Another invaluable addition to any decent record collection. I first got wind of Merchandise (Bolton based duo Brad B. Wood and Conrad Astley) via a quite tasty three track pre-production teaser CD for “Lo-tech solutions to Hi-tech problems” a little while back, the sweet sound of rustic chords holding hands with dreamlike electronic backdrops on a bright spring morn that imagined the soft lull pop of China Crisis caressing with the folk-tronic fluffiness of J Xaverre and Tex La Homa.

‘Lo-tech’ is the duo’s second full length outing and is as illuminating and joyful a listening experience as that earlier taster CD promised, if not more so. Twelve sparkling gems that briefly come into your life and quickly disappear as though like spirits. Overall so soft it’s easy to mistakenly pass over them, unobtrusive happy pop that has a willowy texture and an aching aftertaste ‘Beautiful morning for a bad day’ shuffles tastily and quite possibly stands as the most lazy eyed three minutes you’ll have all year but it’s still ’14:53’ that acts as the albums centre point. Gloriously fusing as it does the misty eyed memories of Moviola to touching fragile softening pop motifs and marrying the whole union to an airy dusty porch lit setting where endless suns set and the air is alive with the sound of natures dozing song.

Elsewhere the wonderfully lush ‘For the Shore’ treats us to a spot of idling picnic pop, the soft rustic textures exude the smell of the countryside and the warmth of a cooling summers day, in between the gentle fix of the Go Betweens and ‘Swoon’ era Prefab Sprout are teased and pulled gently by delicate cosmic clouds of Stereolab. Gane and Co pop up again, if only in spirit not in body on the dreamy ‘Charlie Parker was a Hobo’, fuzzing riffs get down and dirty while being wooed by the irresistible ‘Sound Dust’ cool as you like keyboard backdrops. Both the muscularly up-tempo ‘Albino Rhino’ and ‘Sunday Song’ reveal a crafted melodic brain at large that’s been taking notes from Archer Prewitt’s ‘White Sky’ while the drifting love sick collage found wandering on the wounded ‘Winter’ (in between playing word games with Shakespeare) will have you melting and begging for more while the hooks take up refuge in your head to bounce around for what seems like an eternity. The finale which is inevitable comes in the form of the snoozing ‘Morning After’ which dresses us up in our best pyjamas and packs us off to bed to the sound of toy musical boxes and night night strings.

Simply perfect.

http://www.manamana.hu/kritika/kritika.html

Az angliai Bolton-ban tevékenykedõ Brad B Wood és Conrad Astley elsõ maxija furcsa mód még név nélkül jelent meg 1996-ban. Aztán végre sikerült valamit kitalálniuk, egy Fugazi szám címe után nevezték el magukat Merchandise-nak. 2000-ben a debütáló album is kicsúszott, amit még egy maxi követett. Zenéjük már akkor is az abszolút eklektika mintapéldánya volt és nincs ez másképp az új lemezen sem. Az elsõ szám egy rövid, instrumentális jazz, a következõ egy folkos pop dal, trip-hop ütemekkel megbolondítva. A késõbbiekben a pop balladák és fura elektronikus britpop fúziók váltják egymást. A zongora és az akusztikus gitár nagyjából minden számban jelen van. Nyugalom és pozitív életszemlélet jellemzi leginkább a Merchandise muzsikáját, amit az érdekes szövegek tesznek teljessé. Kora délutáni verõfényhez egy átbulizott este után ideális választás.

suefo

And the English translation from the writer himself:

Brad B wood and Conrad Astley who produce in Bolton, UK has strangely released their first single back in 1996 without any name. After a while, at least they have managed to work something out and named themselves to Merchandise after a Fugazi song. There was a debut album poped out too in 2000 followed by a single. Around this time their music has already been the exemplar of pure eclectica itself and this is not different on the new album either. The first track is short, instrumental jazz, the next one is folky pop song being hit upon by trip-hop beats. Later on pop ballads and funny electronic britpop fusions follow each other. The piano and the acoustic guitar appear basicly in every song. Calmness and positive way of thinking what typify the music of Merchandise which is being held in unity by the
interesting lyrics. Having partied over the night it is a perfect choice for early afternoon broad-daylight.

suefo

Making summer a real possibility is the latest album from Merchandise creating a catchy alt-pop essence. ‘Lo-tech Solutions . . .’ – mastered by Brad B Wood and Conrad Astley – is ready to shine its bright torch over our souls to give us back the summer that was almost never there. Beautiful Morning for a Bad Day is the track that immediately brings you into the album. It has definitely been mastered to enjoy while sat in the tranquil surroundings of green fields, with blue skies watching the sun beaming down on some loud bass-y speakers – the light getting brighter when Brad’s vocals hits the high and long pop notes.

The intro of 14:53 sounds like it could be from James’ Laid album. This gorgeous tune feels like its warm hands have come straight out of the speakers to put its arms around you and rock you to sleep signing off with a lullaby piano tune. Following that the Sunday Song wakes you up screaming with electro squeaks moving into a funky keyboard sound complete with random beeps and blip sound effects. Echolalia is a strong contender as a future single – showing an aggressive side of the duo with the vocal rhythm reminiscent of Bowie’s Ground Control. The piano balladry of Distil Disappointment and The Last Stand of Pucho Vasquez is in stark contrast to the much edgier Albino Rhino.

Lo-tech Solutions to Hi-tech Problems is rounded off with bursts of electro energy compounded with idyllic summer fuelled serenades. This album is not going to be enjoyed as much in 2004 though thanks to torrential downpours of rain spoiling our Merchandise enjoyment.

Anthony Murray

http://www.uk-fusion.com/content/view/297/31

This is honestly the most extraordinarily amazing album that I have ever heard. With all twelve songs written and performed by multi-instrumentalists and musical geniuses Brad B. Wood and Conrad Astley (with a little help from some of their friends on the way), this Alt.-pop duo creates blissful music under the Merchandise guise – and there really isn’t one dull track herein.

Opened by the melodic jazz instrumental of ‘I Hate That You’re Living,’ given a song title like that these two guys might sound to be a little aloof, but they aren’t… as ‘Beautiful Morning For A Bad Day’ follows through, being an exquisitely original and thoroughly charming piece of work with a fantastic chorus and clever lyrics to boot (‘I’m stealing speed from gravity’).

The album is a perfectly balanced mixture of slow & tender songs, ambitiously conceived instrumentals and bizarrely upbeat rock songs. Essentially, Brad and Conrad aim to marry acoustic-based music with music that is more Electro-orientated, with duties between the duo being equally shared out and well-defined: Brad sings and plays the guitars, while Conrad concentrates on playing all keyboard instruments and being in charge of the sequencers and samples.

‘14.53,’ while being quite a deep and dark song, is just as catchy as ‘Beautiful Morning…’ and hears Brad singing in a distinctive Steve Harley-styled manner (‘I’ll run through my excuses with a sword’ is one word-perfect lyric that really stands out), as the lush sounds of his slide & acoustic guitar slink over Conrad’s piano melody. Their ‘Sunday Song,’ meanwhile is far more Electro-orientated, ‘Distil Disappointment’ relies on Conrad’s keyboard-playing grandness and the magical ‘Winter’ revolves around subtle melodics and a painfully sweet piano chord progression coupled with lyrics that insist all is great once true love is found.

Still, ‘Echolalia’ is the highlight. Initially a fingerpicked acoustic tune, it’s not long before a great beat kicks in and an electric guitar starts-a-wailing. Boasting some truly abstract lyrics that concern themselves with the modern-day problems of seemingly making a simple phone call, the overall ‘pop’ vibes remind whole-heartedly of Pulp’s overpowering style in such a field.

The music of Merchandise, whether introspective and melancholic or brilliantly upbeat, is always ultra-melodic and harmonious as though the likes of Belle & Sebastian and Fonda 500 have heaped all their catchiest and coolest cuts together. The song arrangements are startlingly complex and you really do wonder why the hell this duo isn’t far more well known that it is.

You could live your life by ‘Lo-Tech Solutions To High-Tech Problems.’ And I know for a fact that’s true – because I do. 5/5

(Steve Rudd)

Ecco i mancuniani Merchandise alla seconda prova discografica. Ricordo quel bel melting pot musicale che era il loro This Is Merchandise. Dentro ci potevi trovare di tutto: post-rock alla Mogwai, pop strampalato alla Fonda 500 e ritmi strani sempre altamente eterogenei. Pur mantenendo un’impostazione simile, i nostri hanno optato per un lavoro più organico. Il metro di paragone, che mi viene in mente al volo, è quello dei primi lavori di Babybird o anche del vario materiale di Badly Drawn Boy.

Capirete subito, quindi, che siamo orientati verso un sound particolarmente intrigante, un suono che amo definire pop “colto” forse anche “aristocratico”, un po’ per distinguerlo da tanta banalità commerciale. Lo-Tech Solutions, quindi, appare il lavoro “evoluto” di due genietti del genere (Brad e Conrad), capaci di spaziare da certa uggiosa folkotronica (neologismo usato per il misto tra folk ed elettronica), per arrivare fino ad un pop apparentemente (de)strutturato, ma sempre in grado di colpire con melodie semplicemente sublimi.

Gran disco, gente.

Votazione: 5 di 5 Stelle!![5 di 5 Stelle!!]

Carl Villa

Translated into English by Google (great job lads!):

Here the mancuniani Merchandise to the second record test. Musical beautiful memory that melting pot that was their This Is Merchandise. Within you could find to us of all: post-rock to the Mogwai, eccentric POP to Deep the 500 and strange rhythms always highly heterogenous. Also maintaining un?impostazione similar, ours have opted for a more organic job. The meter of comparison, than comes to me in mind to the flight, is that one of the first jobs of Babybird or also of the varied material of Badly Drawn endured Boy.

Capirete, therefore, that we are orients to you towards sound particularly an intriguer, a sound that I love to define POP?colto? perhaps also?aristocratico, a po? in order to distinguish it from much triviality they trades. Lo-Tech Solutions, therefore, appears the job?evoluto? of two genietti of the sort (Brad and Conrad), able to space from sure folkotronica uggiosa (neologism used for the compound between folk and electronics), in order to arrive until to a POP apparently (de)strutturato, but always in a position to hitting with simply sublime melodie.

Great disc, people.

Voting: 5 of 5 Stars!! [ 5 of 5 Stars!! ]

Carl Villa

http://www.logo-magazine.com/albums/display.asp?AlbumID=3344

As that title suggests, this is a musical marriage rich in contrast and one seemingly fraught with impenetrability. Yet somehow deep amidst the meandering six-strings and tinkering synth patterns Merchandise have pulled ‘Lo-tech Solutions To Hi-Tech Problems’ into an impressive and commercially vibrant rack of chill-out acoustica that splits its time nicely between The Beta Band and Rae & Christian. Psychedelic in tone, it sways between the two camps of lo-fi and electro-wizardry, never once toppling headily into either, instead it blazes through 12 songs of burnt sunsets and gentle comedowns. Subsequently ‘Lo Tech Solutions…’ paints Merchandise as a duo creatively sparking and with a pop-savvy second to none.

3½/5 Pete Steel