1989 was a good year to set up a record label. Along with Merge, other powerhouses to surface that year included Matador, Warp, and XL. Like all of these labels, Merge has become a destination for some of the hardest working and most enduring artists on the scene. The label was founded by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan from the band, Superchunk.
Flashback: Superchunk “Watery Hands” (1994)
After going to number 1 with Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs last year, Merge hit the ground running in 2011 with a handful of great new releases from Wild Flag, Jonny (members of Teenage Fanclub), Eleanor Friedberger (of Fiery Furnaces) Apex Manor, Let’s Wrestle and Times New Viking. They also put out that She and Him Christmas album and reissued classics from Archers of Loaf, Magnetic Fields, and Superchunk.
Wild Flag “Romance”
Jonny “Candyfloss”
Let’s Wrestle “In My Dreams Part II”
Flashback: Archers of Loaf “Web in Front” (1993)
– Submitted by Justin Main, Music Design