What a Time to Be Alive
After almost three decades in action, the level of energy Superchunk maintains here initially seems preternatural. But once you realize the songs were written in a flurry of angry, cathartic creativity right after the 2016 presidential election, the level of passionate punk-pop fury on display is a little more explicable. And when Mac and the gang sink their teeth into deceptively buoyant-sounding songs like the title track or \"I Got Cut,\" with explosive guitars and earworm hooks in abundance, their outrage and artistry collide with gutsy glory.
More powerful and focused than any of their recent records, the 11th Superchunk album is finally the one that feels genuinely urgent, both of a particular moment and built to outlast it.
Car Seat Headrest reimagines 2011’s fiery Twin Fantasy with a bigger budget, while Poliça and Stargaze turn in the stirring Music For The Long Emergency, and Brandi Carlile finds strength in forgiveness on the lovely, languid By The Way, I Forgive You. These, plus Superchunk, Ought, and more in this week’s notable…
An empowering, frenzied record that rages against the dying of the light as well as the dispiriting rise of the right.
Written in a post-election rush, the indie-heroes' 'What a Time to Be Alive' is full of vitriol and wisdom.
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With What a Time to Be Alive, Mac McCaughan's Superchunk offer a timely reminder that punk’s greatest trick has always been to make the isolated feel less alone.
Superchunk didn't feel like a band built to last — their brand of buzzy, lo-fi indie rock sounded like the work of young players barely hold...
What a Time to Be Alive combines the energetic catchiness of classic Superchunk with a raw punk rock that both harkens back to the band's early days and rallies against the current political climate like the spirit of punk is meant to do.
'What A Time To Be Alive' by Superchunk: Superchunk make political rock important again in our review of 'What A Time To Be Alive'