OUR NOISE The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small

Despite the high-profile name recognition of bands like REM and Nirvana, indie rock was hardly known by mainstream music listeners. That’s not surprising given the deliberately obscure nature of the genre, which is epitomized by the title of this book—co-authored by Merge Records founders McCaughan and Ballance. Located in the college town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Merge embraced the do-it-yourself ethic. Founded on handshake agreements and geeky ideals, the label maintained integrity in the face of an industry that doesn’t have any. Narrator Ray Porter gets the irony to be found in the story. He takes the tone of an insider with his droll delivery as he describes the politics of the underground movement and the almost-uptight preoccupations of its participants, which make the party-down ethic of the previous generation’s rockers seem quaint. J.S.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2010]