''Majesty Shredding'' is the ninth studio album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

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

. It was released on September 14, 2010, 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 expand ...

. It is the group's first studio album since 2001's '' Here's to Shutting Up''.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

''Majesty Shredding'' has a score of 83 out of 100 based on 25 critics reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". ''Majesty Shredding'' was ranked number 25 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s list of the 30 Best Albums of 2010. Marc Hawthorne of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' felt that the album was among the best work of the band's career, stating that "''Majesty Shredding'' lives up to its name and doesn’t waste much time catching its breath, and along the way Superchunk delivers something that used to be expected of the band: an album on which every song sounds as inspired as the next one." Jon Dolan of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote: "No youngsters this side of

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

articulate ambivalence with such skill or heart. Few even try." Jessica Hopper of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' called the album "vigorous and kicking, much more so than you'd have right or reason to expect out of a band this deep into their career. A band still sparking with ideas. Two decades in, it's still duty now for the future." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' Jon Caramanica wrote that the band had "recaptured its grasp on bright, puckish and punkish power pop with no apparent effort." Critic Mischa Pearlman noted the album's bittersweet lyrical content in his review for

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

: "Although that jubilant, sunny feeling permeates all of these 11 songs, it's coupled with a sense of jaded, measured hindsight – that, despite the open, blue North Carolina sky above them and the youthful energy it inspires, you can't recapture the past."

Track listing

Personnel

Superchunk *

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 ...

– vocals, guitar *

Laura Ballance Laura Jane Ballance (born February 22, 1968) is the bassist in the rock band Superchunk (also contributing occasional backing vocals) and co-founder of Merge Records along with Mac McCaughan. In 2013 she announced that she would no longer be touri ...

– bass *

Jon Wurster Jonathan Patrick Wurster (born October 31, 1966) is an American drummer, percussionist, vocalist and comedy writer. As a musician, he is best known for his work with Superchunk, the Mountain Goats, and Bob Mould. He is also known for appearing on ...

– drums * James Wilbur – guitar Additional musicians * John Darnielle – additional vocals on "Digging for Something" * Mark Daumen – tuba on "Digging for Something" * Matt Kenney – trumpet on "Digging for Something" * Seamus Kenney – trombone on "Digging for Something" * Kristen Beard – viola on "Fractures in Plaster" Production * Jeff Lipton – mastering *

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 Bustello ...

– engineering * Maria Rice – mastering assistant * Scott Solter – engineering, mixing Design * Jason Arthurs – band photography * Maggie Fost – cover art, design * Mac McCaughan – cover art * PJ Sykes – photography * Brian Vetter – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control Superchunk albums 2010 albums Merge Records albums Albums produced by Scott Solter