Hidden Shoal News
GUM (Jay Watson of Tame Impala) Remixes PERTH – Stream and Download
We’re super excited to announce the release of the GUM (Jay Watson of Tame Impala, Pond) remix of the PERTH track ‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’. GUM’s re-working takes PERTH’s majestic original and streamlines it further into a Spiritualized-esque drone-pop beauty. The track is lifted from the forthcoming album Where’s My Dystopia? (May 1 2014) which features remixes of tracks from the band’s acclaimed second album What’s Your Utopia? by Mei Saraswati, Seams, No. 9, Usurper of Modern Medicine, Valerio Cosi among others.
The track is now available for free download and stream. Be sure to also check out the first two tracks from GUM’s forthcoming debut and PERTH’s What’s Your Utopia? and singles while you’re at it!
Kramies French Zine Interview + Essay from Guillaume Mazel
Kramies continues to receive great press and coverage in France with his beautiful new EP The Wooden Heart. Our musical troubadour has just been interviewed by the excellent French zine a decouvrir absolument and is also featured in their new Cosy Home Sessions with his beautiful acoustic rendition of ‘Sea Otter Cottage’ (check it out below).
But wait, there’s more! The lovely Guillaume Mazel who reviewed The Wooden Heart and ran the above interview with Kramies has also written an absolutely beautiful personal response to the EP in this essay. It really is such a wonderful written engagement with Kramies’ music on a level you generally don’t get to see in this age of heavy musical traffic. Many thanks to Guillaume and a decouvrir absolument for their support and continued great work.
More Glowing Reviews For Kramies "The Wooden Heart"
Love for Kramies stunning EP The Wooden Heart continues to roll in. The EP, which features collaborations and production by both Jason Lytle and Todd Tobias, has just received two beautiful reviews from Backseat Mafia and Now It’s On. Check out these excerpts,
“Luckily, the quiet and calm at the beginning of a new year of music releases allowed me to re-discover some of 2013’s hidden gems and The Wooden Heart by Kramies is just that…. Kramies wasn’t fooling around with this release. The Dutch/American singer/songwriter, who was born in Cleveland but is now based out of Colorado, excels with his dreamy pop sound.” – Now It’s On
“This man of the world is making it sit up and pay attention now. Quite rightly so.” – Backseat Mafia
If you’ve not yet had the pleasure of this EP or Kramies previous EP The European then head to the Hidden Shoal Store where you can hear both and also grab yourself some free tracks!
New Free EP From Australian Experimentalists Gilded
Hidden Shoal is excited to bring you A Smooth Sea Never Made A Skilful Sailor, the new EP by Australian experimental/ambient duo Gilded. Following on from the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Terrane and its accompanying national tour, Gilded’s new EP A Smooth Sea Never Made A Skilful Sailor brings together three previously unreleased and essential new tracks.
‘38 Degrees (Live at The Bird)’ is a beautiful live improvised guitar-based work, rich in textural details, contrasting markedly with the more piano-focused pieces on Terrane. Shoeb Ahmad (of Canberra outfit Spartak) remixes 2012 single ‘Cluttered Room’, dissecting the bassline, banjo and melodica and tethering them to an itchy breakbeat, surrounding the mix with an otherworldly vocal. Hidden Shoal’s very own perth also take on ‘Cluttered Room’ in their own inimitable style, creating an ebbing electro-acoustic micro-environment set adrift in clouds of reverb.
A Smooth Sea Never Made A Skilful Sailor is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store and can be streamed over at SoundCloud. Be sure to check out the wonderful work of Shoeb Ahmad/Spartak and perth while you’re at it.
PERTH, Kramies and [The] Caseworker All in the KBRP Top Ten!
The good folks at KBRP know good music. Want proof? How about three Hidden Shoal artists in the KBRP CMJ Top Ten this week! perth’s What’s Your Utopia? at 3, Kramies’ The Wooden Heart at 4 and [The] Caseworker’s Voices Out There at 8. Now if we can just dislodge Stephen Malkmus, Damien Jurado, XIU XIU and a few others we can hold the top three spots.
Kramies Track in Fresh on The Net Faves (Tom Robinson, BBC)
The stunning title track to Kramies latest EP The Wooden Heart has been chosen as one of the latest top ten “Fresh Faves” over at Tom Robinson’s (BBC) Fresh On The Net site. Here’s what reviewer Sam Lee had to say about the track,
““Expansive”, “widescreen”, “windswept” – all of these words have been used to describe the latest EP from Kramies, and very accurate they all are too. The lead single and title track The Wooden Heart is at once cinematic and comforting and, despite its name, full of warmth and personality.” – Fresh On The Net
Grab yourself a free download of the track and a copy of the EP here.
perth's "What's Your Utopia?" Review at Music Won't Save You (Italy)
Fantastic review of perth‘s What’s Your Utopia? by the ever wonderful Raffaello Russo (Ondarock, ROCKERILLA) at his blog Music Won’t Save You. The review is in Italian so here’s a poorly translated excerpt thanks to Google,
“Right from the opening track “Drank And Kites And Tomorrow”, also released as a single, the Australian band fills out a patchwork of pronounced rhythmic emphasis, in which keyboards and reverbed vocal outline a texture from kraut flavored, shifting to Chicago post-rock and a contemporary mingling of languages, from Caribou to Flying Lotus…this album by Perth is multifaceted and visionary.” – Music Won’t Save You
Apologies for the rough tranlsation, we do hope you can read the review in it’s native Italian!
Fantastic New Book from Scene Point Blank
Our friends at Scene Point Blank have just published a wonderful new book, “All Downhill From Here“. Those of you who are regular readers will know the quality of writing SPB have continually produced and “All Downhill From Here” catalogues some of the cream of the crop including interviews with artists such as Henry Rollins, Polar Bear Club and coverage of albums by the likes of PJ Harvey, Sufjan Stevens and Public Enemy. In the words of the Scene Point Blank Team,
“After 10 years of web exclusives, Scene Point Blank is releasing a book. The collection contains our favorite interviews and reviews with brand new intros and insights into our history. Over 300 pages of interviews and music devotion to the underground scene.”
Grab yourself a copy here and check out the site in full here.
Outstation's "Let The Mess Shine In" Now Available For Streaming and Download!
Hidden Shoal is excited to be able to share the brilliant 1999 album Let The Mess Shine In from the Craig Hallsworth-led, Perth-based Outstation. Loud, brash, melodic and always engaging, Outstation lit the stage up wherever they played. Let The Mess Shine In captures this raw power beautifully. The band consisted of Craig Hallsworth (guitar, vocals), Jim Butterworth (bass), Jamie Hamilton (drums).
“…one of the most ferociously heavy live bands going round in the mid-90s. They played ear-splitting indie rock and were killer live. Critically acclaimed, sadly underappreciated, they were a true gem, delivering top shelf servings of gritty indie rock.” – Life is Noise
Thanks to the band, the album is now available in full for streaming and download via the Hidden Shoal SoundCloud. Fans of Hallsworth’s work should also check out his current project Tangled Star and his previous band The Slow Beings whose releases are available now through Hidden Shoal.
"The Wooden Heart" Review Love at SpaceRockMountain
Fantastic and fun review of Kramies The Wooden Heart at the always awesome SpaceRockMountain. Here’s a glimpse,
“This record has three things going for it:
1. It is being released by Hidden Shoal, one of the best labels around putting out dreamy pop music.
2. Folks involved with Guided by Voices and Grandaddy have helped with the production.
3. The recording quality is immaculate without sounding processed.” – SpaceRockMountain
Hidden Shoal MixTape
