(Algonquin Books)

 www.algonquin.com

BY FRED MILLS

Although scores of indies have probably used the "little label that could" tagline over the years, none can lay claim to it quite as confidently as Merge. Over the course of its improbable 20-year (and counting...) run, Merge has transformed the I-think-I-can into we-can-do-this with such panache and unbridled joy you'd think they were a venerable jazz or blues imprint from the ‘40s or ‘50s rather than a scruffy Chapel Hill indie rock label that got its start in '89 issuing a pair of cassettes and two 7-inchers, primarily to document co-founders Mac McCaughan and Laura Balance's own bands.

Our Noise, then, arrives on the heels of this summer's XX Merge 20 music festival to tell that two decade-long tale, and the telling, primarily oral history-style abetted by author John Cook's deft narrative links, fully brings to life the events and the characters that went into shaping the label's aesthetic of common-sense financial frugality, honesty with the artists, and - above all else - releasing music that you genuinely love. Following a heartfelt, appreciative intro from Merge fan Ryan Adams, the book chronicles what was going on in Chapel Hill and the surrounding area prior to the launch of Merge (a classic "lightbulb moment" arrives when Mac and some others pool their resources to put together a boxed set of 45s of local bands and it unexpectedly got a ton of press). From there, Cook moves the story forward more or less year by year, focusing first on the early exploits of Superchunk and then, later, zeroing in on key Merge bands, with chapters devoted to Neutral Milk Hotel, Magnetic Fields, Lambchop, Spoon, and of course the massively successful Arcade Fire.

There's no deep analysis here, nor is any needed; Merge's trajectory was just random enough to defy easy analysis anyway, Mac and Laura steering both their label and Superchunk by instinct, not blueprint. (The section on the band's dealings with Matador Records is revealing.) And that's the book's greatest strength: it describes ordinary people doing what only in retrospect turns out to be extraordinary things, and if you don't quite "get" that then you haven't been paying attention to what's been going on in the music business lately.

Ultimately, Our Noise is more than just an accounting of records and bands - it's a series of snapshots (frequently literally; there are more than 300 images, from 45 sleeves and gig posters to glossy promotional portraits and grainy/intimate Polaroid photos) that chronicles an entire musical milieu via microcosm, an alternate alt-rock history in which the Matchbox 20s, the Third Eye Blinds, the Limp Bizkits of the world never happened, one in which the good guys won after all.

On a personal note, I've always found it ironic that as a die-hard fan and supporter of all things underground, I would leave N.C. for Arizona in 1992 precisely as Merge was on the cusp of its initial national break-through. (For confirmation, check the book's label discography: '92 brought Superchunk's Tossing Seeds and Polvo's Cor-Crane Secret LP as well as a slew of classic singles from Bricks, Butterglory, Seam, Honor Role and more.) So I had to admire, and envy, their success from afar. But I was no less proud to point at a Merge release in a record store bin and tell anyone within earshot, "Those are my people doing that record!"

Come to think of it, it may be their noise, but it's our - Amerindie, USA - story. Happy birthday to us.