It’s that time of year again. The time for top 10 lists, sales at retail stores (even if we weren’t officially in a recession), and year end samplers from some great labels. We shared a link to the Stereotype Records sampler yesterday and today it is Merge Records‘ turn. We even have a few more to share with you over the next few days from other labels as well.

The Merge Records 2008 Digital Sampler is available for free download from their online store. You do have to register, but it is really painless and in addition to offering the thirteen tracks (one for each release they put out in 2008) in MP3 format, Merge is kind enough to provide a FLAC (free lossless audio codec) download as well.

Here’s the track by track run down:

01. Lampchop – “Slipped Dissolved and Loosed”
02. The Rosebuds – “Life Like”
03. Destroyer – “Dark Leaves Form a Thread”
04. American Music Club – “All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco”
05. Conor Oberst – “Cape Canaveral”
06. Wye Oak – “I Don’t Feel Young”
07. Radar Bros. – “Warm Rising Sun”
08. The Broken West – “Auctioneer”
09. Portastatic – “Some Small History”
10. Big Dipper – “She’s Fetching”
11. She & Him – “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here”
12. The Music Tapes – “Majesty”
13. Julian Koster – “Jingle Bells”