Cityscape Records

Merchandise are returning with another slice of pure pop gold.

Hot on the heels of last year’s much praised single Sometimes, and offering another tantalising tasteof their forthcoming album For the Masses, Listen Up! is so life affirming the band had no choice but to stick an exclamation mark after the title.

While Listen Up! may be a tale of heartbreak and emotional torment, it is told against a sparkling
musical backdrop – a tune more infectious than a winter flu pandemic and a pounding beat which
sounds like it’s just punched its way out of a Wigan Casino all-nighter.

This acoustic guitar driven two and a half minute gem showcases the electronic production techniques and pop songwriting that have become Brad B Wood and Conrad Astley’s trademark, while pointing to the energy of the band’s live shows which include John A Stewart on bass and Matt Maher on drums.

At its heart is the irresistible refrain: “All I’ve ever really wanted is a girl to make me shout, Hey lads now listen up – this is what life’s about!”

B-side Lonesome Beauty, meanwhile, shows yet another side to the band’s musical vision, with
gentle bossa nova and worn velvet vocals giving way to a blistering chorus, sly drum samples, and a bassline more groovy than anything heard since Chic were last in the house.

With both tunes, Merchandise have produced the perfect antidote to winter’s greys and blues, and
have once again produced a familiar, yet unique cocktail of charming, disarming and seductive music.

So go on, treat yourself to a taste of Merchandise.

Great news for fans of gorgeous hi-quality, lo-fi organic-pop. Merchandise are back.

Not content to sit back and soak up the plaudits from critically acclaimed second album, ‘Lo-tech Solutions to Hi-tech problems’, the creative drive of Merchandise’s Brad B Wood and Conrad Astley is flowing as richly as ever and in April 08, Merchandise drop stunning new single, Sometimes, in our laps, and with it look set to cement their growing reputation as creators of glorious melodic-pop.

Consummate in the art of marrying luscious acoustic loveliness with all the cut n paste potential of this digital age, Merchandise have once again struck joyful, life-affirming musical gold.

The title track sounds like waking up on a sunny Sunday morning next to the warm body of a post-coital lover. Dripping with dreamy optimism, Brad B Wood’s effortless vocal floats alongside the sprightly piano before the melodic and vibrant rhythm section kicks in and takes the chorus soaring in a swirl of harmonically entwined instrumental elegance and loved-up lyrics.

Track 2, Glitterati, is a further example of Merchandise lo-fi loveliness, albeit in slightly more cynical mood. The uplifting piano is reeled in by the dark lead guitar line and world weary lyrics that Brad delivers from the regretful point of view of one recently duped or deceived; ‘you told me how the field of glitter, is only gold and silver lies. I should have seen it from the outset but I had glitter in my eyes’.

Mournful yet ultimately uplifting, Merchandise’s perfect knack of producing aural comfort means Glitterati’s lyrical content and tender vocal doesn’t quite defeat the notion that there is still light at the end of this particular tunnel.
With Sometimes, Merchandise have produced the perfect antidote to winter’s greys and blues, and have once again produced a familiar, yet unique cocktail of charming, disarming and seductive music.

So go on, treat yourself to a taste of the Merchandise.

Swallowing Curses is Merchandise’s follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut album, This is . . . Merchandise.

The single continues the Bolton based duo’s exploration into uncharted sonic territory but also shows evidence of their growing ability to produce perfect pop moments guaranteed to catch the ear of the unexpecting listener.

Merchandise’s trademark sound is put to uplifting effect on Swallowing Curses which has flavours of bands such as The Flaming Lips and Pavement.

Swallowing Curses also contains memorable lyrics penned by travelling writer and band collaborator Roger Williams, describing the unadulterated joy of emerging from the mists of depression and looking out on a cloudless sky.

Not satisfied with the usual band policy of releasing second rate material to fill in the gaps Merchandise have backed the single with Terracotta Caterpillar, an enthralling cocktail of sound which melds hypnotic folk-inspired melodies with hi-tech funk a la Squarepusher and Aphex Twin.

Both tracks pave the way for their up coming second album, now being lovingly honed at Cityscape Studios and due for release in 2003.

Merchandise take their name from a song by legendary Washington D.C. outfit Fugazi and are on Cityscape Records, an independent label with a do-it-yourself ethic and an eclectic and growing roster of releases.

Two sides of dark, restless electronica mark Merchandise’s 1996 10” debut release as different from the rest.

Deliberately oblique and consciously Factory inspired packaging known only by a record label catalogue number gave an early indication of these mischievous miscreants’ intentions.
A-side Two Minutes After creates a brooding soundscape with overtones of Joy Division and Bark Psychosis.

B-side Microcosm introduces a more dub inspired sound with hypnotic moog melodies suggesting the likes of Orbital.

Anyone looking for an antidote to the day-time TV friendly easy listening musak of recent years should look no further!

Merchandise take their name from a track by American punk band Fugazi who also inspired Cityscape’s do-it-yourself ethic.

Review from CITYlife:

Merchandise kick up a very palatable, post New Order 80s meets 90s synth pop racket. With surprisingly bouncy production this has the feel of the type of theatrical electronic pop that revolutionised the British charts in the 80s paving the way for the house explosion later in that decade. Merchandise sound like they still have one foot in the era but what the hell, this is a bubbly and ultimately forgettable pop delight.

‘I feel I can hail Merchandise as the new kings of electronica talent’ – Paintbox Fanzine