'Shadows' is full of drowsy sweetness and mellow doubt: the sound of a great group ageing gracefully" - Uncut (4 stars). "'Shadows' builds upon 'Man-Made'’s creative reboot - songs which in the fashion of mature-era Fanclub slowly yet unfailingly insinuate their charms" - Mojo (4 stars). It has been five long years since TEENGAE FANCLUB's last album 'Man-Made' was released to universal acclaim, so it is no overstatement to say the new album 'Shadows' is keenly anticipated. While most bands are lucky to have one great songwriter, Teenage Fanclub are blessed with three, hence 'Shadows' is overflowing with the kind of gorgeous, harmony-driven classics you’d expect to find on a greatest hits album.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
Nov. 2 street date. Originally released in 1990 on Paperhouse, this is the classic debut album from TEENAGE FANCLUB and it really catches that pop indie sound that flooded everyone's headphones in the early '90s. More raw sounding than their later releases, 'A Catholic Education' doesn't really fit neatly into any category being the perfect marriage of the better aspects of Britpop and the swirling dreamy guitars and melancholy pop melodies of the Big Star tradition. Please note that another vinyl edition (FRE001) was solicited a few weeks ago but has unfortunately been withdrawn.
Oct. 11 street date. 'Deep Fried Fanclub' is an amalgamation of TEENAGE FANCLUB's currently out of print early B-sides and rarities, and also includes the universally loved "Everything Flows" from their debut album 'A Catholic Education'. Teenage Fanclub's sugary indie sound is delivered with a forthright rock approach you'd expect from Big Star or Dinosaur Jr. Celebrating a career spanning two decades this collection highlights lost gems making them available once again in a lovingly packaged gatefold digipack CD. Complete with covers of tunes by Neil Young and Beat Happening to name a few, this album is perfect for a sunny afternoon with some time to kill.
Nov. 15 street date. This album is an amalgamation of TEENAGE FANCLUB's currently out of print B-sides, rarities and also includes universally loved "Everything Flows" from their debut album, 'A Catholic Education'. Teenage Fanclub's sugary indie sound is delivered with a forthright rock approach you'd expect from Big Star or Dinosaur Jr. Celebrating a career spanning two decades, this collection highlights lost gems making them available once again in a lovingly packaged LP. Featuring "Speeder" (a B-Side on "Everything Flows" and "Everybody's Fool") and none other than Don Fleming at the helm for production duties on "Weedbreak" (B-Side from their very first single "God Know It's True"). Complete with covers of Neil Young and Beat Happening to name a few, this album is perfect for a sunny afternoon with some time to kill. Includes download card.
August 5 street date. LP is pressed on 180 gram vinyl with download coupon. Teenage Fanclub’s Man-Made is August installment in the Merge Records 25th anniversary reissue series. Originally released in 2005, Man-Made is a classic Fanclub record in tone and arrangement, and handsomely demonstrates the 'less is more' maxim--it is both airier and more light of touch than it’s immediate predecessors. Teenage Fanclub made the record in Chicago with John McEntire (Tortoise) at his Soma Electronic Music Studios. Though McEntire’s production is subtle, his unique aesthetics are definitely apparent on Man-Made as odd keyboards and sundry other inevitably electronic apparatuses bubble and bleep just below the surface of fuzzed-out guitars, chugging basslines, and layered vocals.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
August 5 street date. LP is pressed on 180 gram vinyl with download coupon. Teenage Fanclub’s Shadows is August installment in the Merge Records 25th anniversary reissue series. Originally released in 2010, Shadows picks up on the introspective, world-weary quality of Man-Made but also delivers a bit of the classic bright pop the band is known for. Where Man-Made found the band struggling with feeling like life was an illusion on the dogged 'It’s All in My Mind', here you get Love’s breezy baroque pop statement of purpose 'Sometimes I Don’t Need to Believe in Anything', with its chorus of layered synth, strings, flutes, and sundry wind instruments. Similarly, Blake’s leadoff single 'Baby Lee' is a romantic ‘60s-styled folk-rocker that veritably shimmers with positive vibes. Elsewhere, Love’s 'Into the City' is a sunshine pop/country-rock love letter to urban days in the sun and McGinley’s 'Today Never Ends' is slow-burn psychedelic country-rock rumination on the past, the present, and a perfect day that never ends. If the day is as sun-drenched and relaxed as the songs on Shadows implies, then may it and Teenage Fanclub go on and on.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
September 9 street date. The wait is over! On September 9, Teenage Fanclub return with Here, the band’s first album in six years. As ever, song-wise the Fanclub present a textbook representation of democracy in action, the record offering four each by Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley. From the almighty chime of opener “I’m In Love” through the ecstatic soul-search of “The First Sight” and the paean to unerring friendship “With You,” Here is a collection of twelve songs about the only things that truly matter: life and love. As is befitting of a record that took its time to arrive, Here uses reflective space to dazzling effect. “Steady State,” with its gorgeous ebb and flow, has echoes of The Notorious Byrd Brothers’ astral jangle, while “I Was Beautiful When I Was Alive” unexpectedly curves off from dreamlike beginnings into a semi-acoustic/motorik outro, sonically replacing the steady beat of the German autobahn with the vast open skies of the Pacific Coast Highway. Not for one second is Here the sound of procrastination or headscratching. It’s the effortless work of a band entirely confident in their own craft—the consolidation of nearly three decades of peerless songwriting and almost telepathic musicianship. Here is a record that embraces maturity and experience and hugs them close. (LP Includes download)
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
September 9 street date. The wait is over! On September 9, Teenage Fanclub return with Here, the band’s first album in six years. As ever, song-wise the Fanclub present a textbook representation of democracy in action, the record offering four each by Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley. From the almighty chime of opener “I’m In Love” through the ecstatic soul-search of “The First Sight” and the paean to unerring friendship “With You,” Here is a collection of twelve songs about the only things that truly matter: life and love. As is befitting of a record that took its time to arrive, Here uses reflective space to dazzling effect. “Steady State,” with its gorgeous ebb and flow, has echoes of The Notorious Byrd Brothers’ astral jangle, while “I Was Beautiful When I Was Alive” unexpectedly curves off from dreamlike beginnings into a semi-acoustic/motorik outro, sonically replacing the steady beat of the German autobahn with the vast open skies of the Pacific Coast Highway. Not for one second is Here the sound of procrastination or headscratching. It’s the effortless work of a band entirely confident in their own craft—the consolidation of nearly three decades of peerless songwriting and almost telepathic musicianship. Here is a record that embraces maturity and experience and hugs them close. (LP Includes download)
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
Available now. Remastered 180 gram vinyl reissue of 1991's classic second album from Teenage Fanclub. Also includes a bonus 7" single. The singles "The Concept" and "Star Sign" both made it into the top 10 of Peel's Festive 50 that year and the album featured strongly in the end of year polls including the NME, Select, The Face, and was crowned Best Album by SPIN magazine.
Available now. Remastered 180 gram vinyl reissue of 1995's fourth album from Teenage Fanclub. Also includes a bonus 7" single. Arguably the definitive Teenage Fanclub album and their most critically and commercially successful album. For many this album surpasses the genius of "Bandwagonesque", something not many thought possible. The record firmly establishes the band's sound and their individual songwriting ability hits rarefied heights.
Available now. Remastered 180 gram vinyl reissue of the third album from Teenage Fanclub, originally released in 1993. Also includes a bonus 7" single. This was the band’s "difficult" album following on from the global success of "Bandwagonesque". The underrated album stands up today alongside anything else they have done. Although named after the number of tracks on the album, the title is a clear reference to Big Star, a relatively obscure reference point at the time, but a key influence for the band. Another key influence for the album is The Byrds, a reference proudly worn on their sleeves with album's closing track "Gene Clark".
August 5 street date. LP is pressed on 180 gram vinyl with download coupon. Teenage Fanclub’s Man-Made is August installment in the Merge Records 25th anniversary reissue series. Originally released in 2005, Man-Made is a classic Fanclub record in tone and arrangement, and handsomely demonstrates the 'less is more' maxim--it is both airier and more light of touch than it’s immediate predecessors. Teenage Fanclub made the record in Chicago with John McEntire (Tortoise) at his Soma Electronic Music Studios. Though McEntire’s production is subtle, his unique aesthetics are definitely apparent on Man-Made as odd keyboards and sundry other inevitably electronic apparatuses bubble and bleep just below the surface of fuzzed-out guitars, chugging basslines, and layered vocals.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
Please note new street date: April 30. Even if we weren't living through extraordinarily troubling times, there is nothing quite like a Teenage Fanclub album to assuage the mind, body, and soul, and to reaffirm that all is not lost in this world. "Endless Arcade" follows the band's ninth album "Here", released in 2016 to universal acclaim and notably their first UK Top 10 album since 1997, a mark of how much they're treasured. The new record is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heartwarming and heartaching, guitars chime and distort, keyboard lines mesh and spiral, harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day. Recent albums such as "Shadows" and "Here" have documented a more relaxed, less "teenage" Fanclub, reflecting the band's stage in life and state of mind, alongside which "Endless Arcade" slots perfectly.The album walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community, and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts of insecurity, anxiety, and loss.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
Please note new street date: April 30. Even if we weren't living through extraordinarily troubling times, there is nothing quite like a Teenage Fanclub album to assuage the mind, body, and soul, and to reaffirm that all is not lost in this world. "Endless Arcade" follows the band's ninth album "Here", released in 2016 to universal acclaim and notably their first UK Top 10 album since 1997, a mark of how much they're treasured. The new record is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heartwarming and heartaching, guitars chime and distort, keyboard lines mesh and spiral, harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day. Recent albums such as "Shadows" and "Here" have documented a more relaxed, less "teenage" Fanclub, reflecting the band's stage in life and state of mind, alongside which "Endless Arcade" slots perfectly.The album walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community, and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts of insecurity, anxiety, and loss.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
Please note new street date: April 30. Even if we weren't living through extraordinarily troubling times, there is nothing quite like a Teenage Fanclub album to assuage the mind, body, and soul, and to reaffirm that all is not lost in this world. "Endless Arcade" follows the band's ninth album "Here", released in 2016 to universal acclaim and notably their first UK Top 10 album since 1997, a mark of how much they're treasured. The new record is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heartwarming and heartaching, guitars chime and distort, keyboard lines mesh and spiral, harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day. Recent albums such as "Shadows" and "Here" have documented a more relaxed, less "teenage" Fanclub, reflecting the band's stage in life and state of mind, alongside which "Endless Arcade" slots perfectly.The album walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community, and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts of insecurity, anxiety, and loss.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
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