''Summer of the Shark'' is

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 gui ...

's fourth studio album. It was released on

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...

on April 8, 2003. The album was recorded at the home 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 ...

in North Carolina except for "Hey Salty" which was recorded by Jerry Kee at Duck Kee Studio in Mebane, North Carolina. The album was mixed at Overdub Lane with

John Plymale John Plymale is a record producer, recording engineer, and musician from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. Plymale was a founding member of the band The Pressure Boys in 1981 as well as The Sex Police in 1989. He was bassist for the band Bustell ...

. McCaughan was the co-founder of Merge Records and also the frontman of the band Superchunk. They had earlier started to record music under the name of Portastatic in the early beginning of 90s. McCaughan wrote the songs on ''Summer of the Shark'' in 2001 while the Superchunk was on the tour in of Here's to Shutting Up, which released mere days after September 11 attacks. It is also said that ''Summer of the Shark'' has the internal combination of an expertly assembled mixtape. The album was recorded at the home studio of

in North Carolina, his brother Mathew plays drums on half track) except for "Hey Salty" which was recorded by Jerry Kee at Duck Kee Studio in Mebane, North Carolina. The album was mixed at Overdub Lane with

. The album includes contributions from

Janet Weiss Janet Lee Weiss (born September 24, 1965) is an American rock drummer, best known as a former member of Sleater-Kinney and a current member of Quasi. She was the drummer for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, leaving after the album '' Mirror Traffic ...

Sleater-Kinney Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member ...

and Tony Crow of Lambchop. According to McCaughan, ''Summer of the Shark'' "is kind of a concept album about 9/11.""IndyWeek.com"
/ref>

Track listing

# "Oh, Come Down" # "In The Lines" # "Windy Village" # "Through a Rainy Lens" # "Don't Disappear" # "Swimming Through Tires" # "Chesapeake" # "Noisy Night" # "Clay Cakes" # "Drill Me" # "Paratrooper" # "Hey Salty" # " ntitled Hidden Track

Notes

{{Authority control 2003 albums Portastatic albums Merge Records albums