Posts Tagged ‘ Portastatic ’

Mac McCaughan: May 16, 2015 Baby’s All Right – Flac/MP3/Streaming

June 23, 2015
By

Mac2
[photo by Chris Quartly – courtesy of Free Williamsburg]

Mac McCaughan has pretty much done it all in the world of music. He’s the co-owner of Merge Records, one of the foremost independent labels operating today. He’s fronts Superchunk, one of indie rock’s most beloved and prolific bands of the last twenty-five years. But Mac has never released a solo record in his own name. His side project Portastatic has released a handful of albums over the years, but the 2015’s Non-Believers is a Mac McCaughan record. Back in April, we posted Mac’s solo show from the Bull City Record Store Day concert that featured a couple of songs from the new album. And in a nice bookend, in May at Baby’s All Right we captured this show which featured a full band (openers Flesh Wounds as Mac’s backing band) performing four Non-Believers tracks among Superchuck classics, selected Portastatic tracks and two neat covers. Mid-set Mac played a mini solo show before the band returned to close out the night ripping through some classics and three well-deserved encores.

Mac will be playing a few select dates during the Summer before we catch him again at Hopscotch Fest in September. Yesterday, Mac announced some new dates for the West Coast in September after Hopscotch, all dates here.

This set was recorded by Baby’s FOH Harrison. We mixed Harrison’s excellent board mix with the room mics and the result is a superb recording. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Only Do”:

Stream “Teenage Kicks” (Undertones cover):

Mac McCaughan
2015-05-16
Babys All Right
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Soundboard + Audience
Multitrack Recording

Multitrack Soundboard (engineer Harrison) > Harrison mix Wav files + Room mic wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:14:39]
01 [introduction]
02 Josephine
03 Lost Again
04 Only Do
05 White Wave
06 Angels of Sleep
07 Come Upstairs
08 [banter]
09 Driveway to Driveway
10 Breaking Down
11 Me and You and Jackie Mittoo
12 The Popular Music
13 Home at Dawn
14 Learned to Surf
15 Detroit Has a Skyline
16 Naked Pilseners
17 Drill Me
18 Box Batteries
19 Noisy Night
20 [encore break]
21 Teenage Kicks [Undertones]
22 San Andreas
23 Pull Down the Shades [Toy Love]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, PLEASE SUPPORT Mac McCaughan by visiting Merge Records and buying Non-Believers and his other releases there.

Mac McCaughan: April 18, 2015 Chaz’s Bull City Records (Durham, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

May 8, 2015
By
photo by PJ Sykes

photo by PJ Sykes courtesy of Merge Records

What you first notice when you hear Mac McCaughan play Superchunk and other material of his solo is how it puts the band’s most vital characteristic front and center: lyrics. It’s not that you wouldn’t like to also hear the surge and kick of a backbeat to go with that plaintive voice that still sounds like a 22-year old; it’s just that, without as much racket, you finally get a chance to hear and feel what Mac (and by extension, his band) had to say. What you find are keenly-observed images — data piling up like magazines,  alligator clips on glasses, dancing on a propane tank, somewhere deep in the country — that curdle a certain kind of nostalgia, for places you may or may not have been, people you probably don’t know. People say that Superchunk, as a band, has gotten older with grace, and a listen to Mac’s words, and his style, proves that out. He wears his older words well, even as they sidle up to the new.

Mac (not to mention his co-owned label Merge) was a huge part of the success of this Record Store Day show at Chaz’s Bull City Records in Durham, NC. Serving as the leadoff for the three Merge bands on the bill, Mac drew in an instant crowd, many of them no-doubt hungry to hear tunes from his brand-new Merge release, Non-Believers. Indeed, we got three songs’ worth here, plus a mix of old and new Superchunk. But one of my biggest favorites was the lone Portastatic number, “Drill Me”, from the newly-reissued 2003 LP, The Summer of the Shark, a song that takes aim at existential doubt with some of Mac’s best lyrics yet. Just before tearing into “Digging For Something” to close out his set, Mac exhorted us to all to support our local record stores every day of the year. Over his own career, Mac has given us plenty of excuses to do so.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from NC engineer John Koelle, plus Schoeps MK4V cardiod microphones at the stage lip. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of the complete set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the entire set:

Mac McCaughan
2015-04-18
Chaz’s Bull City Records
Durham, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: John Koelle) + Schoeps MK4V (stage lip)>KC5>CMC6>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 31:04]
01 Lost Again
02 Hello Hawk [Superchunk]
03 Overflows [Superchunk]
04 Only Do
05 Box Batteries
06 Home at Dawn [Superchunk]
07 Drill Me [Portastatic]
08 Detroit Has A Skyline [Superchunk]
09 Digging For Something

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Mac McCaughan by visiting Merge Records and buying Non-Believers and his other releases there.

Mac McCaughan: October 18, 2012 Merge Records CMJ Showcase, Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

November 5, 2012
By


[Photo by Jill Harrison of For the Love of Brooklyn]

Merge Records co-founder and Superchunk and Portastatic frontman Mac McCaughan has more than earned his beloved status in the indie rock community. His contributions to the Chapel Hill and Durham, NC music scenes, and music in general, could have taken two lifetimes, and his confessional, direct songwriting continues to resonate and remain fresh more than two decades into his music career. As for Merge, the label has been one of those remarkable and rare successes in music, remaining staunchly independent and committed to promoting quality releases – and finally earning a Grammy for its current mega-artist, Arcade Fire. So, after we wrapped up our own CMJ showcase down the street at Cake Shop, the NYCTaper crew headed over to Mercury Lounge where McCaughan joined William Tyler, Mount Moriah, Reigning Sound, Eleanor Friedberger and Telekinesis for Merge’s CMJ Showcase.

McCaughan performed as a solo act, an uncommon treat to see in the New York area. As usual, this set combined new and old Superchunk songs with Portastatic classics like “Autumn Got Dark.”  The set also included a brand new number that McCaughan said should appear on a Superchunk release next year, which we are streaming below. Though the singer-songwriter format lacked some of the punch of a normal Superchunk gig, it gave McCaughan’s lyrics and voice the spotlight. McCaughan’s exuberant, earnest delivery still comes across like that of a brash, young artist, and the themes of his writing continue to prove their timelessness. On a night that in many ways celebrated McCaughan’s success, this set was another one.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed provided by house engineer Kevin Mazzarelli, with Schoeps MK5 microphones providing just a bit of room ambiance. The quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Autumn Got Dark”

Stream “[untitled new Superchunk song]”

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct download of FLAC files [HERE]

If the FLAC link is no longer working, email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Mac McCaughan
2012-10-18
Merge Records CMJ Showcase
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Soundboard (engineer: Kevin Mazzarelli) + Schoeps MK5 (cardiod, ROC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity 3.0 (mixdown, set fades, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Trash Heap
03 Good Dreams
04 Rope Light
05 Through With People
06 Autumn Got Dark
07 Home At Dawn
08 Driveway to Driveway
09 [banter]
10 A Small Definition
11 [new song 1]
12 Digging For Something
13 [banter]
14 I Wanna Know Girls
15 [banter]
16 San Andreas

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Mac McCaughan and Merge Records by visiting the Merge website and buying the many fine releases available there, including Superchunk and Portastatic’s albums.

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