Portastatic is an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band founded in the early 1990s as a solo project of

Mac McCaughan Ralph Lee "Mac" McCaughan (; born July 12, 1967) is an American musician and record label owner, based in North Carolina. His main musical projects have been Superchunk since 1989 and Portastatic since the early 1990s. In 1989 he founded the ind ...

, singer and guitarist of the indie rock band

Superchunk Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the ...

. The project has since expanded into a full band, sometimes including Superchunk guitarist Jim Wilbur and McCaughan's brother Matthew.

Tom Scharpling Thomas John Giuliano II (born February 9, 1969), known professionally as Tom Scharpling, is an American comedian, television writer, producer, music video director, voice actor, and radio host. He is best known for hosting the weekly Internet r ...

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 The TASCAM Portastudio was the first four-track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape. The term ''portastudio'' is exclusive to TASCAM, though it is generally used to describe all self-contained cassette-based multitrack rec ...

home recording device.

Discography

Official albums

*1994 -

I Hope Your Heart Is Not Brittle ''I Hope Your Heart Is Not Brittle'' is Portastatic's first studio album. It was released on Merge Records in 1993. It was also released in Japan with additional bonus tracks. These tracks are "Mute 1" which is the same as the Untitled hidden tr ...

(CD/LP) erge*1995 - Slow Note From a Sinking Ship (CD/LP) erge*1997 -

The Nature of Sap ''The Nature of Sap'' is Portastatic's third studio album. It was released on Merge Records on March 11, 1997. Production The album was recorded at Duck Kee Studios in Mebane, North Carolina, during the summer of 1996, except tracks 4, 7-9, and 1 ...

(CD/LP) erge*2003 -

Summer of the Shark The Summer of the Shark refers to the coverage of shark attacks by American news media in the summer of 2001. The sensationalist coverage of shark attacks began in early July following the Fourth of July weekend shark attack on 8-year-old Jessie A ...

(CD) erge*2005 -

Bright Ideas ''Bright Ideas'' is Portastatic's fifth studio album. It was released on Merge Records on August 23, 2005 The album was the first Portastatic album that was completely recorded in a modern studio. Previous albums were either partially or comple ...

(CD) erge*2006 -

Be Still Please ''Be Still Please'' is an album by Portastatic. It was released on Merge Records on October 10, 2006. "AllMusic.com"/ref> The album was recorded at Pox Studios with Zeno Gill, with additional recording at Room 8 in Carrboro, North Carolina. It ...

(CD) erge

Compilation albums

*2008 -

Some Small History ''Some Small History'' is a collection of "rarities, collecting B-sides, compilation tracks, EPs, fanzine vinyl, and previously unreleased material recorded between 1990 and 2007" from the band Portastatic. It was released on Merge Records on Se ...

(CD) erge

Demo albums

*2005 - Ideas for Bright Ideas (CD) he Portastatic Label*2006 - Some Small Things You Can't Defend (CD) he Portastatic Label

Soundtracks

*2001 - Looking For Leonard (CD) erge*2006 -

Who Loves the Sun ''Who Loves the Sun'' is a 2006 Canadian film directed and written by Matt Bissonnette and starring Lukas Haas, Molly Parker, Adam Scott, R.H. Thomson, and Wendy Crewson.Alison Gillmor, "Characters confront the past in cottage country". ''Winn ...

(CD) erge

Singles and EPs

*1993 - Starter (7") 8 Wheeler*1994 - Naked Pilseners (7"/CD EP) atador*1994 - Hello CD of the Month (CD EP)

ello Ello ( Brianzöö: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,202 and an area of .Al ...

*1994 - San Andreas Couch (7") ster*1995 - Scrapbook X's (7") 8 Wheeler*1995 - Scrapbook EP (Double 7"/CD EP) erge*1996 - Spying On The Spys (7") erge*1997 - Trash Heap - Split 7" w/ Ida (Split 7") rash Heap*1997 - Portastatic/The Landing Split 7" (Split 7") arang Bang "Secret Session"/"And Forward Again" *1997 - Portastatic/The Ladybug Transistor/Land of the Loops Split 7" (Split 7") fter Hours "You Love To Fail" *2000 -

De Mel, De Melão ''De Mel, De Melão'' is CD EP by the band Portastatic. It was released on the Merge Records label in 2000. All five songs on the EP are covers of Brazilian musical artists from the tropicalia and Música popular brasileira movements. It was in ...

(CD EP) erge*2001 -

The Perfect Little Door ''The Perfect Little Door'' is CD EP by the band Portastatic. It was released on the Merge Records label in 2001. According to the Merge Records website, the EP is "a collaboration between Mac McCaughan (Superchunk, Portastatic, etc) and Ken Van ...

(Featuring

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composi ...

)(CD EP) erge*2003 -

Autumn Was a Lark ''Autumn Was a Lark'' is an EP by the band Portastatic. It was released on the Merge Records label in 2003. The EP was recorded at Pox Studios in Durham, North Carolina, after the touring version of Portastatic finished the '' Summer of the S ...

(CD EP) erge*2005 - Looking for a Power Supply (CD EP) ouston Party*2005 - I Wanna Know Girls (Digital EP) Tunes/Merge*2006 - Sour Shores (Digital EP) erge*2009 - Make It Sound In Tune (Digital EP) erge

References

{{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from North Carolina Musical groups from Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina Merge Records artists Matador Records artists