Hidden Shoal News
Foodchain
The Foodchain youth events program has invited 12 local (Perth) bands to record in a specially set up public studio over six days. Fans can come down and watch the bands perform live as it all gets put down on tape. If that wasn’t enough the tracks will then be made available for free download on the night of the recording.
Hidden Shoal’s own My Majestic Star are one of the awesome acts involved alongside the likes of Craig McElhinney, Pond, Simone and Girlfunkle, Shock! Horror! and a bunch of other wonderful Perth bands.
Visit the Real to Reel Recording Studio at 278 William Street, Northbridge between December 18 and 23. Recording takes place between approximately 12 and 1:30pm and 2 and 3:30pm each day. A full schedule is available at the Foodchain site.
Stray Ghost 'Part 4' Single Released
Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of ‘Part 4’, the new single from English ambient drone architect Stray Ghost, taken from his forthcoming album Nothing, But Death.
On his immersive new release, Anthony Saggers mines the rich depths of melancholy and longing. ‘Part 4’ is a slow, sad drift across a half-remembered landscape of distant drones, with a slow descending lump-in-the-throat melody, all cloaked in smoky ambience. Each rise and fall feels like a slow-motion chapter in some narcoleptic romance. ‘Part 4’ is a bittersweet taster for the forthcoming release of the long-awaited new Stray Ghost album Nothing, But Death in February 2010. The track follows on from the stunning Stray Ghost EP Each Paradise is a Lost Paradise released in October 2009 through Hidden Shoal Recordings.
“Of all the daring new punks giving old ambient stalwarts a run for their money, Saggers is at the top of the heap, a prime example of the refreshing and beautiful ambient renaissance of the past few years” – Jack Britton, The Silent Ballet
One of England’s most innovative sonic artists, Stray Ghost creates highly emotive soundscapes, rich in cinematic sound design and employing elements of drone, minimalism, shoegaze, ambient and electro-acoustic music. Born in Oxfordshire 22 years ago, Anthony Saggers has only been making music for three years, but has quickly received widespread acclaim. In August 2008, the label Highpointlowlife Records released Stray Ghost’s debut release, Losthilde, a semi-autobiographical exploration of lost love, which received glowing reviews and featured in Textura’s top-of-the-year list.
Dead Pilot Records released the Fabula/Sjuzhet EP shortly after, followed by the release of A House of Gold and Oak through net-label Phantom Channel, which showcased a greater compositional ability, and a more controlled, minimal approach. Saggers is currently living in Canterbury and is recording a collaborative album with Eugene Robinson, of the band Oxbow, and playing as part of the band Bardo Thodol.
‘Part 4’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store until the release of the new Stray Ghost album, Nothing, But Death, on February 16th, 2010.
Stray Ghost – Part 4 Stray Ghost – Part 4
Tarcutta's Last Live Show for the Decade
Tarcutta are loading up the hammond for the last time in 2009, folks. There is no more awesome way to see out the year than with Tarcutta, Jshwa and the Owls and Winternationale, this Sunday at Bar Open in Fitzroy. Tarcutta are on at 10pm, doors open at 7.30pm.
After Tarcutta’s slaying of AC/DC in the charts you know where you have to be to get shook all night long.
Tarcutta- Liberace Fibonacci Tarcutta- Liberace Fibonacci
Mukaizake New Music Video Featured on PopMatters
After their spellbinding album launch last Friday at Perth’s Amplifier Bar Mukaizake are now coming at you visually via the wonderful new Simon Hill directed music video to single ‘The Yeah Conditioner‘. The video as well, as the album, is also featured in the latest PopMatters Mixed Media column.
You can also check out and embed the video at Youtube and Vimeo. Be sure to check out HSR TV which features music videos from a whole bunch of our artists as well as a few interviews and other tidbits.
Mukaizake’s Unknown Knowns is available on CD as well as digitally. Check the HSR Store for all availability info.
Mukaizake – The Yeah Conditioner Mukaizake – The Yeah Conditioner
Tarcutta Takes on AC/DC in Portland
Ok you have to allow me some fun with the post title, now let me explain. The brilliant slice of self-titled magic that is Tarcutta’s debut album is sitting pretty at number 13 in the latest KBOO (Portland) CMJ radio chart ahead of the likes of Kurt Vile, Atlas Sound and of course AC/DC.
Get the album here and prepare to fall in love again.
“A Million Square Miles” Compilation Album – Australian Release
Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the Australian CD release of compilation album A Million Square Miles: A sample of Western Australian music, following on from its initial US success.
After more than three years of sharing excellent independent music far and wide, A Million Square Miles represents a key facet of the Hidden Shoal Recordings story, and is a beacon for the future of Western Australian music. Bringing together a pair of stunning tracks from each of eight WA-based artists on the Hidden Shoal roster, this sampler album is an essential listen whichever way you slice it.
There’s the serpentine indie-rock of Mukaizake and the crystalline instrumental pop of Apricot Rail; the raw intensity of Fall Electric and the shimmering dreampop of Glassacre; the hook-laden squall of Toby Richardson and the lush and subtle songcraft of My Majestic Star; the skewed melodicism of The Slow Beings and the wistful alt-country complexities of Tangled Star. A Million Square Miles isn’t just great Western Australian music – it’s great music, period. The album also includes the first tastes of upcoming releases by Mukaizake, My Majestic Star and Toby Richardson.
“This is the rare exhibition of musical aptitude that delights from start to finish, with nary a disappointment to be found … There’s no way to know for sure if Perth, Australia is indie rock’s next Seattle or Montreal, but Hidden Shoals’ impressive roster on A Million Square Miles is bound to shore up some buzz, and deservedly so: it’s an exhilarating listen from beginning to end.” – DOA
A Million Square Miles is now available on CD in Australia. The album is distributed in Australia through Hidden Shoal Distribution and internationally via n5Mailorder. A Million Square Miles is also available digitally through the Hidden Shoal Store and all good third-party digital music stores (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, LaLa, Bandcamp, etc.). Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for all availability info.
Hidden Shoal has also made the album available as a free, embeddable streaming radio widget and Facebook Application. For more info check out the album’s project page.
Read a full press release here.
Mukaizake "The Yeah Conditioner" reviewed on Luna Kafe
Mukaizake’s single, “The Yeah Conditioner”, has received a glowing review over at Luna Kafe- check it out here. This is the first single from their latest album Unknown Knowns, and it is available to stream and purchase at the Hidden Shoal Store.
Mukaizake – The Yeah Conditioner Mukaizake – The Yeah Conditioner
Boxharp "Rainbirds" gets Irish radio playtime
Rainbirds, the first single from newly-signed duo Boxharp, got some playtime on the airwaves of Ireland on the radio show “Underground of Happiness”. Rainbirds is taken from the forthcoming Loam Arcane EP and is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store until the EP’s release on 12th January 2010.
Click here to download Rainbirds.
My Majestic Star "I Haven't Got it in Me" reviewed on The Dwarf
The third album from My Majestic Star, I Haven’t Got It In Me, has been reviewed on The Dwarf. Check it out in full here, or read an excerpt. And while you’re here, head over to the Hidden Shoal Store to stream and purchase this dreamy little number.
My Majestic Star – City Sleeps My Majestic Star – City Sleeps
Mukaizake "Unknown Knowns" Australian CD Release
The Australian music label Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the Australian CD release of the eagerly awaited sophomore album by Australian indie math-rock marvels Mukaizake.
The cliché ‘all killer, no filler’ is often bandied around with very little to back it up. In the case of Mukaizake’s stunning new release Unknown Knowns, the cliché applies: this six-song, half-hour mini-album is sheer perfection. Unknown Knowns kicks off with the fuzzy propulsion of single ‘The Yeah Conditioner’, immediately launching the listener into Mukaizake’s compelling corner of the musical universe. This is serpentine indie-rock at its finest, weaving hook after hook around your chest until you’re suspended from the clouds, a grin plastered across your face, unable to even think about listening to anything else.
‘Rule Norse’ ups the ante with a thunderously rollicking first half that follows with gorgeous layered backing vocals and hovering guitars in the exultant, expansive second half. ‘Corporal Steam’ winds the album down a notch with its chiming circular guitar harmonics and Geoff Symons’ plaintive vocals before ‘Frisbee’ launches the listener off the edge of a cliff attached to an electric boomerang of riffs and angular melodies. Then, the stunningly wistful ‘My Friend Flicker’ and the dreamy lament of ‘Slack Bees’ bring the listener down in a pool of dazzling songmanship.
“Part math-rock, part jangly dream-pop, the six songs are a beguiling dive into the oceanic sounds of 90’s indie rock. Vocalists Geoff Symons and Erickson can both actually sing with clarity, lending the songs a sort of choirboy purity, even when singing about slashing tyres… The outcome is a pristine and intelligent composite of sounds old and new… It’s a heady combination, and one that hopefully won’t need another five years to reoccur.” – Rave Magazine
Mukaizake comprises Dan Erickson (Bluetile Lounge), Simon Struthers (Umpire, Adam Said Galore), Geoff Symons (Umpire, ex-Adam Said Galore, O!), and Michael Lake (Umpire, ex-Adam Said Galore). Unknown Knowns is the follow up to their critically acclaimed debut album Mapping The Static released in 2003.
Unknown Knowns is now available in CD and digital formats worldwide. Head to the HSR Store for all availability info and to stream the album in full. The album is being launched on December 11th in Perth, Western Australia at the Amplifier Bar.
Read a full press release here.
Mukaizake – My Friend Flicker Mukaizake – My Friend Flicker
Hidden Shoal MixTape
