Finding Superchunk

One of the thrills of being an active music listener is discovering an artist that really catches you and creates an obsession. After 20 years or so, though, it gets harder and harder to find one of those. Looking back through my listening history at Last.fm, it appears my last major personal discovery was Scott Walker in 2009. Walker had long been on my list of artists-to-listen-to-someday, as I knew he was a big influence on Blur, Suede, Pulp, and that whole scene, but 2009 was my year for him. I went weeks listening to little else. 

Sometimes a new favorite artist comes exactly as you planned it would. And sometimes they happen out of nowhere.

I have stumbled upon Superchunk, and I can't stop listening. My route to them was exceptionally circuitous. A few months ago, I suddenly remembered there was a pocket of music out there in the world I hadn't fully explored. I didn't know the name of the bands, nor the labels they were on. I had only a vague memory of a bunch of music which an old friend used to put on. In the late 90s, that friend was the first person I met deeply into indie rock. He introduced me to Guided By Voices, Pavement, Built to Spill, the biggies. But that's where I stopped listening. I never continued on to the level of artists under that. 

After some determined digging on the Google, I pieced together which bands those were: Sebadoh, Folk Implosion, Archers Of Loaf, Red House Painters, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Superchunk. I’m now loving all of them. But it’s Superchunk which is straight killing me. Once again, I've found an artist strong enough to push out my interest in listening to anything else.