Stephin Merritt - Showtunes

I imagine a lot of you are also fans of Stephin Merritt's various projects. Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, Gothic Archies, etc. While he may farm out vocal duties on much of his work, his songwriting remains unmistakeable whoever performs the delivery. This week I had the good fortune to come across a copy of Merritt's new release, Showtunes, in the used bin at Criminal Records. The album is the result of Merritt's contributions to three plays directed by Chen Shi-Zheng -- compiling 26 tracks in all spanning about 47 minutes. While this collection won't challenge 69 Love Songs, The Charm of the Highway Strip, or Holiday as my favorite Merritt creation, it's packed with the same brand of wit and pluck that's characteristic of Merritt's output. Here are a few of my favorite tracks from the compilation:

Stephin Merritt - What a Fucking Lovely Day!
Stephin Merritt - Shall We Sing a Duet?
Stephin Merritt - Ukulele Me!
Stephin Merritt - Fan Dance Cha-cha

Buy Showtunes here. Buy other Merritt soundtrack projects while you're at it.

By the way, Stephin Merritt is also holding down a regular DJ gig right at Beauty Bar in NYC. He's there every Monday night as part of their Phantastic Invisible Tentacle nights. If you're in New York it'd probably be a cool thing to check out. More info on MySpace.

Bonus Merritt theatrics:
The Magnetic Fields - If I Were a Rich Man (from Fiddler on the Roof)

Also, I 've thrown up a bunch of cover songs over on MEBF today. Have at 'em.