Superchunk's Majesty Shredding in stores now; watch new video for "Digging for Something"!

The wait is over: Majesty Shredding is available on CD, LP, and digital download in the Merge store, at your local independent record store, and from your favorite digital music provider!

Superchunk will kick off their album release tour on Thursday, September 16, at the Nasher Museum in Durham, NC. NPR Music will stream Superchunk's Washington, DC, show live from the 9:30 Club on Friday, September 17. Both NYC shows are sold out, but you can see Superchunk play for free at Other Music at 1 p.m. on Sunday, September 19.

Also, we have a pair of tickets to give away to the bleachers behind the stage for two lucky fans to pogo while Superchunk performs live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday, September 20. To enter, send an email to merge@mergerecords.com with your favorite song from Majesty Shredding. The winner will need to live in or already have plans to be in the NYC area on September 20. Set your DVR now so you don't miss Superchunk's first TV appearance since 1994!

Watch the brand new video for "Digging for Something" featuring special guests The Love Language and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats!

Superchunk on tour:

Sep 16 Durham, NC - The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
Sep 17 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club w/ Let's Wrestle & Tommy Keene
Sep 18 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom w/ Let's Wrestle [SOLD OUT]
Sep 19 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Wild Nothing & Todd Barry [SOLD OUT]
Sep 21 Boston, MA - Royale w/ Versus
Sep 22 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero w/ Versus & Jenny and Johnny
Sep 23 Montreal, QC - Le National
Oct 02 Las Vegas, NV - Matador 21
Oct 13 Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret w/ Telekinesis
Oct 14 Seattle, WA - The Showbox w/ Teenage Fanclub & Telekinesis
Oct 15 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom w/ Teenage Fanclub & Telekinesis
Oct 17 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Festival
Oct 19 Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box at Fonda w/ Telekinesis & The Vaselines

Stream & pre-order The Extra Lens' Undercard now!

The Extra Lens, the musical collaboration between John Darnielle (the Mountain Goats) and Franklin Bruno (Nothing Painted Blue, the Human Hearts), will release their Merge debut, Undercard,on October 19. You can now stream Undercard in its entirety and pre-order the album on CD and LP in the Merge store.

Undercard is the first new album from this distinguished partnership since 2002's Martial Arts Weekend. It's comprised of eleven original songs plus a pretty ominous-sounding cover song and will include copious liner notes from John and Franklin. The artwork features an illustration by Ian Dingman and a vintage boxing poster feel inspired by the title Undercard, which references the fights listed under the main event at a boxing match.

The Extra Lens have a few surprises in store for us this fall, so stay tuned! Download a free MP3 of "Only Existing Footage," and be sure to follow the Extra Lens on Twitter!

Let's Wrestle present a new digital single!

Let's Wrestle have released a new digital single featuring two brand new songs: "Getting Rest" and "When I Was In Hospital."

"'Getting Rest' is about our first trip to the states when we were completely unknown here (apart from NYC and Austin)," says Wesley Patrick Gonzalez. "Me and Mike Lightning went for a stroll in Baltimore and were being idiots, taking photos of ourselves doing Kung Fu moves, and a homeless guy asked us for a cigarette. He said, 'Welcome to Baltimore!' and Mike said he was welcome in London anytime. The man started crying and asked us to get him out of there. This song is about being ignorant to the messed-up stuff that goes on around you."

"'When I Was In Hospital' is a song I wrote when I started thinking about how I'd cope with being terminally ill," Wesley continued. "It's more about what I'd say to a friend than actually being ill myself. I'm afraid both of these songs are quite morbid, but get used to it! You are looking at the new Radiohead! Proggy sobbing!"

Let's Wrestle's "Getting Rest" digital single is available now at iTunes and in the Merge store. Mike, Wesley, and Darkus just finished a west coast tour with Man Man and will head east for dates with Superchunk later this month. Follow their tour adventures at their blog.

Pre-order limited-edition Fucked Up 12-inch now in the Merge store

Just in time for the end of 2010, Merge Records will release Fucked Up's Year of the Ox on limited-edition 12-inch and digital download on September 28.

Recorded over six months by Jon Drew at Giant Studios in Toronto, Year of the Ox is the band's fourth record in a continuing 12-year cycle and adds to its evolving retinue of guest musicians. The patient and building Year of the Ox features Nika Roza Danilova of Zola Jesus with a guest vocal passage and Toronto string quartet New Strings Old Puppets. B-side "Solomon's Song," a gothic vampire love tribute to Twilight, features a five-minute saxophone solo from Aerin Fogel of The Bitters and heavy synthing from Trust.

Stream and pre-order Year of the Ox on limited-edition LP now in the Merge store.

Limited-edition Destroyer 12-inch Archers on the Beach to be released in November

On November 2, Destroyer will release the limited-edition 12-inch "Archer on the Beach" b/w "Grief Point." This release is inspired by the music of Kranky recording artists Tim Hecker and Loscil and achieved through their full collaboration.

Destroyer mastermind Dan Bejar says, "The reason why this has to be seen as a collaboration, rather than strictly a Destroyer release, is that, for the first time, I'm not responsible for any of the music contained on this EP aside from the vocals, the general chord progression of 'Archer on the Beach,' and maybe a couple of the sound effects."

"Archer on the Beach" is a meditation on the need to grapple with the 20th century in one's own special way and with style, this time through singing quietly, through repetition, and through leaving lots of space between words, as well as finally learning to love crowds and nature.

"Grief Point" is the first recording Bejar made after deciding never to record again. It is a one-time exploration of the self-explanatory world, recorded in an office and on the street. Inspired by the writings of Michael Herr and the production design of Dean Tavoularis, the words occasionally obsess over the need to make certain things that don't need to be made, while the music--written, played, and produced in its entirety by Loscil, aka Scott Morgan--tackles wholly separate issues. "Grief Point" was, at one point, the working title of a song called "Bay of Pigs."

The artists' intentions can best be illuminated by this fragment of email correspondence from Bejar to Hecker: "Shit, just give it that Michael Mann-meets-Thomas Mann sound that you do!"

The "Archer on the Beach" b/w "Grief Point" 12-inch will be limited to an edition of 1,000 copies that include a digital download coupon. Pre-order your copy now in the Merge store!

Telekinesis release Parallel Seismic Conspiracies EP and premiere new video!

Telekinesis present the Parallel Seismic Conspiracies EP --available today from finer digital retailers and the Merge store, and from the band in actual, physical format at their live shows with Superchunk in October.

The new release and tour are sure to get everyone all warmed up for Telekinesis' 2011 full-length follow-up to their acclaimed debut Telekinesis! The EP contains a full-band version of the first album's "Calling All Doctors"; a cover of Guided by Voices' "Game of Pricks"; a cover of "The Drawback," borrowed from the proto-Joy Division project Warsaw; and a dazzling new Michael Benjamin Lerner treat called "Dirty Thing" that just could be the summer hit you've been waiting for!

Watch the sprightly new video for "Dirty Thing" now!

To complement the brand-new EP (and maybe even to preview material that will appear on the upcoming full-length), a new incarnation of the Telekinesis band just finished a co-headlining tour with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and will join Superchunk for west coast dates in October. Featuring Jason Narducy (Robert Pollard band, Verbow) on bass and Cody Votolato (Jaguar Love, The Blood Brothers) on guitar, the new line-up will be delivering energy and fun nightly.

Parallel Seismic Conspiracies is available for purchase via digital download now in the Merge store, and you can pre-order the limited-edition CD version to be shipped on or around the release date of October 26.

Telekinesis on tour:

Oct 13 Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret w/ Superchunk
Oct 14 Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market w/ Superchunk & Teenage Fanclub
Oct 15 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom w/ Superchunk & Teenage Fanclub
Oct 19 Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box at Fonda w/ Superchunk & The Vaselines

The Clientele release Minotaur on limited-edition CD & digital download

The Clientele's new mini-album Minotaur, featuring eight brand-new songs, is in stores today! Minotaur is available on limited-edition CD at your local independent record store and digital download from the Merge store and our usual digital outlets.

Minotaur, The Clientele's sixth release, does not, as it is so easy to suggest, mark the end of a lost decade, for The Clientele have never been "lost," nor does it mark a life at the edges of material success or debilitating failure. Through whispers, Minotaur reminds us that The Clientele's truth waits within a geographic poetry, that The Clientele are of the edges. Minotaur enables us to read their albums as rain-soaked maps from a decade of exploration. A journey into the nebulous, into the eeriness between the edges of the dying village and the new estate, between the unknowable edges of the city and the sanctuary of the marshes, the places where dreams and fears replace street signs and nothing can ever be "ordinary." If walking, as Iain Sinclair has suggested, across such terrain "confirms identity," then Minotaur reasserts The Clientele's skewed, bucolic visions.

These songs, from the caress of the title track through the Television-esque tensions of "Jerry" ("Am I afraid? Are you afraid?") to undoubtedly one of The Clientele's most beautiful pieces, "Nothing Here Is What It Seems," are the falling leaves, the turning ashes of the "Bonfire Sessions."

Watch the newly released video of The Clientele performing "Somebody Changed" during XX Merge, too!

Get your copy of Minotaur via digital download, and order The Clientele's most recent full-length Bonfires on the Heath on CD and digital download in the Merge store.

She & Him's limited-edition "Thieves" 7-inch available today in record stores nationwide

Today, She & Him's new 7-inch "Thieves," backed by the vinyl-only bonus track "I Knew It Would Happen This Way," is available today in independent record stores nationwide.

She & Him recently released the video for their second single "Thieves." Directed by Norwood Cheek, the video is a brilliant homage to black-and-white silent films of the '20s, reflecting all of the subtle charm and melancholy of the song itself.

She & Him's most recent full-length, Volume Two, is available on CD, LP, and digital download in the Merge store. You can also find the digital version of She & Him's now-out-of-print 7-inch "In the Sun" b/w "I Can Hear Music" in the Merge store, too.

She & Him on tour:

Oct 17 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
Oct 22 Portland, OR - Schnitzer Hall
Oct 23 Seattle, WA - City Arts Music Fest
Oct 24 Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre

Tracey Thorn's digital remix EP Opposites available now!

Tracey Thorn's Opposites, a special digital-only EP of experimental remixes of tracks from her acclaimed new album Love and Its Opposite, is available in the Merge store and from the usual digital outlets. If the album, produced by Ewan Pearson, was heralded for its unadorned and direct honesty, the remixes are deliberately oblique reinterpretations that throw a new sidelight on three of the album's key tracks.

"Hauntingly sublime, Opposites is a great example of how the right mix can open a singer's imagination and make even the most familiar voice feel fresh again." ~URB

Opposites EP track list:

1. Swimming (Visionquest Remix)
2. Swimming (Album Version)
3. Kentish Town (Walls Remix)
4. Kentish Town (Album Version)
5. Late in the Afternoon (Blue Daisy Remix)
6. Late in the Afternoon (Album Version)

The Clean announce US tour dates!

The Clean will return to the US in September to play some shows! David, Hamish, and Robert will kick off their tour at Maxwell's in Hoboken and then head west, giving lucky fans an all-too-rare chance to see them play live!

The Clean's most recent release Mister Pop is available along with other great selections from their catalog in the Merge store.

The Clean on tour:

Sep 28 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom w/ Teenage Fanclub & Radar Brothers
Sep 29 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's w/ Dump & Vermillion Sands
Sep 30 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
Oct 02 Lawrence, KS - Scion Garage Fest 2010
Oct 03 Las Vegas, NV - Matador 21
Oct 04 San Francisco, CA - The Independent w/ Barbara Manning
Oct 05 Portland, OR - Holocene

Teenage Fanclub add Radar Brothers to tour dates; get new albums from both bands on sale now!

Teenage Fanclub's long-awaited North American tour in support of Shadows will begin September 22 in Toronto! Radar Brothers will join them on several dates in support of their latest release, The Illustrated Garden.

Tickets are going fast for Teenage Fanclub's previously announced September 27 Bowery Ballroom show, so they have added a second show at the Bowery Ballroom on September 28! Radar Brothers will join Teenage Fanclub on both NYC dates (that includes September 28 with The Clean!) and others that are listed below.

To further celebrate the upcoming joint tour dates featuring Teenage Fanclub and Radar Brothers, we are having a sale! For a limited time, get a bundle of Teenage Fanclub's Shadows and Radar Brothers' The Illustrated Garden on CD for only $21.98 with free domestic shipping!

Don't miss your chance to see this very special tour!

Teenage Fanclub North American tour:
* w/ Radar Brothers

Sep 22 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
Sep 23 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
Sep 24 Montreal, QC - Le National*
Sep 25 Boston, MA - Royale*
Sep 27 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom*
Sep 28 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom w/ Radar Brothers & The Clean
Sep 28 New York, NY - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Sep 30 Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg Waterfront w/ Belle and Sebastian
Oct 01 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero*
Oct 02 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club*
Oct 03 Millvale, PA - Mr. Small's Theatre*
Oct 05 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall*
Oct 06 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall*
Oct 07 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue*
Oct 11 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theater*
Oct 12 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore*
Oct 14 Seattle, WA - Showbox w/ Superchunk & Telekinesis
Oct 15 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom w/ Superchunk & Telekinesis
Oct 16 Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret

Caribou announce North American mega-tour & release free live MP3

Caribou will return to North America this month for the second string of North American dates in support their latest release Swim.

The full Caribou band has been on tour all over the world for most of 2010 in support of their Polaris Prize-nominated album Swim. Visit their website for photos and videos from the road, including a ride on the Great Wall of China, and follow them on Twitter! Also, watch their recently released video for "Sun."

You can now purchase the Caribou Vibration Ensemble's Live at All Tomorrow's Parties New York 2009 album exclusively at Caribou's live shows. Dan says of this release:

"In September 2009 the Flaming Lips invited us to play at the All Tomorrow's Parties New York festival which they curated. We wanted this show to be something special, so we put together a 15-piece band including all of our friends: Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), Luke Lalonde (Born Ruffians), Koushik Ghosh (Koushik), a five-piece horn section, four drummers, and Sun Ra Arkestra band leader and legend Marshall Allen.

The show was something of a dream come true for us, so we're very excited to announce that we will be releasing a limited double vinyl recording of the concert. The album will also come with a DVD video recording of the show. This record will only be available at our upcoming concerts and not available in stores."

Listen to the track "Every Time She Turns Round It's Her Birthday".

Swim is available on CD, double-LP, and digital download in the Merge store.

"Swim is a reminder that even at his most challenging, the man's compositional capabilities can dazzle." - Pitchfork

Caribou on tour:
^ w/ Russian Futurists
* w/ Emeralds

Sep 14 Guelph, ON - Ebar^
Sep 15 Ottawa, ON - Babylon ^
Sep 16 Montreal, PQ - National^
Sep 17 Toronto, ON - Phoenix ^
Sep 18 London, ON - Lolafest @ Victorias Park
Sep 19 Boston, MA - Paradise*
Sep 22 New York, NY - Webster Hall*
Sep 23 Washington, DC - Black Cat*
Sep 24 Cincinnati, OH - Midpoint Music Festival
Sep 25 Champaign, IL - Pygmalion Music Festival
Sep 26 Chicago, IL - Metro*
Sep 27 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue*
Sep 28 Winnipeg, MB - West End Cultural Center*
Sep 29 Saskatoon, SK - Amigos*
Sep 30 Edmonton, AB - Starlite*
Oct 01 Calgary, AB - Republik*
Oct 03 Vancouver, BC - Vogue*
Oct 04 Seattle, WA - Showbox*
Oct 05 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom*
Oct 06 San Francisco, CA - Regency*
Oct 07 Los Angeles, CA - Dance Right @ La Cita
Oct 08 Los Angeles, CA - Music Box*
Oct 09 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouseb Oct 11 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
Oct 12 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre*
Oct 14 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
Oct 15 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
Oct 16 Tallahassee, FL - Engine RoomB Oct 17 Tampa, FL - Crowbar
Oct 18 Orlando, FL - Backbooth
Oct 19 Miami, FL - Grand Central
Oct 21 Guanajuanto, Mexico - Mutek/Cervantino Festival
Oct 23 Santiago, Chile - Festival Fauna Primavera
Oct 27 Sao Paulo, Brasil - Clash Club
Oct 28 Bogota, Colombia - Downtown
Oct 30 Asheville, NC - Moog Festival
Oct 31 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle*

Arcade Fire present "The Wilderness Downtown"

Arcade Fire recently launched "The Wilderness Downtown," an interactive film featuring "We Used to Wait" from their new album The Suburbs.

Taking its name from a lyric from the aforementioned song "so when the lights cut out, I was lost, standing in the wilderness downtown" The Wilderness Downtown exemplifies the "Google Chrome Experience" and HTML5 technology, cueing the opening of multiple browser windows, visually incorporating viewers' childhood addresses (if they are available via Google's Street View), allowing viewers to write messages to their younger selves and share them, and more.

"The Wilderness Downtown," an interactive film by Chris Milk featuring "We Used to Wait" from Arcade Fire's new album The Suburbs, can be experienced now at http://thewildernessdowntown.com. Order The Suburbs on CD, double-LP, and digital download now in the Merge store.

Arcade Fire on tour:

Sep 22 St. Paul, MN - Roy Wilkins Arena
Sep 23 Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre
Sep 25 Saskatoon, SK - Credit Union Centre
Sep 26 Calgary, AB - Stampede Corral [SOLD OUT]
Sep 28 Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum [SOLD OUT]
Sep 29 Seattle, WA - Key Arena
Sep 30 Portland, OR - Memorial Coliseum
Oct 2 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre [SOLD OUT]
Oct 3 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
Oct 5 Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Library [SOLD OUT]
Oct 7 Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium [SOLD OUT]
Oct 8 Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium [SOLD OUT]
Oct 10 Mexico City, MX - Palacio de los Deportes
Oct 12 Monterrey, MX - Banamex Theater

Autumn on the road

In addition to the plethora of dates listed above, there are even more Merge bands enjoying the foliage as they bring you the rock this fall.

The Love Language are in the midst of their blitz across the US, joining the Local Natives as well as headlining their own dates. They also perform at a special Merge double-header in-store with Radar Brothers at Origami Vinyl in L.A. on September 18 beginning at 5 p.m. Radar Brothers will also perform in-store at Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo on September 17 at 6 p.m. Conor Oberst has planned a round of dates in California, and for our oh-so-lucky friends in Europe, you get to see Lambchop perform Is a Woman in its entirety. She & Him finish their year of shows in October, and Spoon plays their first headlining show in L.A. since the release of Transference! Versus will join Superchunk for a couple of dates on the east coast, and Polvo have a few dates around the Fun Fun Fun Fest in November. Wye Oak finished their tour with Lou Barlow + the missingmen and will continue to tour throughout October joining David Bazan and new labelmates the Mountain Goats.

New dates are added almost daily, so bookmark the Merge tour page and check it regularly!