Hidden Shoal News
Kramies Continues to Chart at Soma FM
Kramies beautiful EP The European continues to get deserved love over at Soma FM. The track ‘Antiquarian Days’ is sitting at number 4 on the top 30 by spins and number 5 on the top 30 by listeners Digitalis charts. Check it out here.
We have still have some copies of The European in the beautiful limited edition mini CD postcard format which can order here, along with digital in all its various formats. Also keep an eye out for the new music video for the Kramies track ‘The Inventors’ which will be hitting your retinas in a few weeks.
New Single From Todd Tobias (Circus Devils, Robert Pollard) – Free Download!
Hidden Shoal Recordings is excited to announce the release of new single ‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ by musical experimentalist and long-time Robert Pollard collaborator Todd Tobias, taken from his forthcoming debut solo album Medicine Show.
‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ is a multi-part mini-epic that offers a tantalising taste of Medicine Show’s shadowy steampunk dystopia. The track kicks in like a panic attack, a dizzying flurry of organ and toms alternating with lurching guitar. The chaos soon calms, but builds in intensity again as a massive detuned riff pummels your ears into submission. The final coda is an exercise in unwinding as the song’s tight, muscular coils begin to lose their tension. The single comes with a bonus ‘B side’ called ‘Crystal Palace People’ taken from the soon to released bonus EP Night Above Ground. A lilting and intimate electro-folk ballad, ‘Crystal Palace People’ is a glimmering, soft-focus comedown after the A side’s rush – only to become unhinged in its closing moments as the recording is chewed and slurred.
“A psychedelic boat ride that leads to a poorly lit and wicked place, where even the nursery rhymes of youth become foreboding…” – AllMusic on Circus Devils’ Ringworm Interiors
‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store, packaged with bonus track ‘Crystal Palace People’. Medicine Show is released in CD and digital formats on 26 April. Read a full press release here.
Slow Dancing Society Interview on KZSU Available for Download
If you missed the wonderful interview with Drew Sullivan (aka Slow Dancing Society) on KZSU then never fear as the ever wonderful Adam Pearson, KZSU GM and interviewer extraordinaire, has posted a download on his blog. Go to it!
Hidden Shoal Signs Todd Tobias
Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the signing of musical experimentalist Todd Tobias to its roster of artists. After years of producing Guided By Voices and playing in Circus Devils with Robert Pollard, Todd Tobias is striking out on his own with his debut solo album, Medicine Show, a multi-faceted instrumental opus, evoking a shadowy steampunk dystopia.
Todd Tobias and older brother Tim Tobias grew up in Northeast Ohio, USA, where the two played together in a string of bands, culminating in Clouds Forming Crowns and Circus Devils (the latter with Robert Pollard). Todd has been Pollard’s in-house record producer since 2002, beginning with Guided by Voices’ Matador release Universal Truths and Cycles. Todd has also produced many other indie-rock projects over the years, including the latest release from fellow Hidden Shoal Recordings artist Kramies (The European EP).
Medicine Show is released by Hidden Shoal on 26 April, preceded by single ‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ on 13 March. Read a full press release about the signing here.
Salli Lunn '50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix) – New Single, Free Download
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of single ‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ by Danish spectral noise-rock quartet Salli Lunn, taken from their recently released album A Frame of Reference, which comprises remixes of songs from their debut album Heresy and Rite, plus all-new songs.
‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ sees the previously unreleased track from the Heresy and Rite sessions reworked by Denmark’s TV-Baby as a driving, lo-fi chase scene. The track hurtles through your brain like a delirious late-night panic attack, rapid-fire beats ricocheting against woolly bass surge, disorientating echoes and electro squiggles. Then, in its closing seconds, a gorgeous coda of chiming interwoven guitars lulls you to a narcotized sleep, the chaos of the preceding minutes a distant dream.
‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ is taken from remix album A Frame of Reference, which also includes single ‘Mirror Girl (Scott Solter Remix)’ and remixes of Heresy and Rite tracks by Markus Mehr, City Of Satellites and Manual. Previously unreleased track ‘White Sight’ rounds out the album in fine style.
“The Danish noise rockers show on A Frame of Reference the hidden depth of many of their prior songs, as well as willingness to re-envision them on the fly… This is no stopgap release, but an extension of Salli Lunn’s growing confidence… The band’s blend of Krautrock, shoegaze, techno and straight on melodic rock is an addicting stew.” – Music Emissions on A Frame of Reference
‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store. A Frame of Reference is available as an exclusive digital release through the Hidden Shoal Store and all good third party online stores. Album Heresy and Rite is also available worldwide in CD, vinyl and digital formats through Hidden Shoal Recordings.
Salli Lunn – ’50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’
Slow Dancing Society Interview on KZSU
Be sure to tune in to the awesome KZSU (Stanford, CA) on the 5th of March to hear an interview with Drew Sullivan, aka Slow Dancing Society. The interview will air Monday Mar 5th 10:00AM PST and you can stream live via http://kzsulive.stanford.edu or if you in the area tune in to 90.1FM on your radio. Unmissable!
Markus Mehr's "In" Reviewed at AbsolutePunk
Markus Mehr’s latest opus In has been written up over at AbsolutePunk,
“Mehr has a steady hand as he defrosts the ice around the core of the track as it melts into warmer shades, other voices waking from their hibernation and calling out to each other. The progression never feels as tightly constructed as it really is, though; the way the layers of the track burrow in and out of each other feels so organic that even when it shifts into a more malevolent gear and machinery takes over, the development isn’t at all jarring but eye-opening.” – AbsolutePunk
Check out the rest of the review here and stream and buy the album on CD and Digital here.
Markus Mehr Reviewed in Ambientblog, Luna Kafe
Fans of Markus Mehr’s new work will enjoy the glowing reviews over at Ambientblog and Luna Kafe. If you’ve not yet pre-ordered your limited edition CD copy of In then you’re still in luck with a small amount of copies still available for pre-order. Alternatively you can download the album now and soak in its expansive splendour.
New Hypnotic Pop Magic from The Caseworker – Free Download
Hidden Shoal Recordings is excited to announce the release of the new freely downloadable single ‘Sea Years’ by garage-dreampop trio The Caseworker, taken from their acclaimed 2011 album Letters From The Coast.
‘Sea Years’ is the follow-up to first single ‘National Runner’, showcasing another side to the band’s trademark guitar surge. The song’s insistent motorik beat, levitating guitar jangle and Eimer Devlin’s gorgeous airy vocals create a very special blend of dreamy, hypnotic pop minimalism. Light as a feather yet crammed full of gutsy guitar sounds, ‘Sea Years’ is another earworm from The Caseworker. The track is lifted from the band’s third album Letters From The Coast, which sees The Caseworker continue to deliver their own unique sonic magic. The album has the feel of a shoegazing Velvet Underground reared by the Flying Nun label, creating an enigmatic intimacy and atmosphere, which the band wrap around immaculately crafted pop songs like smoke. Perfectly intoxicating.
“a mellow, blissed out sequence of West Coast guitar pop, one that references Green On Red and Teenage Fanclub as much as it does the more abrasive Sonic Youth and monochromatic Velvet Underground whom The Caseworker acknowledge as influences… as much resonance and melodic energy as any of the bands and musicians whose work The Caseworker draw their influence from, and it succeeds fully as a complete album…. Anyone whose album collection is incomplete without Ocean Rain, Grand Prix and Park Life will find an equally prominent space in it for this twelve track masterpiece.” – Delusions Of Adequacy
“The Caseworker extract darkness from inside whispery, ambient pop… completely enraptured and awesomely dazed” – Rolling Stone
Download ‘Sea Years’ for free from the Hidden Shoal Store and if you haven’t yet been educated in the ways of The Caseworker’s brilliant Letters From The Coast you can stream the whole thing here.
Scott Solter "One River" Review Round Up
A busy end to 2011 and a sweet but small break over the xmas period means that we have a number of end of year reviews and the like we need to pass on. The first of these catch ups is for Scott Solter’s sublime re-issue of One River which generated much deserved love last year. Amongst the previously reported reviews the album also scooped glowing write-ups in Blog Critics, Textura and Cyclic Defrost.
Stream the album in full and buy it on CD or digital at the Hidden Shoal Store.
Hidden Shoal MixTape
