Pitchfork

Just as in the restaurant business, it's always an impressive feat for a record label to reach the 10-year milestone, and getting there requires a special combination of perserverance, customer satisfaction, and location, location, location. Based reliably in Bloomington, Indiana for more than 11 years, Secretly Canadian has now managed to achieve this elusive balance on their way to releasing more titles than any other Indiana-based label in history. (And aside from SC's sister label Jagjaguwar I personally can't really think of a close runner-up off the top of my head.)

Formed in 1996 by friends Eric Weddle, Jonathan Cargill, and Ben and Chris Swanson, Secretly Canadian's longevity has always seemed particularly notable since it has never been easy to pinpoint the label's specialty. By definition most of their acts can be termed indie rock, but the label's eclectic roster goes a long way toward illustrating how imprecise and ultimately useless that designation can be. More than anything, Secretly Canadian has been most remarkable for their uncommon loyalty to their artists, providing a comfortable home base where such performers as Daniel Smith (Danielson/Br. Danielson/Danielson Famile), Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Company), and Jens Lekman are given the necessary leeway for their styles to evolve and mature.

Although by this time Secretly Canadian has issued over 150 records, the label's operators now belatedly celebrate their 100^th release with SC100, a compilation that features 18 veteran SC artists covering each other's songs. [Cue Krusty the Clown's "Ugh, this is always death" groan.] In order to help keep the whole 100^th release aspect of the collection legit, the artists involved have restricted themselves to selecting songs that appeared somewhere on Secretly Canadian's first 99 releases.

This format-- though mindful of historical accuracy-- unfortunately works against the listener in a couple of crucial ways. First off, it means that the work such stellar recent signees as Antony and the Johnsons and Frida Hyvönen is not included. And perhaps more importantly, it means that many (if not most) of the original versions of these songs are only going to be readily familiar to true Secretly Canadian scholars, thus eliminating what is usually half the fun of a covers album to begin with.

Nevertheless, it's hard to grouse much when the late Nikki Sudden jumpstarts SC100 with his swaggering cover of June Panic's "See(ing) Double", or when Songs:Ohia keep the round-robin going with a spirited rip through Sudden's "The Last Bandit". Suzanne Langille-- whose luminous duet albums with Loren MazzaCane Conners stand as some of the hidden gems of the Secretly Canadian back catalog-- translates Songs:Ohia's "Structure: Necessity" into a typically personalized, harrowing epic, while Jens Lekman brightens the corners of Scout Niblett's "Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death" with whistles, spry bossanova rhythms, and immaculate vocal harmonies.

Things get considerably more muddled through SC100's middle passages, as such singer-songwriters as Danielson, Damien Jurado, and Dave Fischoff attempt to keep the swapmeet lively by inserting their own distinctive quirks onto what is in most instances already heavily quirky material. As a result we are left a series of non-starters that includes June Panic's tepid version of the Danielson Famile's "Fruitful Weekend", which excises most of the original's crazed tent-revival glory, and Swearing at Motorist's clunky, inconsequential take on Havergal's "Lungs for the Race".

Even iffier is the inclusion of such ill-matched genre pieces as Racebannon's quasi-metal "The Real Thing" or Cornelius Boots' multi-sax extravaganza "Clubber Lang". Though not exactly uninteresting, and in their own unique way emblematic of Secretly Canadian's streak for adventure, these tracks dampen SC100's celebratory atmosphere as effectively as if they had frosted the anniversary cake with coarse grain mustard. And while there is no question that Secretly Canadian's continued successful existence is a triumph worth celebrating, most listeners will be better off settling back with a favorite copy of Danielson's Ships or Antony's I Am a Bird Now and raising a quiet toast in private.