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January 7, 2011
in Digital, music, Stores, Vinyl
2 min read

2010 Music Sales

” alt=”Record Store Day 2009″ width=”500″ height=”335″ />

Photo licensed under a CC BY-SA-2.0 license by freeloosedirt via Flickr. Picture taken outside Buffalo Records in Ventura.

Get ready to listen to the same annual cry from the music industry – “The sky is falling!” NPR’s music blog, The Record, has the details.

For the first time, all music sales, when adding CD, LP, cassette and digital – declined as a total. Digital tracks grew 1%. One thing the article and Soundscan’s numbers don’t cover is how digital sales break down. I would have to guess that the trend of individual track sales is still growing – which continues to impact albums sold via digital. Total albums sales fell to 326 million, the lowest since 1993, a drop of 13%, which was the same decline as 2009 for total album sales.

NPR’s article goes on to say that the “”return of vinyl” has hit the brakes.” Contrast that with a Rolling Stone article, also released yesterday, whose headline says “Vinyl Sales Increase Despite Industry Slump”. So whose spin are you going to believe? After reading the NPR article, which points out how terrible the music industry is doing, I’ll take the Rolling Stone’s more positive headline. I would think the music industry and their PR flacks would want to jump on any positive news, and the fact that vinyl sales grew 14% year over year, especially when compared to the other declining numbers, is definitely a positive.

Total vinyl sales were the highest they’ve been since 1991, and for a format most people would consider dead, this growth should be good news to the industry, especially when you consider the average selling price for a vinyl album is significantly higher than a digital album or CD.

Best selling new vinyl albums, in order, for 2010 were:

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
The Black Keys – Brothers
Vampire Weekend – Contra
The National – High Violet

The best selling overall vinyl album was The Beatles’ Abbey Road.

I believe in quality over quantity and if the record industry would focus on longevity and the quality of the artists rather than hit machines, it would be a different story. But that’s an article for another time.

Here’s to another year of growth for vinyl in 2011!

January 1, 2011
in music
1 min read

Best Music of 2010

2010 has gone and now it’s time to share some of my favorite music of the year. Everyone has a top 10 list, so I thought I’d try something different. Well, that, and I can’t seem to whittle my list down to ten.

2010 was a great year for music. For the last few years music executives have been crying that the sky has falling as music sales decline. What they need to remember is that quality beats quantity – when they stop focusing on hit makers and on quality music and artists who will last, the sales will be there.

Without further adieu, and in no particular order, here is some of my favorite music from 2010:

Read the rest at my music blog Vinyl Evolution…

January 1, 2011
in music
10 min read

Best Music of 2010

2010 has gone and now it’s time to share some of my favorite music of the year. Everyone has a top 10 list, so I thought I’d try something different. Well, that, and I can’t seem to whittle my list down to ten.

2010 was a great year for music. For the last few years music executives have been crying that the sky has falling as music sales decline. What they need to remember is that quality beats quantity – when they stop focusing on hit makers and on quality music and artists who will last, the sales will be there.

Without further adieu, and in no particular order, here is some of my favorite music from 2010:

Best album using guest vocalists: David Byrne & Fatboy Slim: Here Lies Love – Who ever thought that a concept album about Imelda Marcus would be made, much less be a great album? David Byrne had been rumored to have been working on this for years, and with help from Fatboy Slim and guest vocalists including Tori Amos, Sharon Jones, Florence Welch, Santigold, Cyndi Lauper, St. Vincent, Sia and more, the album turned out great. Check out this image for all of the artists involved.

Best Summer Music: (Tie) – Free Energy and Best Coast – Free Energy is a Minneapolis born and Philadelphia band who burst on the scene this year, in part thanks to my local radio station, 89.3 The Current. With infectious pop hooks, the single Bang Pop became one of my top earworms of the year. Free Energy will be playing The Current’s 6th Birthday Party at First Avenue later this month. Best Coast had the quintessential summer album that makes you want to roll down the windows, hit the gas and blare the music. Best Coast’s California garage rock will get your foot tapping and with the average song only two and a half minutes the album will be over before you know it and you’ll be hitting the play button again.

Best cover album: The Bird and the Bee – Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates – I’ve already talked about this album a bit, but I love the fact they went back and covered some pure 80’s pop classics. I think you’ll be surprised how many songs you remember from your childhood.

Best 50’s revival: The Like – Release Me – With a look and a sound that will instantly remind you of 50’s girl power pop, The Like hit the scene this year with some catchy songs that are modern yet take you back to a simpler time. Listen to the title track, Release Me, as the best example.

Best Debut Album: Local Natives – Gorilla Manor – My friend Steve’s review is 10 times better than anything I could hope to write:

We can never get through a year without being introduced to a handful of bands who, no matter how popular with the listening public, seem to be loathed by critics (see Mumford & Sons). Local Natives fit into this same mold, making some local bloggers pass this off as Boring Yuppie Music (sorry Josh at Reviler). I’ll admit, Local Natives is an awful band name…the album, though, not so much. I’m a sucker for untraditional percussion, and _Gorilla Manor_features some progressive and driving rhythms throughout. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for Boring Yuppie Music.

Album I should have bought and not listened to Steve: LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening – Steve and I had a Twitter conversation where he didn’t recommend buying LCD Soundsystem (I was going to buy it on vinyl). I took his advice and then a few months later Amazon had it on sale for $3.99. Bought it, listened to it, loved it.

Best Album released in December that didn’t make anyone’s Best of 2010 lists: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – III / IV – One of the problems with everyone’s Christmas creep in releasing their lists early is they will inevitably leave off an album that’s released after their list. This year, that album was III / IV. I’m a huge Ryan Adams fan and somehow missed the announcement that the album was available and pre-order and it sold out within days on his website. Luckily, Amazon had the vinyl album available. III / IV are the outtakes from my favorite Ryan Adams’ album, Easy Tiger. At 21 songs, it’s easy to find some songs that are clearly inferior to the Easy Tiger album, but there are a handful of songs that are as good as, if not better, than some of the tracks on Easy Tiger. One of my favorite releases on vinyl this year, the album came with great art inside, and the vinyl albums themselves are beautiful – one red, one blue. Pictures are available here.

Best album released in the same year the band broke up: Wolf Parade – Expo 86 – I was sad to hear a few weeks ago that Wolf Parade was breaking up (though pleasantly surprised to learn that one of the members fronts Handsome Furs). Yulia was a catchy song, if a bit overplayed locally.

Best single: Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man – Released in October 2009 in the UK, but February 2010 in the US, Mumford and Sons just barely makes the best of 2010 list. The first time I heard this song I had two thoughts: I can’t believe this is playing on the radio (let’s just say they have to bleep out the chorus constantly) and second, wow, this will be in my head for days. The rest of the album came to grow on me. And more bands need banjos.

Best packaging – of Montreal’s False Priest (red vinyl deluxe package): A beautiful double LP on 180 gram red vinyl, it also included stickers, buttons and a great 20 page book of paintings by David Barnes. It also included posters and a great t-shirt. of Montreal is on the Polyvinyl record label, who truly gets not just how to be a successful independent record label, but how to connect with fans and offer high quality vinyl releases.

Best Side Project: Broken Bells – Broken Bells – The Shin’s lead singer James Mercer along with Danger Mouse (one half of Gnarls Barkley and famous producer) came together to release one of the year’s best albums. The whole album from start to finish is absolutely amazing and I’m just kicking myself for not going to their December show at First Avenue. (The Current is streaming that show at their website). Both artists have promised this is just the beginning for Broken Bells and I can’t wait to see what their next album holds.

Best Mashup Album: Girl Talk – All Day – Thanks to the popularity of Glee, America was introduced to the term mashup in 2010. But mashups have been around for years, and Girl Talk is currently the poster boy for the mashup album. Where dance club mashups tend to be 2 or 3 songs put together, Gregg Gillis uses dozens of songs and samples to create a new song. All Day features 372 samples and I’m amazed he’s getting local airplay here in Minneapolis, which I think is great. (Which makes me wonder – if only the songwriter gets paid for radio airplay, who gets paid?)

Best re-issue: Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine – Trent Reznor’s debut album, out of print for most of the 1990s, finally changed ownership a couple of times, and Bicycle Records, the new owner allowed Reznor to do the remastering he had longed to do. It was worth the wait. The muddled and muted vocals are fixed and balanced with the music, which is brighter and cleaner. I bought this on both CD and vinyl, and it worth buying both. When I first bought my turntable this past spring, one of the first albums I searched for was this – which goes for $100 and up due its rarity. The CD was worth it just for the new packaging. Rob Sheridan, Trent Reznor’s long time designer, did a great interview where he talks about the difficulty in re-creating the original artwork.

Best album I wish I had purchased earlier: Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest – I finally picked this up earlier this week at a local record shop, Down in the Valley. About a month ago, The Current featured it as their album of the week. Mark Wheat, in his review, called it “ambient punk” and the label fits. He also said that when friends and family ask you what indie music is, you should hold up this album as the example. He’s right – this album is truly indie and the sound is like no other, from start to finish. I can’t stop playing it these past few days.

I don’t have any witty descriptions for the following albums, other than these were some of my favorite albums that came out in 2010:

Yeasayer – Odd Blood – One of my top three albums this year. A unique sound and the album I played the most in February and March and then throughout the year. Loved the video with Kristin Bell.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Let it Sway – Another Polyvinyl release, SSLYBY brings an infectious, bright pop sound to indie music. Sink/Let it Sway was a staple on The Current over the summer, and I was glad to hear them get the airplay.

The New Pornographers – Together – I was disappointed to see how many critics left this off their best of lists this year. I think the issue is that they put out such high quality albums time and again, that when another great album comes out, it’s exactly what the critics expect and they don’t get the credit they deserve. I loved this album and it was one of the first vinyl albums I bought after buying my turntable. AC Newman’s use of the entire ensemble and harmonizing between the male and female leads gets me every time.

Cloud Cult – Lightchasers – Members of the mailing list were able to buy this album three or four months before it was released and was it worth it! The ethereal sound of Cloud Cult and their live shows are something no one is able to re-create. This album celebrates the birth of their child (after losing a child a number of years ago) and their optimism shines brightly throughout this album.

Minus the Bear – Omni – I’m told that Minus the Bear fans don’t think too highly of this album, but I loved it due to the fact it introduced me to them. Buying some of their older albums is high on my wish list to compare.

Jonsi – Go – The guitarist and lead vocalist for Sigur Ros goes solo (though he promises they haven’t broke up). Let’s just say if you like Sigur Ros you’ll like this album.

Spoon – Transference – Spoon strips down and goes back to their beginnings with a rougher sounding album and less catchy melodies and it works.

Band of Horses – Infinite Arms – I don’t know what I can say that other critics haven’t already said about this album. Go listen to it now. I guarantee that On My Way Home will stick in your head for days.

Jenny and Johnny – I’m Having Fun Now – Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and her boyfriend Johnathan Rice release their first album together and it lives up to the title of the album. I love Jenny Lewis’ voice and Johnny plays off her well. This was also a great package, that when pre-ordered from their website, you got the vinyl, CD, a cassette tape and multiple 7″ records of the album.

The National – High Violet – I didn’t think The National would ever be able to improve on Boxer, and then they release High Violet. It’s one of those albums where you love the music and the more you listen you hear and understand the lyrics and you understand the true genius of a band.

Last, but definitely not least, probably my album of the year:

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby – Lonely Avenue – Having grown up playing the piano, I’m a sucker for musicians who play the piano, and Ben Folds has been one of my favorite artists for years. Not just because of his piano skills (which are incredible) but his witty lyrics (and penchant for swearing). When I heard a year ago that he was collaborating with author Nick Hornby, I couldn’t wait. (You probably know Nick Hornby from the his novels adapted for movies including High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Fever Pitch. All of his novels are fantastic). At the same time, Ben Folds started asking questions on a vinyl record forum to gauge interest in releasing the album on vinyl, which they did do. The vinyl albums was mastered and pressed at some of the most famous studios left for vinyl and the quality shows.

The album itself is fantastic – Hornby’s tongue in cheek lyrics to start the album in A Perfect Day ripping on bloggers to his timely lyrics about Levi Johnston and Sarah Palin In Levi Johnston’s Blues (my favorite song on the album) showcase Nick Hornby’s skill with a pen. Ben Folds puts his trademark sounds, including piano solos and his unique vocals, to good use, making it one of the most unlikely, but great, collaborations to be released in a long, long time.

2010 was a great year in music and I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings!

December 28, 2010
in Digital, music
4 min read

Best of Bootie 2010

Thanks to Glee, mainstream America was introduced to the term mashup in 2010. But to some of us, we’ve been listening to mashups for years. Bootie, started in 2003 by DJs Adrian and Mysterious D, hosts monthly dance parties featuring mashups. Starting in 2005, they started publishing the year’s best mashups on their website. I’m not into pop music and Bootie is what introduces me to what’s been popular in the past year.

The 2010 Best of Bootie was just released, and you can download the MP3s, which play as one continuous mix, or, for the first time, the unmixed files, allowing you to mix and match songs without having the beginnings and ends cut off. (If you you choose the MP3s and do want to burn it, remember to choose gapless burn in your software!)

And now, not so much a mini review of the Best of Bootie 2010, but some observations and thoughts:

Track 2 – The Face Melters – Ice Ice Tik Tok (Ke$ha vs. Vanilla Ice) – Who knew Vanilla Ice would still be relevant 20 years later? Great mix to kick it off with a bang.
Track 3 – DJ Tripp – Dynamite Pressure (Taio Cruz vs. Queen & David Bowie) – Always good to hear Queen, a popular band for mashups. I like how Vanilla Ice’s hook for Under Pressure transitions from the previous track into this song. (The Kleptone’s A Night at the Hip-Hopera was one of the first mashup albums I ever got into. Still one of my favorites, featuring all Queen songs overlaid by other’s vocals)
Track 5 – DJ Lobsterdust – Knock Out Eileen (LL Cool J vs. Dexy’s Midnight Runners) – When I first saw this track title, I thought no way could that work. It’s a knockout (pun intended).
Track 6 – Rad Bad – Moving Da Royalty (Will Smith vs. Daft Punk) – Same as 5. Can’t think of the last time I heard Will Smith rapping about Bel Air – it’s been years!. Great mashup with the bass line from Daft Punk.
Track 7 – Mashup-Germany vs. Faroff – Everybody & Ray Speaks No Americano (Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP vs. Backstreet Boys vs. Ray Charles vs. Benny Benassi) – Amusing. Wins longest title of the year. They should have given a credit to C&C Music Factory too.
Track 11 -DJs From Mars – Enter Telephone (Lady Gaga vs. Metallica) – As the song opens, you get a combination of the famous guitar lick form Enter Sandman with Lady Gaga’s unique vocals. As the song progresses, the Metallica is not overwhelming, but when you overlay the keyboards it’s really well done, especially the chorus, at the guitar from Enter Sandman ratchets up.
Track 12 – DJs From Mars – Teenage Gay (Katy Perry vs. O.M.D.) – To an uneducated ear, you would think this is just a Katy Perry remix. Hearing the Enola Gay synth from OMD is a treat. It’s obvious at the start of the song, but much more subtle as the song progresses.
Track 14 – DJs From Mars – California Jump (Katy Perry vs. Van Halen) – Katy Perry’s vocals overlaid with the keyboard parts from Van Halen’s Jump. The first of 3(!) songs featuring Van Halen’s Jump in this years Best of Bootie.
Track 15 – The Kleptones – Jump You Fucker (Cee Lo Green vs. Van Halen) – Cee Lo’s smash hit Fuck You with Van Halen’s Jump. I’m surprised more Cee-Lo mashups didn’t make Best of Bootie this year – but it’s clear why this one did.
Track 16 – DJ Le Clown vs. Ludachrist – Pon De Billie Foley (Major Lazer vs. Michael Jackson vs. Harold Faltermeyer) – Axel Foley approves.
Track 19 – DJ Topcat – Folsom Prison Gangstaz (Eazy-E vs. Johnny Cash) – Easy-E and Johnny Cash. What else do they have in common besides this great mashup? They usually wore black. Another mashup on paper that you wouldn’t think goes together, but works really well. Speaking of Easy-E, takes me back to the first time I heard the Best of Bootie 2005 with Smells Like Compton – N.W.A vs Nirvana. Who thought that would work and it was one of the best mashups of 2005, if not all time.
Track 22 – LeeDM101 – (Find Myself) A Heap Of Love (Florence & the Machine vs. Depeche Mode vs. Imogen Heap) – Slowing it down as the album starts to come to a close, Florence + the Machine was one of my favorite albums this year. Add some Depeche Mode some Imogen Heap, mix well, and kick back in listen.
Track 23 – Mighty Mike – Imagine A Jump (Van Halen vs. John Lennon) – The album winds down with John Lennon’s Imagine mixed with Van Halen’s Jump. David Lee Roth’s vocals actually work pretty well.

Thanks again Bootie! (Follow them on Twitter too!)

December 27, 2010
in music
1 min read

Live concerts on The Current

89.3 The Current, a Minnesota Public Radio station, is ending the year with a bang and broadcasting four outstanding concerts that took place in Minnesota this year.

Monday, December 27th: Rock The Garden. An annual show hosted by The Current at the Walker Art Center, this year’s Rock the Garden featured Retribution Gospel Choir, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and MGMT.
Tuesday, December 28th: The Hold Steady’s 4th of July show at First Avenue.
Wednesday, December 29th: October’s Mumford and Sons concert at First Avenue. One of the hottest tickets of the year in Minneapolis if you were lucky enough to have one.
Thursday, December 30th: Broken Bell’s December show at First Avenue.

December 26, 2010
in Hardware, Technology
3 min read

Boxee Box

My wife (who knows me all too well) got me a gift I’ve been coveting since it was announed at CES last year: the Boxee Box.

I’ve been using Boxee on a Mac Mini hooked up to my home theater for almost two years now – and love it. Unfortunately, the Boxee Box by D-link has been a disappointment so far.

Setting up the box was a breeze – plug in the power and the HDMI and on first boot it checks for new firmware, which it downloaded, installed and rebooted. I’ve been a release or two behind on th Boxee software on my Mac Mini due to a bug it has with processing a full HD stream from my MythTV box, but using the new UI was simple. It was easy to find where to adjust the screen size and add network shares to start scanning my local content.

And that’s where the problems started.

While scanning my content, I tried to watch The Daily Show from the Comedy Central website. Video played fine but there was no audio. Tried a Youtube video and the same thing. I then tried to play a file locally from my NAS and guess what – no sound.

It appears I’m not the only one. Sure enough, plugging the Boxee Box directly into my TV and not my receiver, sound and video work fine. Connecting the HDMI into the receiver, I get video and no audio.

This has to be a problem in software – I’m familiar with the HDMI spec, and transmitting a video signal and not audio is not a physical problem. I own a Denon AVR-4306 – it’s not like it’s a cheap receiver either.

The second major issue is that the MythTV support I’ve been using in Boxee doesn’t seem to work on the Boxee Box. Rumor is that the mythtv:// protocol was removed, but I haven’t been able to confirm it yet. What’s worse, trying to play back video via the MythTV UPnP doesn’t work for me either, which seems to be hit or miss for most people.

I want to love the Boxee Box. I really do. The fact that sound is not working for a small subset of people is concerning. I love the software, but the hardware implementation just isn’t there yet.

Some other random observations:

I love the form factor. I know some people don’t, but I love how unique it is. I like how the Boxee logo lights up when it’s powered on.
The remote is awesome. Perfectly sized and light. The keyboard built into the remote is good too – not too big or too small.
I was happy to open the packaging, take out the Boxee Box and have a paper copy of the GPL. That always makes me smile.
An HDMI cable is included. A very nice touch.
I like the browser improvements they’ve made in the new WebKit browser. It’s much easier to move the mouse cursor using the remote.
I’m happy with the new firmware updates – the changes they made to playing back local media and listening to their users feedback was impressive.
I won’t even comment on the lack of Hulu and Netflix support – they promise it’s coming, but it’s not out yet.

I want to love the Boxee Box. Especially since my wife bought it for me. But it doesn’t work for me and I don’t know if I’m going to keep it yet. I may buy a new TV for a different room in the house sometime in the next year, but it seems silly to hang on to something I can’t use. Please try again Boxee.

December 13, 2010
in GNOME
2 min read

2009 GNOME Annual Report is out!

From the better late than never department, the 2009 GNOME Foundation Annual Report has been released.

When Lucas first asked me to help with the annual report a year and a half ago at GUADEC in Gran Canaria, one of the goals was to try and help it come out sooner. Apparently, I had the opposite effect. I have lots of excuses, but none of them good. (Though someone did point out to me that Mozilla just released their 2009 report a few weeks ago, so I felt a bit better. But not a whole lot, I hate being tardy, believe it or not).

The Annual Report wouldn’t have happened without Daniel Galleguillos C. who did all of the design and layout work and put up with my constant change requests. (Thanks to those who have already found a couple small typos – please email me with any more you find and I’ll work to get an updated copy out this weekend).

Thanks to all of our writers, including Jason Clinton, Pockey Lam, Stormy Peters and Diego Escalante Urrelo – and everyone who contributed to a quarterly report. I’d also like to thank everyone who helped with photos or re-licensed their photos so we were able to use them including Cody Russell, Chris Lord, Michael Dominic K., and Lucas Rocha. Lastly, thanks to everyone who helped edit and everyone I’m forgetting (because I know I am – especially on the photos!)

Work is already beginning on the 2010 report. It will be out sooner (I promise) and I’m also going to change it so it coincides with GNOME’s fiscal year rather than calendar year, so it may be a slightly smaller as there will be some overlap. If you want to help out, let me know!

December 10, 2010
in Digital, Vinyl
2 min read

Heard it on the Radio

Hall & Oates play a sold out show tonight in Minneapolis at the State Theater. I fondly remember growing up listening to my father’s lite rock station as their hits were played. With six #1 songs, it’s good to see Hall & Oates music celebrated for the pop genius that it is. No one is going to pretend that their songs will change the world, but they are catchy and stay with you long after you hear them – which is exactly what a good pop song should do. Hall & Oates have never pretended to be anything other than what they are.

One of my favorite album’s this year was The Bird and the Bee’s Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates. Covering 9 of their hits and clocking in at over just 30 minutes, they do a note for note rendition of Hall and Oates’ greatest hits. Inara George’s ethereal voice does a wonderful job adding nuance and depth to these timeless pop hits.

I originally bought the album earlier this year on a whim when it was featured for less than $5 as an Amazon deal of the day. I own The Bird and the Bee’s earlier albums and you may know their hit Diamond Dave about David Lee Roth, which has received airplay on The Current and other indie rock stations. For $5 and a return to my youth, I couldn’t go wrong. It quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year – when I need something poppy or to get me going it made great background music.

Two weeks ago on Black Friday and Record Store Day, I came across a vinyl copy (pictured above) on sale at the Exclusive Company. For $12, how could I say no? And now I’ve bought two copies of a cover album and continue to enjoy it.

With the show tonight, Hall and Oates are receiving some good press in the Twin Cities. The Star Tribune’s entertainment section, Vita.MN, takes a look at what continues to make Hall and Oates relevant. The City Pages looks at eight awesome moments we have Hall and Oates to thank for.

December 3, 2010
in music
1 min read

Best Album Lists of 2010

It’s that time of the year when various writers and magazines start publishing their “Best of” lists as the year draws to a close.

Whether it’s a top 10 list or a top 50 list doesn’t matter – what matters is we celebrate the the great music that came out in 2010. I’m pleasantly surprised in perusing the lists how many of these albums I’ve purchased and enjoyed. While I may disagree with some of the rankings, I generally agree with almost all of the lists I’ve seen so far.

Before we get to the lists though, I highly recommend this article which explains how all of these lists are compiled. If you read one top 10 list, you should read this first.

Some of my favorite looks at the best albums of 2010:

I’m still working on my list – it will be out in the next week or two. And I’ll make sure not to try and fall into the traps in the article above!

December 2, 2010
in Digital
2 min read

Superchunk

(Photo by Barry Yanowitz under a CC-NC-BY 2.0 license)

Somehow I went through the 90s oblivious to Superchunk. I’m sure they were played on Rev105 back in the day, but for some reason I just don’t remember them. I’m now making up for lost time.

Amazon MP3 has had a number of specials on Superchunk since their September release of their latest album, Majesty Strategy, their first release in 9 years. This month you can get the remastered version of On the Mouth for only $5.

It’s been well documented that one of the major reasons for the delay between releases is that two of the founders of Superchunk, Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance, are the founders of the record label, Merge, which they still run. You may not have heard of Merge, but I can guarantee you’ve heard of two little bands on the label, Arcade Fire and Spoon. As you can imagine, that keeps them busy.

Superchunk is playing at First Avenue tonight and the Twin Cities is all a-buzz with their return. The Star Tribune currently features tonight’s Superchunk show on their front page and the City Pages has great coverage. They published an interview today and later in the day published the complete transcript including quotes that didn’t make the print edition.

They talk about Superchunk’s songs, running Merge and some of the great shows they’ve had playing at 7th Street Entry and First Avenue. What I wouldn’t give to have seen Superchunk with Rilo Kiley at the Entry…

And if you see their guitar on an American flight, let them know.

Update December 2nd: A cover of Velvet Underground’s John Cale’s Child’s Christmas was released today. Read more about it and stream it at Cover Me. (Via Largeheartedboy)