Our Noise: The Story Of Merge Records - The Indie Label That Got Big And Stayed Small by John Cook (c2009)
Merge is a Chapel Hill, North Carolina based independent record label that was started by Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance (both of the long-running rock concern Superchunk) back in 1989. What began as a tiny bedroom operation releasing 7" singles and cassettes with handmade packaging, has slowly and steadily grown over the course of the last twenty years into a formidable business that in 2007 released an album (The Arcade Fire's Neon Bible) which debuted at Number 2 on the Billboard Charts. This book details the complete history of Merge and the label's well-rounded roster of bands and musicians (such as Spoon, The Magnetic Fields, Neutral Milk Hotel, Lambchop and the aforementioned Superchunk and The Arcade Fire). Through d-i-y hard work, honesty and associating themselves only with like-minded people, Merge has defied the odds and continues to grow while major-label record company behemoths have fallen on hard times. Check catalog for availability.
- submitted by Tom @ MPL Central