Hidden Shoal News
KZSU Love for [The] Caseworker and Kramies
One of our favourite US radio stations KZSU has just posted two lovely DJ reviews for the latest album from [The] Caseworker and the new EP from Kramies,
“The Caseworker is a SF project led by Conor and Eímer Devlin, former members of the slowcore band Half Film. Shaped partially by Conor’s time in a hospital post-car-crash, this fourth album is immaculately crafted to create an overarching feeling of tranquil melancholy at the axis of guitar pop, slowcore, and shoegaze. Catchy and magnificent (and released by Hidden Shoal!).” – KZSU on [The] Caseworker’s Voices Out There
“New EP by this Colorado dream-pop artist (released by the great Hidden Shoal Recordings). This features Jason Lytle of Grandaddy and has the same grand, quirky melancholy as Lytle’s music. There’s a strong sense of anguish and yearning to this. Lovely.” – KZSU on Kramies’ The Wooden Heart
KZSU listeners can expect to hear lots of cuts from both these releases spinning on the radio and should be keeping their eyes on the charts as well!
More Review Love for Kramies "The Wooden Heart"
Kramies’ beguiling new EP The Wooden Heart continues to scoop wonderful press. Emerging Indie Bands recently gave the EP a glowing review and Faded Arrow poured love over Kramies latest single and music video ‘Sea Otter Cottage’.
“Dutch-American singer Kramies recently released a video for the slow-burning “Sea Otter Cottage.” It’s a murky, mesmerizing song, drenched in synth textures and cloudy bass that invoke the image of a sinister storm on the horizon. This is dream pop with definite substance. The video is equally entrancing, as a blurred Kramies fades in and out of colored light.” – Faded Arrow
"What's Your Utopia?" Reviewed at City and Sound & Best of 2013 at Who The Hell
perth’s What’s Your Utopia? magnetism continues to gather strength. The sophomore album was just included in the best of 2013 roundup over at the always excellent Who The Hell blog and has also received a lovely review at another great blog, City and Sound.
“Every part of this record coalesces together strangely, perfectly. And even among the towering, cinematic instrumentals – perth still craft a weird sense of sparseness that makes this sound like a bunch of opiate-swilling krautrock kings running down a sand dune. One of the guys seems to have just discovered a drum and bass sample. In this context anyway, I’m totally alright with that.” – Who The Hell
If you’ve heard it then you know why, if you’ve not then lose yourself in the stream below then head here to get yourself a copy.
"The Wooden Heart" Voted #1 Release of 2013 at The Colorado Sound!
Lots of lovely things have been happening for Kramies utterly beautiful new EP The Wooden Heart over the last month so expect a bunch more posts like these as we catch up. First off we head to the excellent radio show The Colorado Sound where The Wooden Heart was voted by fans as the number 1 album of 2013. Now there is a show that has listeners with taste!
Glowing Album Reviews for PERTH at DOA and Textura
perth’s stunning sophomore album What’s Your Utopia? continues to land brilliant reviews. The latest round of love comes via the excellent DOA and Textura publications. Check out an excerpt below and read the full album reviews at the DOA and Textura sites,
“… it’s worth reflecting that these are musicians that, while they work in more than one format, are somewhere at the peak of their abilities and are pushing their instrumentation very nearly to its limits. The result is a consistently listenable album that’s every bit as ingenious as the music of My Majestic Star, City Of Satellites, Gilded and some other of the albums that Hidden Shoal has released in its eight year history. Which is to say it is an accomplished and very near superb 40 or so minutes and you really should hear it.” – Jon Gordon, DOA
What’s Your Utopia? is available now in CD and digital formats from the Hidden Shoal Store.
Kramies and perth Reviews at Soundly Sounds
Here begins the xmas break reviews catch up! First up some love from the wonderful SoundlySounds blog for Kramies latest single, ‘Sea Otter Cottage‘, and perth’s sophomore album What’s Your Utopia? .There’s a taste below before checking out the full Kramies review here and the perth review here.
“And finally, ‘Sea Otter Cottage’. This one is a tad quieter and less vibrant than the previous entries, but no less amazing. Kramies bring the melancholy poetry hard and fast on their drooping miser ‘Sea Otter Cottage’. Every time you think the track’s about to fall, it is suddenly picked up by some new instrument, like macabre organ chords or vaudevillian guitar. Perhaps its the influence of Jason Lytle of Grandaddy fame that muddles and murkies their sound, but it comes off fantastically.” – SoundlySounds on Kramies ‘Sea Otter Cottage’
“From start to finish, the whole thing reeks of being amazingly talented. Fuck this Arcade Fire bullshit, if you want some indie music that’s tied down solidly with electronic pulses, listen to perth.” – SoundlySounds on perth’s What’s Your Utopia?
Happy 2014!
After a lovely and slightly extended break we are back! Hope 2014 has started swimmingly for everyone and continues that way. We have a whole bunch of wonderful music for you this year, some of it coming out very soon. We’ll be a tease and leave the details for another post. Before we skip to the future though we still have to catch up on the past! There was a number of lovely reviews, posts and general loving posted over the xmas and end of year break for some of our recent releases and we’ll be posting those up this week for your reading pleasure.
Had to get this first post up to get the rust out so excuse its lack of any real information! In an attempt to gloss over this fact we’ll leave you with a playlist of over 4 hours of Hidden Shoal gems…
Kramies New Release of the Day at BoxSpeaker
Kramies beautiful new song and music video, ‘Sea Otter Cottage’, has been chosen as “New Release of the Day” at the excellent BoxSpeaker blog. Here’s a taste,
“The type of sad song Sofia Coppola would use if she and Wes Anderson collaborated on a dark drama with grey washed out skies.” – BoxSpeaker
Check the feature out at BoxSpeaker and check out the video for the track below.
Wonderful Kramies Interview at Seamstress For The Band
Following on from the beautiful film clip for the Kramies track ‘Sea Otter Cottage‘ the man himself has been interview for the wonderful Seamstress for the Band blog. Kramies talks about the ideas behind his music, performing, his upcoming collaboration of Grant Wilson from the Ghost Hunters tv show and much more. Read it all here.
perth's "What's Your Utopia Reviewed at X-Press Magazine
Check out this glowing review of perth’s stunning new album What’s Your Utopia? in X-Press Magazine. Here’s a taste before you head to X-Press,
“there is little doubt that Perth are going to be one of the most cinematic and calming bands to come from these parts.” – X-Press
Check out the album at the Hidden Shoal Store and don’t forget to have a look at the amazing just released James Spinks music video for the album track ‘Quantum Chronological’.
Hidden Shoal MixTape
