Portastatic

Portastatic is an American indie rock band founded in the early 1990s as a solo project of Mac McCaughan, singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Superchunk. The project has since expanded into a full band, sometimes including Superchunk guitarist Jim Wilbur and McCaughan's brother Matthew. Tom Scharpling of the 18 Wheeler fanzine released McCaughan's solo material under the fanzine's own imprint in 1993, the "Starter" 7". Since then, McCaughan has recorded several records as Portastatic, covering genres including indie rock, lo-fi, soundtrack and Brazilian music. The name "Portastatic" is derived from the TASCAM Portastudio home recording device. 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] 2008 - Some Small History (CD) [Merge] 2005 - Ideas for Bright Ideas (CD) [The Portastatic Label] 2006 - Some Small Things You Can't Defend (CD) [The Portastatic Label] 2001 - Looking for Leonard (CD) [Merge] 2006 - Who Loves the Sun (CD) [Merge] 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] Bush, John. "Portastatic | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved June 1, 2020. Parker, Chris (September 10, 2008). "Mac McCaughan: Through with Portastatic?". Indy Week.