Get this Merge Record Compilation

Shins, Ryan Adams, Death Cab Cover Merge Artists for New Comp
3/6/2009 By Brock Thiessen

Man, Merge Records sure knows how to celebrate. In honour of the North Carolina imprint’s 20th anniversary, the indie powerhouse has so far set up a big five-day festival, their own little mixtape game, a remix album and a hugely ambitious, subscription-only box set called SCORE!. Now, to add even more to the festivities, the label has announced a new compilation of non-Merge artists covering a selection of Merge classics. And we’re pleased to say it looks pretty freakin’ awesome.

Called SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers, the 20-track disc comes packing quite the drool-worthy cast of players, including Broken Social Scene, Bright Eyes, the New Pornographers, Death Cab for Cutie, the National and the Shins. And really, that’s just to name a few. Also on there are Les Savy Fav, who redo Superchunk’s ramped-up On the Mouth classic “Precision Auto,” as well as Ryan Adams, who does the equally awesome Superchunk track “Like a Fool,” and Times New Viking, who take on Arcade Fire’s "Neighborhood #1." Perhaps the most promising highlight is a duet between Everything but the Girl’s Tracey Thorn and Swede Jens Lekman, who cover the wonderfully lethargic "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" from Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs.

Best of all, this compilation will be one of two SCORE! collections that will be available to non-subscribers, meaning everyone will be able to purchase it come April 7. That other item available to the general public will be the remix comp, which features Battles, Caribou, Junior Boys, Four Tet, Jason Forrest, Trey Told 'Em, Barbara Morgenstern, John McEntire (Tortoise, the Sea and Cake) and Mark Robinson (Unrest, Teenbeat Records). The release details of that remix disc are expected to come shortly.

Here’s the complete list of songs and artists for SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers:

1. Quasi: "Beautiful Things" (3Ds cover)
2. Les Savy Fav: "Precision Auto" (Superchunk cover)
3. The Shins: "Plenty Is Never Enough" (Tenement Halls cover)
4. St. Vincent and the National: "Sleep All Summer" (Crooked Fingers cover)
5. Broken Social Scene: "Complications" (The Clean cover)
6. Ryan Adams: "Like a Fool" (Superchunk cover)
7. Bright Eyes: "Papa Was a Rodeo" (Magnetic Fields cover)
8. Lavender Diamond: "New Ways of Living" (Destroyer cover)
9. The Apples in Stereo: "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3" (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
10. Laura Cantrell: "Cowboy on the Moon" (Lambchop cover)
11. Bill Callahan: "Santa Maria" (Versus cover)
12. Barbara Manning: "Through With People" (Portastatic cover)
13. The Mountain Goats: "Drug Life" (East River Pipe cover)
14. The New Pornographers: "Don't Destroy This Night" (Rock*A*Teens cover)
15. Tracey Thorn and Jens Lekman: "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" (Magnetic Fields cover)
16. The Hive Dwellers: "My Noise" (Superchunk cover)
17. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: "The Numbered Head" (Robert Pollard cover)
18. Okkervil River: "All You Little Suckers" (East River Pipe cover)
19. Death Cab for Cutie: "Kicked In" (Superchunk cover)
20. Times New Viking: "Neighborhood #1" (Arcade Fire cover)