I was in Wilmington, NC earlier this month visiting my sister, and had heard that a guy I knew was staying nearby at a beach house, so I pinged him. He invited me to dinner and one of the other people at the house was Mac McCaughan, of Merge Records/Superchunks/Portastatic. After a great group meal, we chatted (I was interested to hear that in his opinion lower prices on downloads would not really jack up online sales), and on the way home, I had two advance CD's to listen to: the M.Ward release, and Mac's upcoming Portastatic effort, "Be Still Please." I admit to not being previously familiar with Portastatic, but I'm really liking it. It's very welcoming music, with smart lyrics. On one song, his voice reminds me of Kenn Kweder, the great, largely unknown Philly singer-songwriter. I see that there's a show in October at the Mercury Lounge--would be fun to see this stuff live.