Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$10USD
MERCH 'This Betrayal Will Be Our End' 12-inch LP
Record/Vinyl
Included with the high-quality vinyl record you receive a 11x17 poster/lyric sheet and a digital download code insert.
Sold Out
Limited Edition Gray Cassette--First Pressing
Cassette + Digital Album
This first-pressing cassette version of the critically-heralded 'This Betrayal Will Be Our End' will be released and shipped on Black Friday 2013 (11/29/13). Orders placed by record stores will have their cassettes shipped in time to have them for sale in-store by Black Friday. Proceeds from the sale of this cassette will be benefiting coffee-farming families this holiday season in Guatemala: in partnership with the cooperative As Green As It Gets.
Includes unlimited streaming of This Betrayal Will Be Our End
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
“I know we’re not even halfway into the year, but I’ll make the perhaps bold proclamation that San Francisco band Merch’s album “This Betrayal Will Be Our End” will be the surprise of 2012.”
-- Vinyl Under Review: A-
“reaches to be a time-forgotten concept album...recommended for anyone who gets off on that merciless gut knot that comes with true loss.
--I Must Find Atlantis
“Really nice psychedelic album with high quality production and orchestration. You can hear some quite unique sounds on it. So if you are for modern psychedelia, go for it!”
--Psychedelic Baby Magazine
“The army of string instrumentation which Medina uses in “This Betrayal Will Be Our End” is certainly enhanced when listening to the record on vinyl...has taken the pain and agony of a broken relationship and converted it into art.”
--Modern Vinyl
“unfurls darkly and dramatically, shifting constantly from sound to sound...minor key miserablist downer pop blurs into stripped down bluesy rock, fuzzed out indie rock blossoms into bombastic almost progginess, twang flecked drifts sprawl into propulsive hypnotic minimalism which in turn transforms into shimmery acoustic folk and back again”
--Aquarius Records
“right away, the record is off to a powerful start...rich with orchestral genius...the presentation here is unique and fresh...I like how this album is not afraid to leap from genre to genre without losing consistency...this recording is something to be heard.
--Tuning In To The Obscure: 4.7 out of 5
“plumbs the depths of personal misery and human suffering in a relationship gone bad...songs that could be Arthur Russell or Yo La Tengo outtakes. Plenty of depression, bedroom-symphonic arrangements, and brutally honest lyrics...High quality sound, good mixing and arrangements.
--The Record Geeks
Originally formed in San Francisco, MERCH began as a project by Joe Medina to incorporate off-kilter jazz voicings and feedback-drenched cello into the kind of punk and noise-rock styles of the underground shows he attended as a teenager. For a few years there, MERCH performances were chaotic, ramshackle affairs where anything could happen—not always for the best. With a revolving door approach to members, the project hit the road multiple times—touring nationally in a Ford Econoline 350 coined Sally that finally bit the dust somewhere in Arizona at the tail-end of a tour. A full-length album titled 'Crash Boom Bash' was released during this time, which received a large amount of airplay on college stations around the country. The album didn't just receive attention stateside. It had a different song from it played every day for a week during the lunch hour on Australia's popular RTRfm show 'Out To Lunch' which showcased the best new music from around the world. As well as that album did, no one could have predicted the musical and artistic leap Joe Medina was going to make for his second album.
Two years ago during a trip to Nashville for the annual music conference NAMM (North American Music Merchants), Joe got a terrible feeling of foreboding that something wasn't right at home. He returned from the trip to find that his long-term relationship of seven years had disintegrated. Completely distraught and defeated, he found his way out of the abyss only by writing a large collection of songs in the apartment he had once shared. These songs chronicled the ins-and-outs of how things had gotten to that point and it became his mission to make the music for the songs as large in scope as the anger, frustration, and sorrow he was putting into the lyrics.
The album-project also became a method of finding worth again in his musical abilities. To accomplish this, he decided to record 'This Betrayal Will Be Our End' all-analog. The goal was to prove to himself that not only did he have the chops to record an analog album, but to record a great one that could sit on the shelves next to the classic LPs that he treasured so deeply—the music that was getting him through this tough time. He enlisted the much-heralded producer Greg Ashley (known for his work in the Bay Area psychedelic band Gris Gris, along with his many production credits) to help him achieve his grand vision. Joe also enlisted many top-rate musicians who could handle the wide range of influences he was bringing to the table, including Sam Bass of Les Claypool's Frog Brigade. Sam's formidable cello talent and gift for layering allowed for the army of string sounds that add such a cinematic feel to the record.
Having reinvigorated his verve through the artistic triumph that is MERCH's 2nd album 'This Betrayal Will Be Our End', Joe Medina is now setting his sights on making an LP every year—each one progressively more ambitious than the last. Currently, he is scoring songs for MERCH's third album to be recorded with an orchestra. For many, a release like 'This Betrayal' would be their apex, but he sees it as just a step in his musical journey—by no means its conclusion.
credits
released March 1, 2012
Produced by Greg Ashley all-analog on 1-inch tape at The Creamery in Oakland, mixed by Chris Porro at Blue Dust Studio in San Francisco, mastered by Mike Wells in Los Angeles. Joe Medina: vocals, guitars, electric bass, synths, piano, ukulele--Sam Bass: electric and acoustic cellos, piano--Charles Boschetti: upright and electric bass--Zach Field: drums--Top: saxophones--Greg Ashley: synths, piano, organ, electric bass, back-up vocals
All songs by Joe Medina
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