, and shifts “Digging For Something” into yet another gear, and after that it’s all chorus and a great Mac guitar solo, and — why the fuck not — even a horn section rising out of the noise. Just fucking fantastic on every level.
“Digging For Something” Official Music Video
“Digging For Something” Live on Sound Opinions 2012
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