Online retailer Insound, has announced a collaboration with designer Mike Perry, called “Insound 10 Classic.” A collection of posters, t-shirts, and tote bags, it’s the sequel to Insound 20, which debuted last summer. Insound 20 was a collaboration with designer Jason Munn, who designed merchandise for the creme de la creme of indie rock, including Grizzly Bear, the Hold Steady, and the National, among others.

This time, however, Insound and Perry have chosen to focus on “iconic bands from indie rock’s great history,” including 10 bands that span a 20 year period, and will use the project to “create a visual narrative and revisit great older or defunct bands’ visual identity through new designs.” Many of the bands featured have had no new merchandise on the market for a decade or more. The “narrative” begins in 1977’s punk scene and winds through new wave and 80s “college rock” before arriving at the current world of indie rock. The artists are as follows:

Richard Hell & The Voidoids
The Feelies
Beat Happening
Galaxie 500
The Magnetic Fields
Sunny Day Real Estate
The Olivia Tremor Control
Apples in Stereo
Sleater-Kinney
The Promise Ring

Pre-order Insound 10 merchandise here. Products will be available in September.

Make space on your coffee table, because on September 15th Algonquin Books is releasing Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records. Written by author John Cook and the founding father-and-mother themselves, Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance, the book will include first-hand accounts regarding the history of the independent label Merge Records, as well as exclusive stories about Spoon, Arcade Fire, the Magnetic Fields, Superchunk, Lambchop, and many other Merge veterans. Other goodies to be found inside include hundreds of band photos, album art, handwritten lyrics, concert posters, playlists, and an introduction by Ryan Adams. If it’s even half as poetic as his now notorious (and defunct) blog posts, that alone will make the book purchase worth it.

The good people at Merge Records have been gearing up recently for their big 20th anniversary celebration, an event that, like Sub Pop’s last summer, will celebrate the label’s entire discography. To kick the festivities off, The Triangle Youth Ballet will be performing Merge In Motion, a choreographed contemporary dance performance set to the music of the Arcade Fire, Spoon, Destroyer, Caribou, Polvo, The Magnetic Fields and a host of other roster standouts. The show’s going down at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC on July 18th with a special performance by the Rosebuds. Valuable ticket information can be found riiiiight here.

Ordinarily we probably wouldn’t care to tell you about musical theater news, but this isn’t just musical theater. It’s Stephin Merritt does musical theater — yes, that Stephin Merritt, of The Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies, The Three Terrors and now, Coraline: The Musical, opening tonight off Broadway.
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