THE SUBURBS–the new album from ARCADE FIRE, the Montreal-based, indie-rock sensation–has landed at #1 on Billboard’s Album Chart, beating out Eminem’s “Recovery” and Lady Gaga’s “The Fame.” Total copies sold in the first week? 156,000!

As we posted earlier this week, Merge Records is the phenomenal indie label that has recorded all three of Arcade Fire’s albums. You can catch tons of cool stories (and see tons of rare photos) about Arcade Fire and other Merge bands–including faves Spoon, Magnetic Fields, Superchunk, and Lambchop–in Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small.

If you’re a music fan, you NEED this book. Seriously.

Want to try to score a free copy? Check out our Facebook page and our Twitter stream, where we’ll be giving away a few copies in the near future.

Christinne Muschi for The New York Times

Arcade Fire, the indie-rock band that surprised everyone with its meteoric rise, releases its third CD, “The Suburbs,” today. The album is already receiving amazing reviews and attention, like this New York Times feature from this past weekend: “[Their songs] mingle the punky and the symphonic, the cryptic and the heart-on-sleeve, the self-doubting and the anthemic, often with surging crescendos that make the tunes optimistic despite themselves. It’s both a stomping rock band and a mini-orchestra.”

For rare photographs and the behind-the-scenes story of the band, including how they started and came to the indie record label Merge Records (and why they, along with Spoon and others, stayed), check out Algonquin’s fantastic, photo-heavy book Our Noise: The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small.

You can get a sneak preview of the album on NPR here or catch them LIVE.

On August 5th their performance with Spoon at Madison Square Garden will be streamed live on YouTube–directed by Terry Gilliam! Be sure to tune in here at 10:00pm Eastern Standard Time.

-Kathy (Kathy Pories is a Senior Editor at Algonquin)

For Her

Going Away Shoes
By Jill McCorkle

Eleven short stories, full of longing and laughter, from the “guardian angel of short fiction.”

The Dinner Diaries: Raising Whole Wheat Kids in a White Bread World
By Betsy Block

A humorous, life-changing book on mom’s mission to achieve the ultimate of all makeovers: improving the family meal. Complete with helpful charts, food lists, recipes, tips, and suggested culinary and farm programs for kids.

Last Bite: A Novel of Culinary Romance
By Nancy Verde Barr

Casey Costello, an executive chef at morning television show, is too busy for men…that is until she’s unexpectedly whisked off her feet by the adorable Danny O’Shea, a rising chef from Ireland who seems like he may be more trouble than he’s worth.

For Him

Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court
By Roy Williams with Tim Crothers

An inspiring memoir from the head coach of the UNC Tar Heels Men’s Basketball team.

Boone: A Biography
By Robert Morgan

This rich, authoritative biography offers a wholly new perspective on a man who has been an American icon for more than two hundred years.

Far Bright Star: A Novel
By Robert Olmstead

Napoleon Childs, an aging cavalryman,  leads an expedition of inexperienced soldiers into the mountains of Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa and bring him to justice.

For the Gardener

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
By Amy Stewart

An A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.

A Rose by Any Name: The Little-Known Lore and Deep-Rooted History of Rose Names
By Douglas Brenner and Stephen Scanniello

With full-color art throughout, this eclectic little volume is a marvelous miscellany starring what is arguably the world’s most popular flower.

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden
By William Alexander

Part humor tale and part garden memoir, The $64 Tomato follows Bill Alexander on his journey from organic idealist to pragmatic food producer, and from eager backyard gardener to tired gentleman farmer–taking time along the way to reflect on ecology, nature, and the meaning of it all.

For the Foodie

The Feasting Season
By Nancy Coons

Meg Parker is a harried mom in a lackluster marriage until she lands a dream assignment: to write a guidebook about French history. Follow her adventures as lamb daube, paella and rosé, bull steak and anchioade, Brebis and strawberries awaken her senses.

Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South
By John T. Edge

Spark a delicious road-trip with this guide to savory, Southern restaurants!

Seasoned in the South: Recipes from Crook’s Corner and from Home
By Bill Smith

Structured around the seasons and the freshest seasonal foods, this cookbook offers up marvelously uncomplicated recipes— Tomato and Watermelon Salad, Fried Green Tomatoes with Sweet Corn and Lemon Beurre Blanc, Pork Roast with Artichoke Stuffing, and his signature dish, Honeysuckle Sorbet—the new bistro food of the South.

For the 20-Something

Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small
By John Cook with Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance

The exuberant story–in words and pictures–of a much-loved indie record label that, despite the odds, has become a major success story.

Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers
Illustrated by Edward Hemingway; Text by Mark Bailey

The perfect blend of classic cocktail recipes, literary history, and tales of the good old days of extravagant Martini lunches and delicious excess.

Rock On: An Office Power Ballad
By Dan Kennedy

Kennedy chronicles his misadventures at a major record label. Whether he’s directing a gangsta rapper’s commercial or battling his punk roots to create an ad campaign celebrating the love songs of Phil Collins, Kennedy’s in way over his head in this power-ballad to office life and rock and roll.

For the Travel Enthusiast

A  Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure
By Marlena de Blasi

In search of the rhythms of country living, Marlena and her husband move to a barely renovated former stable in Tuscany with no phone, no central heating, and something resembling a playhouse kitchen. They dwell among two hundred villagers, ancient olive groves, and hot Etruscan springs. Together, they discover the soul of Tuscany and explore all the land has to offer.

Very Washington DC: A Celebration of the History and Culture of  America’s Capital City
By Diana Hollingsworth Gessler

A travel guide with character, this fact-filled keepsake offers all the history, beauty, charm, and culture of our nation’s capital city. Also included are an index of sites and a useful appendix of addresses, Web sites, Metro stops, and phone numbers.

New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City
By Andrei Codrescu

New Orleans has been author Andrei Codrescu’s hometown for over twenty years. This collection of essays is an epic love song , a clear-eyed elegy, a cultural celebration, and a thank-you note to New Orleans in its Golden Age.

For the Pet Lover

My Therapist’s Dog: Lessons in Unconditional Love
By Diana Wells

An intriguing exploration into the rewards of relationships–both the canine and human varieties–begins when the author agrees to dog-sit for her therapist. What follows is an exploration of our canine connection: what we name our dogs, how we breed them, how we’ve explored the wilderness with them, the kinds of literature we write about them, why we love them, and, most important, what we can learn from them.

First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Best Friends
By Roy Rowan and Brooke Janis

A lighthearted romp through American history, packed with drawings and paintings from early America, plus photographs, starting with Abraham Lincoln’s Fido all the way to Obama’s Bo.

Enslaved by Ducks
By Bob Tarte

Bob gets more than he bargains for when he marries Linda and moves to rural Michigan: there’s Binky, a belligerent rabbit who craves high voltage wires; Ollie, a tyrannical parakeet who brutally attacks the Tartes; and Stanely Sue, the gender-bending parrot; and more. This hilarious account gives us the other side of animal ownership: the complicated logistics of blending species under one roof, the intricate routines that evolve before you realize it, and ultimately, the distinct and insistent personalities of every animal inside—and outside—the house.

-christina

Winners, watch your e-mail. I’ll be contacting you for your address. And stay tuned for next week’s big Halloween Book Booty give away. (It’s going to be a wickedly good one!)

Thanks everyone who entered!

-Katie

In case you missed yesterday’s live chat, check out the “Instant Replay” below to read how the book came together, what’s up next for Superchunk, and find out what Laura Ballance has planned for her new Twitter account.

Don’t forget – there’s still time to enter to win one of 5 copies of a Merge Records sampler CD here.

Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook is making some noise of its own. New York Magazine recommended the book in its Fall Arts Preview issue, with a photo of Merge co-founder Laura Ballance, saying “the tale of how this tiny record label stuck to its artist-friendly principles and somehow prospered is thoroughly enlightening and uplifting, a model for how to combine your passion and your profession, without screwing up either.”

Laura Ballance rocks out/credit: Pat Graham

Co-founder Mac McCaughan was interviewed for Salon’s new “Expert Witness” interview series, and Mac, Laura, and John Cook chimed in to talk about what happens when indie rock grows up on Gawker’s Book Club.

Superchunk

The book and duo have also been a big hit in the blogosphere, getting posts in more than 60 music and arts blogs, including Paste, Bust, Village Voice, Pitchfork, The Onion, Largehearted Boy and MotherJones.

And in case reading about the label wasn’t enough, fans and readers were able to see the dynamic indie duo first-hand. Mac and Laura both participated in some great local events at indie stores The Regulator, Bull’s Head Bookshop, and Quail Ridge Books, as well as Malaprop’s in Asheville. Not only did they share stories about the label and readings from the book, but they treated audience members to covers of some of their favorite Merge artists.

Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance of Superchunk “Throwing Things” from Triangle Music on Vimeo.

Mac, Laura and John have one remaining event at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in New York City on Friday, October 23, at 7:00 pm, where they’ll again charm the audience with stories and songs — and an auction of the guitar that Mac plays at the event to benefit the cafe. If you’re in the area, check it out!

Five lucky readers will win this week’s Algonquin Book Booty: their very own Merge sampler CD and a copy of Our Noise; to enter, just leave a comment telling us about your favorite Merge band or song. The contest will close at 11:00 pm ET on Thursday, October 15, and we’ll announce the winners on Friday!

-courtney