Pitchfork

Since 1995, Nicolas Vernhes has produced everybody from the Fiery Furnaces and Cat Power to Les Savy Fav and Ted Leo at his Rare Book Room Studio in Brooklyn. And he has convinced a bunch of artists he's worked with to return the favor, by contributing new material for his new label, Rare Book Room Records.

The label's first release will be a double disc compilation tentatively titled RBR 001 ("til I come up with a better one," Vernhes says) and featuring contributions from Fischerspooner, Animal Collective's Avey Tare, Enon, Blood on the Wall, Tara Jane O'Neil, Black Dice, and yes, a band called the Jewish.

Vernhes has not yet set a release date for the compilation (though he "expects [it] to be ready in the next month or two") "because it is a complicated and time-consuming project." Part of the reason why the process has been so time-consuming is that Vernhes "made sure to record extended intros and outros so the songs merge together into one long, but indexed, piece of music. This solution was developed so that the songs [would] flow into each other organically, eliminating the jarring and sometimes random feel to some compilations."

The tracks already recorded for RBR 001 are listed below in alphabetical order by artist, since the compilation does not yet have a tracklist. Artists who have yet to record include Oakley Hall, Fischerspooner, Enon's Toko Yasuda, Dan Brown, Theo Angell, Holy Hail, Love As Laughter's Sam Jayne, "and probably a few more."

The Silver Jews track was originally the B-side to a UK single from American Water, but other than that, every song on the compilation is previously unreleased.

Rare Book Room's second release will be a full-length by compilation contributors Palm in the Claw.

Tracks:

Avey Tare: "I'm Your Eagle Kisser"
Black Dice: "Untitled"
Blood on the Wall: "Untitled"
Enon: "Ashish"
First Nation: "RIPeace"
Charles Gansa: "Charlene"
The Jewish: "Fantasy Stalker"
KAPOW!: "The Kite Song"
La Lus: "Contendo"
Samara Lubelski: "Ego Blossom"
Damon McMahon: "Untitled"
Tara Jane O'Neil: "Sunday Song"
Palm in the Claw: "Der Koening"
Silent City: "Prussian Leather"
The Silver Jews: "Self Ignition"
Telepathe: "I Can't Stand It"
TK Webb: "The Sea Told Me the Devil's a Dork"
Tomorrow's Friend: "Hats vs. Headbands"