I'm excited to announce the release of my first official compilation. It's called What The Hell Is Wrong With Marc With a C, and the cover art is staring you in the face as we speak. Here's the tracklist:

01. The Problem Is Me*
02. No London In Brazil
03. Nerdy Girls
04. Stuck With Me
05. Freezing In Florida
06. Till You Come Home To Me
07. Laura, I Need Medicine*
08. Broken Record Player
09. RetroLowFi
10. Every Single Friend
11. I Need A Hug
12. Life's So Hard
13. She Loves The B-Sides
14. Why Don't Girls Like Me?
15. Bounce Bounce Bounce
16. Counting Down
17. Bite Size Help
18. If I Had A Dealer*
19. I'm In Love With Everyone I Know
20. We're All Gonna Die

* - new versions/previously unreleased

Now, it might seem silly for an artist on my admittedly low rung of the entertainment universe to release a "best of", and I can't argue with anyone that thinks so. However, I can assure you that this is not a vanity release by any stretch of the imagination. The reality is that indie pop doesn't exactly make a guy rich, and I simply can't afford to keep a bunch of albums in print at all times. Sad, but it's true.

There's also the fact that I play to new people quite often at shows. Sometimes these new people enjoy the show greatly and want to buy a piece of plastic with the songs they liked of mine. I'm all too happy to sell them such a product, understandably. I'll say "great, which album would you like?" and they'll usually get all wide-eyed and surprised at the fact that I have more than one record out. They'll say something to the effect of "oh, I want the album that has the song about That 70's Show, the 'girls with glasses' song and that MySpace tune". I will then have to hand them three different records and charge them nearly thirty dollars. I feel really bad about doing that, man. Why not just make a collection of audience favorites that I can always keep in print? It's a lot less daunting for new fans, plus it's alot of fun to listen to.

You also may have noticed that there are a few "previously unreleased versions" of older songs. Why on earth would I do that, right? Am I trying to trick people that already own all of my records to buy these songs a second time? No, no, no. That's just fucking mean. I assure you that there are good reasons for each re-recording.

"If I Had a Dealer" - I like this song a lot, and the only circulating version was a very, very ramshackle demo version. The arrangement changed quite a bit by the time I ever got around to playing it live, and it made sense to give a definitive version a good home here.

"The Problem Is Me" - Often, I'll do a really slow building rendition of this one onstage. Some people really like it that way, and I thought it'd make for a neat recording. I like the fast version on Life's So Hard equally, but this tends to be closer to the version I play live most often.

"Laura, I Need Medicine" - Simple. The original recording had next to no energy in it, and I truly dislike it. This version kicks the snot out of the one on Human Slushy, and everyone I've played it for agrees. Either that, or they won't tell me when things suck. I'm hoping it's the former option.

The tracklist was chosen by a popular vote. I asked some close friends and big fans to send me a list of songs that they thought I'd get beaten up if I didn't include. There's two or so songs I had to veto, either because they were covers that I don't own the rights to or they simply happened to be unanimous favorites of those polled, but didn't seem to reflect the popular opinion. For example, I decided not to include "Music Geek" even though it was voted in. I mean, I like that song, but I think I've played it live maybe twice... and I've never heard a single person request it at a show. I didn't replace those with anything, I just bumped up the next songs on the list.

So, there you have it. A compilation of music from the first five years worth of Marc With a C albums. Pretty cool, huh? We'll start selling it in June via various websites - including this one - and also at shows. Maybe even a real record store or two, if those still exist. I'm very excited for this release, and I'm excited to have twenty songs that people seem to really like. Thanks to every single person that listens to the songs I make up for buying enough of my records to make this sort of thing necessary... or even possible, for that matter.

I'm a very, very lucky unknown musician.