North Carolina based indie-label Merge Records has a big 2009 planned to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The label, which is home to acts like Neutral Milk Hotel, She & Him, Arcade Fire and Spoon, is rolling out a box set of material that includes 14 curated compilation CDs, a remix album and a covers comp that features non-Merge artists covering songs from the Merge catalog. In addition to all this they will also celebrate with a five-day festival dubbed XX Merge that will take place from July 22 – 25 with four nights of shows at Cat’s Cradle and a final night at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill.

Already on board to perform are label founders Superchunk, M. Ward, Spoon, Conor Oberst, the Broken West, and Destroyer, with more artists both “expected” and “unexpected” to be added in the coming weeks.

If you can’t make it down to Carolina for what should be an amazing five days, than maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…

Finally, Carlos Santana has signed an exclusive deal with the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to become Las Vegas’s first rock artist to have a residence show. The legendary guitar-slinger will hold court at The Joint through 2010 with a show called Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits and will be the only place to catch the band west of the Mississippi through 2010.

Jeffrey Greenblatt

Jeff joined the Hidden Track team full-time in 2008 and helps guide the site in his role as Managing Editor and Social Media Coordinator. Each week Jeff pens Pullin' 'Tubes, Tour Dates and Bloggy Goodness in addition to features, video posts and more. Jeff is a graduate of The George Washington University ('98), with a degree in Journalism, and has worked in the media and technology industry for the likes of MTV, VH1, A&E and Joost.

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