Merge to unveil 20-year anniversary box set

Well, now you have the chance to give yourself a present for Merge Record’s birthday, as they celebrate their 20-year mark. They’re making available a subscription-only box set titled SCORE! Merge Records: The First 20 Years, and discs will be churned out throughout 2009. But if you want in, you should sign up soon because box set pre-ordering starts Sept. 8, and they’re limiting the number of subscribers to those who sign up before delivery starts in January. Check it out at MergeRecords.com. The box set will include original artwork and 14 discs curated by the likes of R.E.M. musician Peter Buck, Junebug director Phil Morrison, Amy Poehler, David Byrne, author Jonathan Lethem, artist Marcel Dzama and Momofuku chef David Chang–and more to be announced. It will include tuneage from the record label’s first 20 years in business. And the proceeds from each disc created will go to a good cause–Merge is donating the money to a charity of the curator’s choice.

Merge Records, located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is the home of great indie bands such as Arcade Fire, Spoon, Buzzcocks, M. Ward, Conor Oberst, She & Him, Lambchop, Superchunk, Camera Obscura, Neutral Milk Hotel, and others.