BADLY Drawn Boy, Peter Kay, Sara Cox, Sam Allardyce… The list of Bolton ’s cultural icons goes on, and low we have yet more claimants to the crown of the town’s next big thing.

Merchandise are Brad B Wood and Conrad Astley, whose forthcoming album Lo-Tech Solutions to Hi-Tech Problems is about to hit the shops.

And very good it is too, although comparisons with the aforementioned Badly Drawn Boy are perhaps inevitable.

That’s largely down to the nice use of acoustic guitar patterns allied to intelligent drum loops sometimes sampled from vocals and the fact that Brad sounds not unlike Damon Gough. He’s not a singer in the U2/Coldplay/Keane mould but his laidback approach has a warmth which suits the song fine.

There is some lovely craftsmanship at work here. Haunting melodies; stellar landscapes; scratchy samples from outer space… pick the cliches accordingly, but they aren’t entirely inaccurate.

And accomplice Roger Williams’ intelligent lyrics (Echolalia mourns the breakdown of a relationship over a trans-Atlantic phoneline) are striking and original.

Highlights include Beautiful Morning For A Bad Day, Winter and the blissed-out Morning After, but then the whole album is a seamless pleasure.

Lo-Tech Solutions to Hi-Tech Problems won’t leap out and grab you by the vitals, but it might just creep up from behind and smother you with its fuzzy warmth.

Andy Scoble

Never has an intro been so deceiving, the skiffle-psychedelic-reggae-jazz fest instrumental promises things which don’t happen later. Instead the group opt for a laid-back, collection of lazy summer anthems.

The crossover of acoustics and electronica - it’s a tried and tested formula which hardly gets the excitement pumping, but Merchandise pull it off remarkably well, creating a sound they can distinctively call their own.

‘Lo-Tech..’ teases like a poppier, more chart friendly Simian, full to the brim with early Badly Drawn Boy oddities, and future-folk sensibilities. They combine lush melodies & grand technical capabilities with a refreshingly cute inventiveness.

Armed with a vocalist who is the spit for a young Sam Prekop, not to mention the constant swopping of instruments like they are going out of fashion, the album makes for an incredibly diverse listen.

A collage of sounds, varied genres and a flawless talent for writing brilliant pop songs. Summer is finally here and Merchandise are the soundtrack.

7/10

www.diskant.net

When there were a couple of days of sunshine last weekend, in amongst the usual drizzle and cold, this was the perfect album to listen to. Summery pop music, oh yes! This is really good - ‘up’ sounding tunes, based around the classic combo of decent songwriting/nice melody, bolstered with some subtle electronica which helps to fill out the sound and add a slightly odd edge to things. Merchandise seem to have a cheerily frank outlook on things, in the same way that the Flaming Lips do, with melancholic lyrics on remarkably good-natured-sounding songs. This falls short of becoming irritatingly twee or cutesy, and as such it’s a perfectly-pitched collection of songs to play on a warm evening whilst not worrying about things.

http://www.tastyfanzine.org.uk/

After last month’s wondrous single, comes the first long player from Manchester’s Merchandise. And it’s flippin’ good too. Far from going straight for the pop highway, Merchandise seem to content to lead you down a dark path marked ‘jazz’ before you enter the wonderful garden of indie pop, much like The Real Tuesday Weld, and their ilk. So, whilst ‘Beautiful Morning for a Bad Day’ is a cracking little number it’s interspersed by some kind of free-form funky drummer boy, just to leave you guessing, like…

Onwards! And ’14:53’ could tug at even the most stale of hearts, with it’s simple, pleading guitar coda. Yes, even mine. And Pinkie meets perky in ‘Distil Disappointment’, which features, somewhere in the background, a – gulp – driving distorted guitar. But back to safety with ‘Echolalia’, a sort of latter day Sinatra number, but the best is saved for next. ‘For the Shore’ is simple as Sam Dingle, but builds and builds and goes around and around, leaving you quite giddy with excitement. Honest. I’m not making this up.

To say Merchandise are a band of some quality is to understate this hugely enjoyable album, which has been spinning round, right round, baby, right round in t’ cd player for some time now. I suggest you buy this little beauty and try and make a worse Dead or Alive pun than that. Off you go.

Sam Metcalf

www.vanityproject.co.uk

Skewed pop music marrying the gentleness of acoustic blues and beat-pop, with some spirited electronic action. A lot of invention is shown on this LP, and there’s a lot to like, and I’ve a feeling this could turn into love if you take the time to develop a meaningful relationship with Merchandise. While the electronica removes a shade of the normal warmness you might expect, in places, such as ‘Winter’, there is an intimacy in which you can comfortably wrap yourself up. Skif

www.blowback.co.uk

Merchandise is the kind of acoustic electronica that’d be the soundtrack to a summer picnic in Hyde Park , with cute animals frolicking in the sun. Two men’s reflections on everyday life has never been so glorious. Sunday Song steps up the pace a little with a touch of Badly Drawn Boy had he ever got out from underneath his hat and, in Distil Disappointment, joined the Thrills. Totally pure, grandiose pop music that along with the title makes you wonder why we make our lives so complicated. The sound of pastoral idylls and eternal sunshine.

Credits: friends making records, modern life being rubbish, having a whole album of beautiful music.