Playlist for 9/30/09: Merge Records: On the Mouth

I gave Merge Records the I Love My Label treatment this month in honor of the label’s 20th anniversary. My theme to start to the show was covers of songs from the Merge catalog, beginning with what I believe to be the only Butterglory cover in recorded history. The Merge catalog is as massive as it is impressive, with more than 350 releases since 1989. There is a lot I missed, of course, but that’s always the case with my I Love My Label segments. I did an hour-long Merge tribute over the summer in honor of the big, reunion-heavy Merge XX show, so I avoided repeats for the most part.

If you’re looking for information on Merge, there’s an overwhelming amount out there. The new book on Algonquin about the label, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, has its own Web site, and it’s very much worth checking out, including a well-done timeline. Coming soon is The Merge Records Companion: A Visual Discography of the First 20 Years. The North Carolina Triangle’s Independent Weekly did a tremendous spread on the label in July, with period overviews, a top 20 list, a discography, and “Where Are They Now” features on the likes of Richard Buckner, Pure and Ashley Stove (all three of which I managed to skip over somehow, Part 2 for sure, I guess). Here’s another perspective on Merge’s best, a mid-1990s interview with Superchunk from Option magazine, and NPR’s nicely put together “American Indie: 20 Years Of Merge Records.”

Download or stream the show right here.

Waiting on the Guns - The Wedding Present - Singles 1995-1997 (Cooking Vinyl)
Through With People - Barbara Manning - Score: 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers! (Merge)
Beatnik- Comet Gain - Broken Record Prayers (What's Your Rupture)
No One Will Ever Love You - Sarah Borges - The Stars Are Out (Sugar Hill)
Driveway to Driveway - Two Dollar Pistols - Songs for Sixty Five Roses (Self-released)

I Got the Bomb - The Shazam - Meteor (New Boss Sounds)
Treat Her Right - Muck & The Mires - Hypnotic (Dirty Water)
Hole in My Head - Box Elders - Alice & Friends (Goner)
Hey Boy - Magic Kids - Single (Goner)

Everybody Knows - Scotland Barr & the Slow Drags - We Will Be Forgotten (Self-released)
The Way It Used to Be - The Bottle Rockets - Lean Forward (Bloodshot)
Good as the Cat - Paul Westerberg - PW & the Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys (Dry Wood)
Poetry of the Deed - Frank Turner - Poetry of the Deed (Epitaph)

All Your Secrets - Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs (Matador)
Sugar & Spice - Madness - The Liberty of Norton Folgate (Yep Roc)

I Love My Label: Merge Records, Chapel Hill, NC
7” Six-Pack
Seed Toss – Superchunk
On the Mouth – Superchunk
100,000 Fireflies – Superchunk
Who Needs Light – Superchunk
Watery Hands – Superchunk
Blinders (fast version) – Superchunk

Bullet Train to Vegas - Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime reissue (Swami)
Favorite Dirty Flavor - Pipe - Slowboy
The Curtain Remembers - Polvo - Cor-Crane Secret
Tourettes - Breadwinner - Burner

Beautiful Thing - The 3D's - Venus Trail
Anything Could Happen - The Clean - Anthology
Tensile - The Clean - Mr. Pop
Blue Sky - David Kilgour - Frozen Orange

My Face Your Ass - Lambchop - Thriller
Alll My Love - American Music Club - The Golden Age
Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken - Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of the Country
Don't Know Why You Stay - The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea

Me and the Bean - Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Dancing Girls and Dancing Men - Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye
Born Under a Good Sign - Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Back to Boston – The Rosebuds - Make Out
Down in the Valley - The Broken West – I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On

Time Enough for Rocking When We're Old - Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Bring on the Loser -East River Pipe - Poor Fricky
Holland 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Crown of Love - Arcade Fire - Funeral

I Wanna Know Girls - Portastatic - Bright Ideas
My Noise - Superchunk - Tossing Seeds