Random Rules: Mac McCaughan

By Kyle Ryan | December 26, 2006 | 11:11pm

Music Features Film

The shuffler: Mac McCaughan, guitarist-vocalist of legendary indie band Superchunk, co-founder of Merge Records, and the force behind Portastatic, a side project that's become his main gig. McCaughan is currently on the road behind Portastatic's latest, Be Still Please.

Reigning Sound, "So Easy"

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Mac McCaughan: I never really was a big Oblivians fan, but I had never heard that much, either. Maybe I would like it if I heard it now. Jeff Baron of The Essex Green, one time, we were talking about what they'd been listening to in the van, and he was like, "You gotta get this album by Reigning Sound." So I went and got it—I think it was Time Bomb High School—and since then, I've just gotten everything of theirs. It's really great. I think the singer is married to an ex-girlfriend of mine. She hasn't called me in five years or something like that, so I can't confirm that.

Bruce Springsteen, "Cover Me"

MM: From Born In The U.S.A. Perhaps my least favorite song on that record. I was a huge Bruce fan before that record, and then that record kind of turned me off. Both the production and the fans—everyone who became fans at that moment. I completely regret not going to see him on that tour, but I wasn't that into the vibe when that record came out. I liked individual songs. I was in high school working in the meal hall at a university, and all the guys that were going to see that concert in Greensboro were guys that I would not want to be at a concert with. Now I really wish I would have gone. I love the album now, and I can get past the production and just listen to the songs.

The A.V. Club: Do you think it's overproduced?

MM: Some people would say all his records are overproduced. But there's something about the quality of this record—you listen to it, and you just hear the '80s happening. But with a record like Tunnel Of Love, it's produced, and there are a lot of people on it and stuff like that, but for whatever reason, it doesn't sound dated. But I think this is just the advent of all these technologies, and they were intent upon using them on this record. And who am I to argue? This record sold like 10 bajillion copies, and was the hugest thing ever. I'm clearly the one who is not in touch with the taste of America.

Jenny Lewis, "Melt Your Heart"

MM: She writes some really good songs. I don't think it's straight country; it's definitely got a pop thing going on. I think it's cool that it's got that flavor, but it's not a genre record. It's not like, "Oh, I'm going to make a country record now. That'd be cute." The songs are really good, and I think that the people who played on it, like Matt Ward and some other people, they give into the flavor a little bit of blues music. It sounds to me pretty natural; she wrote some songs, and this is how they ended up sounding, as opposed to making a country record.

The Fiery Furnaces, "Bitter Tea"

MM: [Bitter Tea] is a really cool record—it's pretty crazy, like all their records. I really like everything that they've done. It took me a while to get into the first record, but once I was into it, I was hooked. The record they made with their grandma [Rehearsing My Choir] is great. People are like, "It's so controversial," and I'm like, "What's controversial about it?" It's different, but it's really cool. It's very arty and real. It's not like people saying, "We're going to do something weird." It's like, this is the record they made, and their grandmother is singing on it, and I really like it.

Andrew Hill, "The Message"

MM: This is from a record called Spiral. It's funny; I didn't know I actually had this on CD. I love Andrew Hill. He's one of my favorite piano players… He just writes really cool songs. I love Thelonious Monk, and this may sound sacrilegious, but at a certain point, you kind of feel like you've heard all the Monk songs. He didn't make that many records, and the songs are so catchy, it's almost like you can't get them out your brain. To me, it's like Andrew Hill has idiosyncratically lumped it, but in a more expansive way. It kind of spreads out further. I think Point Of Departure is the classic one everyone talks about, but he made a lot of records in the '70s that are really cool and interesting.

Neko Case, "Favorite"

MM: Her new record is amazing. It's really fantastic. I wish I could make a record that sounds like this. It's so spacious—there is so much space. I can never bring myself to do that; I always keep adding stuff. It's like this compulsion. The problem is, my wife pointed out, she has that voice. You don't need anything else going on—that becomes the focus. And I certainly don't have that voice.