Portastatic

Portastatic is an American indie rock band founded in the early 1990s by Mac McCaughan. Portastatic began as a solo project for McCaughan, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Superchunk. Since then it has evolved into a full-fledged band, which sometimes includes Superchunk guitarist Jim Wilbur and McCaughan's brother Matthew.

Tom Scharpling of 18 Wheeler fanzine (and later a popular DJ on WFMU) was so impressed by McCaughan's solo material that he cajoled him into releasing it under the fanzine's own imprint; so came 1993's "Starter" 7". Since then, under the Portastatic moniker, McCaughan has recorded several records drawing on a number of genres, including traditional indie rock, lo-fi, soundtrack and Brazilian music.

The name "Portastatic" is derived from the TASCAM Portastudio home recording device.^[1] Due to the quality of the recordings, Mac McCaughan added "static" to "porta" to form "Portastatic."

Discography

Official Albums

1994 - I Hope Your Heart Is Not Brittle (CD/LP) [Merge]
1995 - Slow Note From a Sinking Ship (CD/LP) [Merge]
1997 - The Nature of Sap (CD/LP) [Merge]
2003 - Summer of the Shark (CD) [Merge]
2005 - Bright Ideas (CD) [Merge]
2006 - Be Still Please (CD) [Merge]

Compilation Albums

2008 - Some Small History (CD) [Merge]

Demo Albums

2005 - Ideas for Bright Ideas (CD) [The Portastatic Label]
2006 - Some Small Things You Can't Defend (CD) [The Portastatic Label]

Soundtracks

2001 - Looking For Leonard (CD) [Merge]
2006 - Who Loves the Sun (CD) [Merge]

Singles and EP'S

1993 - Starter (7") [18 Wheeler]
1994 - Naked Pilseners (7"/CD EP) [Matador]
1994 - Hello CD of the Month (CD EP) [Hello]
1994 - San Andreas Couch (7") [Ester]
1995 - Scrapbook X's (7") [18 Wheeler]
1995 - Scrapbook EP (Double 7"/CD EP) [Merge]
1996 - Spying on the Spys (7") [Merge]
1997 - Trash Heap - Split 7" w/ Ida (Split 7") [Trash Heap]
1997 - Portastatic/The Landing Split 7" (Split 7") [Sarang Bang]: "Secret Session"/"And Forward Again"
1997 - Portastatic/The Ladybug Transistor/Land of the Loops Split 7" (Split 7") [After Hours]: "You Love To Fail"
2000 - De Mel, De Melão (CD EP) [Merge]
2001 - The Perfect Little Door (Featuring Ken Vandermark)(CD EP) [Merge]
2003 - Autumn Was a Lark (CD EP) [Merge]
2005 - Looking For A Power Supply (CD EP) [Houston Party]
2005 - I Wanna Know Girls (Digital EP) [iTunes/Merge]
2006 - Sour Shores (Digital EP) [Merge]
2009 - Make It Sound In Tune (Digital EP) [Merge]

Compilation Appearances

1994 - Ow!, Quit It! Volume 2 (7") [Volvolo]
1994 - A Day in the Park (CD/LP) [The Now Sound]
1994 - Rows of Teeth (CD) [Merge]
1995 - Speed Kills No. 7 (10") [Speed Kills]
1996 - Extra Walt! (Double 7") [Walt]
1998 - Blatant Doom Trip (CD) [Simple Solution]
1998 - The Garden Place: Songs by Our Friends (CD) [Yep Rock]
1998 - Chunklet No. 14 (CD) [Chunklet]
1999 - Oh, Merge (CD) [Merge]
2000 - Come on Beautiful - The Songs of American Music Club (CD) [Big Night]
2001 - Snowstorm - A Tribute To Galaxie 500 (CD) [Elefant]
2002 - Survive and Advance Vol. 1 (CD) [Merge]
2002 - Survive and Advance Vol. 2 (CD) [Merge]
2003 - Survive and Advance Vol. 3 (CD) [Merge]
2003 - Compulation Vol. 1: Songs From North Carolina (CD) [Pox World Empire]
2004 - Old Enough 2 Know Better - 15 Years of Merge Records (CD) [Merge]
2006 - Songs for Sixty Five Roses (CD) [Songs for Sixty Five Roses]
2008 - Love Goes On - a Tribute to Grant McLennan (CD) [Rare Victory]
2009 - TOM: A Best Show on WFMU Tribute to RAM (CD) [WFMU]
2009 - Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox (CD) [Merge]

References