BIG DIPPER SUPERCLUSTER: THE BIG DIPPER ANTHOLOGY (MERGE)
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Today the underground and the mainstream have a different relationship, to put it mildly. “Indie” imprints like Vice and Downtown can give their artists all kinds of perks thanks to major-label partnerships, and to a bitter old fuck like me it seems like green, untested bands are lucking into big-time exposure at an unprecedented rate, whether through record deals, corporate-sponsored tours, or music placement on TV shows and commercials. The old template for “selling out”—gig your ass off to cultivate loyal fans, then alienate them by yielding to the temptations of fame—doesn’t really apply anymore. Rock-star ambition is often part of a band’s game plan from day one—and not unreasonably so, as signings like the Redwalls and MGMT prove. And because the mainstream music biz has figured out indie cred, there’s no longer much pressure for artists to make themselves more accessible for their big push.
Two cuts from Supercluster‘s disc of post-Epic material, “Approach of a Human Being” and “The Beast,” were released as a single by the Chicago label Feel Good All Over. They turned out to be the band’s death rattle. But spurred to action by Supercluster, the original Big Dipper lineup is reuniting to play three east-coast shows in late April (there may be midwest shows later in the year, per Merge). According to a recent story in the Boston Phoenix, when news of the reunion hit the grapevine, Waleik got an e-mail from Mission of Burma guitarist Roger Miller, whose own band is in the middle of a surprisingly fruitful second act. “He said that you’ve got to rock hard,” Waleik recalled. “You can’t go out and be a mature older band.”v
