Album Notes

Back in 2001 Scott Mercado was finished with college, a tour, a band, a job and his old house - he needed to vent. Jobless and bored, he found solace in front of his drums with a crazy old Nakamichi stereo tape recorder at his side. After recording a few drum tracks, he slipped them into a crotchety old computer and out came twenty songs that would fuel his newfound addiction for bedroom recording. Manuok was born.

A couple of computer jobs, credit cards, houses, bands and tours later--- Mercado is seeing his bedroom recordings from a different angle. Manuok is evolving into a whole new monster for its master and providing an outlet for this new self-titled record, a film soundtrack, and studio work for The Album Leaf, The Dropscience and Pilotram.

Even outside all these Manuok happenings, Mercado is an exceptionally busy man. His other band, Via Satellite, released their third album, Cities Are Temples, nationally on Loud and Clear Records on Feb. 1, 2005. Mercado is currently recording with the ingenious Pall Jenkins of Black Heart Procession on a project called Mr. Tube, has done keyboards for The Soft.Lightes (The Incredible Moses Leroy) and performed with Ilya, Low Cloud Cover and Pilotram.

The successful release of Manuok's debut record on Loud and Clear has inspired Mercado to take Manuok out of the bedroom and into full bloom as a live band. To bring the band to the stage, Mercado has enlisted the help of several close friends and accomplished musicians. Manuok's guitar, bass, drums, and cello are distinctly orchestral, echoing the classical and intellectual aspects of dark pop music. The music is honest, a kind of zany pop that values melodies and harmonies and the walls of resonance that Cocteau Twins, Granddaddy, The Cure, Portishead and Blackheart Procession made famous.