Merge 25 Festival adds free day parties in Carrboro

The big Merge 25 Festival kicks off in exactly a month and while tickets are sold out for the Thursday and Friday night shows at the Cat's Cradle, the label has just added a few outdoor day parties behind the club at the Orange County Social Club on those days.

The shows will be from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 24, and Friday, July 25, at the Orange County Social Club. Amor de Días and Hiss Golden Messenger will play Thursday and Radar Brothers and Saint Rich will play Friday.

Tickets are still available HERE for the show on Wednesday, July 23, at Baldwin Auditorium in Durham featuring Lampchop, Mount Moriah and William Tyler. Tickets are also available HERE for the big Saturday, July 26, outdoor show in Carrboro hosted by Margaret Cho featuring Neutral Milk Hotel, Caribou, Teenage Fanclub, Bob Mould, Mikal Cronin, Ex Hex, The Love Language and The Music Tapes.

Orange County Social Club to celebrate 10th anniversary with Crooked Fingers, Benji Hughes & more

To celebrate their tenth anniversary, the Carrboro bar and hangout Orange County Social Club will be a week of events this October, culminating in two nights of music at the Cat's Cralde.

The Cradle gigs will be on October 14 and 15 and feature Crooked Fingers, Benji Hughes, David Bazan, Gross Ghost, The Ghost of Rock, The Toddlers, Kerbloki, Seven Bridges for the Meatwagon and The Dogwoods (featuring members of Mandolin Orange, The Light Pines, the Tomahawks and Ryan Gustafson). Check out the lineup for each night below.

Merge Records hosting Superchunk listening parties in Raleigh, Carrboro

The release of Superchunk's first album in nine years is almost here (Sept. 14), and Merge Records will be hosting two Triangle listening parties ahead of the release.

The first Majesty Shredding party will be during the Hopscotch Festival on Thursday, Sept. 9 at the Foundation Bar at 213 Fayetteville St. from 4 to 6 p.m.

The second will be at Orange County Social Club at 108 E. Main St. in Carrboro on Sunday, Sept. 12 from 4 to 6 p.m. You'll be able to purchase the album ahead of the release date at the Carrboro event.

Everyone who attends the events will be able to enter a raffle to win a copy of the newly remastered rereleases of No Pocky For Kitty and On the Mouth on CD or vinyl as well as a pair of tickets to Superchunk's album release show at the Nasher Museum in Durham on Sept. 16 (tickets for the show are available here for $12 or $5 for Duke students).

XX Merge day 4 at Orange County Social Club: Radar Bros. and 3Ds

The fifth band to play at Orange County Social Club on Saturday was Los Angeles group Radar Bros. The group played a mellow set for the crowd, opening with the song "Papillon" from the album The Fallen Leaf Pages. They played two new songs, dubbed works in progress, before a wonderful cover of Rufus Wainwright's "Oh What a World."

Towards the end of the set, the band took a crowd request and played "Shoveling Sons" before closing with "On the Line." It was a nice somber set for a humid day under a tent.

The last band to play the outdoor stage was also the only band to play two XX Merge sets. That was the New Zealand band 3Ds. They tore through another great set that included a cover of The Clean that didn't make it into the Cat's Cradle set (if anyone knows the title, let us know).

XX Merge day 4 at Orange County Social Club: Matt Suggs and Tenement Halls

The third band to take the stage at the free XX Merge show at Orange Social Club was Matt Suggs (formerly of Butterglory). He played a great set comprised of solo tunes and old Butterglory songs. Suggs was joined by Zach Holland on guitar for a few songs and Mac McCaughan played drums during most of the set.

The old Butterglory songs really shined, specifically "She's Go the Akshun!" and "Better Gardens, Better Homes." You can check out video of the entire set on YouTube thanks to user chiglartayindustries. It's well worth checking out. The complete set list is below.

XX Merge day 4 at Orange County Social Club: The Music Tapes and Portastatic

It was a warm humid day outside Orange County Social Club on Saturday, but six XX Merge artists marched through the heat to play great sets.

First up for the afternoon show was New York performer Julian Koster, aka The Music Tapes. He came with his giant metronome and some other odd contraptions that accompanied him as he played some songs on the banjo, the "singing saw" and other instruments. The short set included the song "Big Beautiful Shops" and as well as a new song. As a whole, it was a fantastically quirky performance.

Next up was Merge co-founder Mac McCaughan and violinist Margaret White as Portastatic. The six-song set opened with a Caetano Veloso cover of "Baby" from the 2000 EP De Mel, De Melão. Also included was a great version of "San Andreas" which Mac noted was the first time they had played it with a violin. Check out the complete set list below and check out a video of the performance of "Noisy Night" here.

New XX Merge events announced in Durham, Carrboro

Two new events have just been announced as part of the big XX Merge Festival coming up in July.

First, on the Saturday, July 17, prior to the big event, the Triangle Youth Ballet will present "Merge With Motion" at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. The event will be the world premiere of dance performance set to Merge Records music. The dancers will dance to recorded music by Arcade Fire, Caribou, Destroyer, The Magnetic Fields, Polvo, Richard Buckner, Spaceheads and Spoon, but will also feature a live performance by The Rosebuds. They will play an old song as well as a brand new song composed specifically for "Merge With Motion."

Tickets for "Merge With Motion" are $17 or $15 in advance, depending upon the seats. Tickets are available here and at the box office. It sounds like a pretty cool event.

Second, Merge will host a free show on Saturday, July 25 at 1pm at Orange County Social Club in Carrboro (it's right up the street from the Cat's Cradle). The show will be outside and feature sets by Portastatic, Tenement Halls, The Music Tapes, Matt Suggs and Radar Bros. The OCSC is a private club, but you only need to buy a membership for this event if you plan to drink. This will be a good chance for folks who were not able to get tickets to the main event to enjoy some great Merge music.

Tickets are still available for final night (July 26) of XX Merge at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill featuring She & Him, American Music Club and Wye Oak. Tickets are available via etix.com, at CD Alley, Bull City Records and Schoolkids Records and at the Memorial Hall box office.

We're only a little over a month away now. It's going to be fun.