Throwback Thursday: Superchunk – Indoor Living

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Superchunk – Indoor Living – Merge Records – 1997

Well for my second week of Throwback Thursday I thought I would venture into the back catalog of one of my other favorite bands of all time, Superchunk. For all of you indie-rockers out there, if you have not ever delved into the Superchunk back catalogue you are missing out. Back 15 years ago these guys were writing totally brilliant rock albums that blow a lot of the indie dredge nowadays out of the water. They just never really sought after buzz and popularity so they have always flown a little under the radar. But anyone who hasn’t discovered Superchunk yet, start investigating and check them out, because their discography is a complete Blackbeard’s treasure chest full of diamonds and gold.

I decided to pick an album that isn’t really a “go to” Superchunk album (it is actually ranked last on Amazon’s sales ranks for them) but is still one of my favorites, and just has some amazing songs on it. I think the album before it (1995′s “Here’s Where the Strings Come In“) garnered a lot more attention, and actually had a pseudo single with “Hyper Enough”, so maybe that’s why people overlook this one. Anyway, despite not being regarded up there with “No Pocky for Kitty“, this is an incredible album. It also holds a special place in my heart as the first time I saw these guys play live was on this tour, and they fucking blew minds and melted faces that night, and I will always thank them for that. This album also has a great mix of chilled out Superchunk songs (“Under Our Feet”) with rock in your face kind of Superchunk songs (“Nu Bruises”). Anyway, it was REALLY hard to pick the songs to feature off this album because I love it so much, so if you like these, trust me the rest of the album is really great as well.

Superchunk – Unbelievable Things – From Indoor Living

Track one on the album gets it off to an awesome start, and this is one of the more unassuming but awesome Superchunk songs. It is one of those songs that is hard to describe, but it just has this great rhythm and sound, with some classic epic Superchunk moments in it, such as when they hit the chorus, or the part where they hit the “and I’m starting to believe…” refrain at the end. Superchunk’s music is chock full of those kind of great rock moments, which is why they were so awesome live, and this song has some great ones in here. Great song.

Superchunk – Watery Hands – From Indoor Living

Perhaps my favorite Superchunk song ever, this was the “single” from this album, and it is just such a beautiful song, and is ten times more awesome even than this live. Every time I have seen them play I am singing this song to myself for like a month after the show. It just has that great Superchunk sound to it, and such an awesome melody/song structure, it just fucking works perfectly on every level. While songs like “Slack Motherfucker” may be the reason why Superchunk melts faces, songs like this are why they transcend from just being a punk-rock band to true greatness.

So there you have it, another week, another classic album. I defy you to listen to these songs and not have at least some part or all of them stuck in your head. I really had a hard time picking which songs to put on here because this album is such greatness. Superchunk, you rule, go on tour, play shows, come back to the stage babies.