ARTS

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - 13


PORTASTATIC,
THE SUMMER OF THE SHARK,
MERGE RECORDS
It's heen six years since
Superchunk's Mac McCaughan
released a "real" Portastatic LP. In
that time, he has used his solo project
to experiment, collahorating with
Boh Pollard, Chicago avantjazz
musicians Ken Vandermark and Tim
Mulvena and releasing an EP of
Brazilian covers. While all these
endeavors have produced wonderful
music, McCaughan is at his hest

when he is using his uncanny ahility
to write catchy up-tempo pop-rock
songs. Fortunately for die-hard Mac
fans, The Summer of the Shark finds
him doing just that.
Summer ambles pleasantly on
songs like "Noisy Night" and "In The
Lines," (the first Sept. 11 song I've
heard that actually chills me) and is
punctuated with spastic interludes
like "Drill Me" and sing-along gems
like "Clay Cakes" that sound like
outtakes from 1994's I Hope Your
Heart is Not Brittle, only hetter

recorded.
McCaughan's familiar falsetto is
all over Summer, hut also present is a
new McCaughan voice - a deep
haritone that seems especially
wrought with emotion hecause it's so
new and ohviously different than
anything McCaughan's released
hefore. But as exciting as his new
forays may he, McCaughan's
Summer works hecause he returned
to his ;iginal Portastatic formula.
Bring the pop. ****
-John Honkala

E. TOWN CONCRETE,
THE RENAISSANCE;
RAZOR & TIE RECORDS
tmagine rap-metal had neverhbecome
an overhlown trend (a nice thought
indeed). Were that the case, The
Renaissance might he considered a
groundhreaking blend of two vital gen-
res of music. Instead, it's simply good.
Anthony Martini's raps and screams
hleed genuine emotion as he vividly
descrihes former poverty and hardship.
Thankfully though, he never resorts to
self-pity; in fact, the alhum exudes a

strong sense of optimism and self-con-
fidence. The hand supplies hrutal, tex-
tared hard rock t hblows away the
hland nu-metal stylings of Linkin Park
and Limp Bizkit. The rhythms are tight,
and the riffs are crisp.
You're prohably sick of rap-metal,
and justifiably so; hut if hearing
Anthrax and Puhlic Enemy's classic
"Bring the Noise" collaboration makes
you wonder what could have heen, E.
Town Concrete provide a promising
answer. ***I
- James Pfent


$29 ~9 $ 299 First mo. payment
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