Are Superchunk the most average indie rock band to have slouched
Are they perennial underdogs, floppy of fringe and beloved of students who rise after noon? Yes. Are they lazy? Well, they had a partially ironic single called Slack Motherfucker in 1989 but now Majesty Shredding, their ninth album, comes an unapologetic decade after their eighth, Here’s To Shutting Up.
And have they used this luxurious sabbatical to push their sound into energising new pastures? No. In fact this album can only be described as transcendentally predictable. There is nothing wrong per se with the slightly whacky but upbeat chug of Learned To Surf, but given that it makes Buffalo Tom sound like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, there’s not exactly that much right with it either.
Better just wait for the next Dinosaur Jr album: there will be one along eventually.
