Join, connect, hold, unite, affiliate, link, MERGE AND LOVE. This really makes so much sense! Chapel Hill’s The Love Language have now found a home at Merge Records. They Love each other… a lot. Isn’t it weird though that this band was formed after lead singer Stuart McLamb’s particularly disastrous breakup back in 2007? Well it is not 2007 anymore, and there is much love to be had. 2010 will be a doozey as we welcome the band’s sophomore album, which will be coming out on..Merge Records!
After a successful music festival, subscription box set, and a behind-the-scenes book, Merge Records continues to celebrate its 20th year, rolling out The Merge Records Companion: A Visual Discography of the First Twenty Years. The book contains photographs of every 7-inch, album, EP, and DVD released by Merge in its 20 years of existence, documenting the evolution of album cover design and featuring essays by both of the label’s founders, Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance. Each album cover was shot while being held by an anonymous model whose identity is revealed in the hand model index in the back of the book, with rock stars and interns “side-by-side, a tribute to the collaborative ethic that has allowed one of indie rock’s most likable labels to stay true to their simple mission: putting out music by bands they like.”
Pre-order your copy here; books will ship to arrive on November 3.
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.
Conor Oberst has been quite busy over the past year and a half. The songwriter has dropped his Bright Eyes alias, picked up the Mystic Valley Band, and is releasing yet another album on May 5, but even better, Oberst is giving us an inside scoop into the past 18 months of his life on the road and recording with his new project, with his new documentary that will be released online on April 15.
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The line up for the five-day-long Merge Records 20th Anniversary Celebration has been announced, and the event to bound to be nothing but stellar with headliners like label-founders Superchunk topping the bill.
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