en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal The Last.fm journal for Hidden_Shoal. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/11/14/35r4pp_stray_ghost%27s_%22each_paradise_is_a_lost_paradise%22_released Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:33:56 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/11/14/35r4pp_stray_ghost%27s_%22each_paradise_is_a_lost_paradise%22_released Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of Each Paradise is a Lost Paradise, the new EP by English ambient drone architect Stray Ghost.

On his latest EP, Anthony Saggers works his magic in reverse. Rather than begin at the bottom, exploring the depths of melancholy, Each Paradise is a Lost Paradise is dominated by waves of rich, major-key chords, which seem to be simultaneously advancing and receding, suspending the listener. It is perhaps one of the most light-filled and hopeful of the Stray Ghost releases thus far. However, Each Paradise is a Lost Paradise is still frayed at the edges and cut through with vulnerability. Although reinforced by glowing, enveloping drones, there’s ever the sense that everything is about to fall apart – albeit beautifully.

Ten-minute opener ‘La Belle Semaine’ blossoms into life with wavering Mellotrons and blankets of rich synths. Halfway through, the music begins to disappear, before shimmering back into life with a tremolo pulse. Shorter centrepiece ‘Au Revoir à la Belle Semaine’ reprises the wavering Mellotron, but fractured by metallic tones and distant ringing. Finally, ‘Réminiscences Et Rêves De Beauté’ takes all the elements of the preceding tracks, aerates them, then sends the tape loop disintegrating into nothingness across another ten spellbinding minutes.

“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

Each Paradise is a Lost Paradise is the first in a special new series of digital-only releases by Hidden Shoal Recordings. The EP is available now in all digital formats, including lossless. For all availability information, visit the Hidden Shoal Store. The release of Each Paradise is a Lost Paradise is a precursor to the epic full-length reply to Stray Ghost's 2008 masterpiece Losthilde, to be released by Hidden Shoal on January 27th, 2010.

Read a full press release here.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/11/14/35r4fc_city_of_satellites_debut_album_pre-released Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:30:04 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/11/14/35r4fc_city_of_satellites_debut_album_pre-released Hidden Shoal Recordings have announced the digital pre-release of the debut album by Australian dream-pop duo City of Satellites.

On Machine Is My Animal, City of Satellites deliver on the exceptional promise of their debut EP The Spook – and then some. This pristine album synthesizes ’80s pop aesthetics with ’00s production values to create a truly monumental sound. From the Eastern-influenced synth lines of superb opener ‘BMX’ to the crystalline drift of closer ‘Sky Rider’, Machine Is My Animal carries the listener through a glistening science fiction future, as viewed from a wistful child’s window.

On single ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, swirling synth sounds, Thomas Diakomichalis’ propulsive drumming and Jarrod Manuel’s pure vocal tones glide beautifully. Its aching melodies to the fore, the song taking heartrending turns before dissolving into the ether. ‘Skeletons’ glides and weaves like a hovercar over the course of seven levitating minutes, before the epic title track stomps across a dystopian future like a Transformer with a conscience, its robot heart bleeding as its surveys the devastation it has wrought. This balance between cold synthesized tones and a warm emotional heart creates a delicious balance throughout.

“equipped with hulking ice tipped chorus’ of synth chime serenades that cast out a colourfully vibrant swirling haze that’s both as demurring as it is intoxicating all the time regaling within a disarming shy eyed aspect brought to the fore by Jarrod’s softly caressing feminine like vocals and arrested by the uplifting backdrops of starry eyed dream weaves - one we suspect for admirers of OMD’s ’Souvenir’” – Losing Today on single ‘Stranger Than Fiction’

“You know when you catch a faint smell of something that totally spins you out and reminds you of something you haven’t though about since you were six, completely changing your day? City Of Satellites have synthesised this feeling into music… traces of shoegaze heroes M83 and My Bloody Valentine, with faint, androgynous vocals drifting in and out of clarity over a dreamy soundscape… an emotionally exhausting and incredibly satisfying little trip” – Drum Media EP of the Week (The Spook)

Machine Is My Animal is now available in all digital formats, including lossless, from the Hidden Shoal Store and all good third-party digital music stores (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, LaLa, Bandcamp etc). Fans will now to have to wait it out a little longer for the official CD release which has now been put back to January 21st, 2010.

Read a full press release here and stream the album in full as well as check all digital availability here.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/11/11/35k4e5_wes_willenbring%27s_%22close%2C_but_not_too_close%22_official_release Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:36:11 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/11/11/35k4e5_wes_willenbring%27s_%22close%2C_but_not_too_close%22_official_release Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the official release of the eagerly awaited sophomore album by American post-ambient craftsman Wes Willenbring.

Close, But Not Too Close sees Willenbring develop on the gorgeous palette of tones explored on acclaimed debut Somewhere, Someone Else. As with Willenbring’s debut, Close, But Not Too Close is all about time in both it’s broadest and most discrete sense. There is a deliberation present in it’s composition that makes for a level of engagement far beyond any easy notion of what ambient music is or should be.

The album opens with the elegiac organ drones of ‘I’m Looking Forward To Your Funeral’, immediately setting the scene for this shadow filled, introspective, eight-song opus. The track showcases Willenbring’s masterful balance of passage and destination. The wonderfully received single ‘Oh, Most’ is submerged in icy washes of guitar, under which piano and bass meet in a rhythmic valium struggle. A plaintive cyclical piano line leads ‘My Ghostly Fingers’ before being joined by vacillating Mellotron flute lines as if Satie had fallen to dream. The classical guitar lines in ‘The Burrow’ literally dig into your subconscious, from where a warm yet unearthly Mellotron acts as a kind of embrocation. ‘For All The Strays’ would have sounded perfectly at home on Willenbring’s debut with it’s dry, pure electric guitar tones, delicately placed piano chords in the foreground and smears of drone threatening in the distance. This bridging of melody and texture, of form and formlessness, time and time again draws the listener into territory that is at once unknown yet intimately familiar – a place that is as marked by notions of transformation as it is by melancholy.

“Absolutely gorgeous. Dreamy dark meandering melancholia for fans of Stars of the Lid, Eluvium, Dead Texan, Tim Hecker, Godspeed and other purveyors of darkly dramatic, abstract moody minimalism” – Aquarius Records on Somewhere Someone Else

Close, But Not Too Close is now available on CD and in all digital formats (including lossless). The CD is distributed through n5Mailorder in the US, Asia and Europe and through Hidden Shoal Distribution in Australia. Check the Hidden Shoal Store for all availability info. Read a full press release here.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/07/13/2v628c_down_review_debut_single_released Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:17:11 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/07/13/2v628c_down_review_debut_single_released Hidden Shoal Recordings are proud to announce the release of the debut single by the Arc Lab and Near The Parenthesis collaboration Down Review.

The first single to be taken from down review’s soon to be released debut EP, From Here, For Anyone, ‘Anything Is Everything’ is a post-midnight drive through a flaking neon city. Crisp programmed drums, warm synths and surging bass weave a mesmeric path through a mist of skittering textures and falling light particles. It’s the kind of glowing electronica that could loop endlessly, such is the allure of its ebullient, cyclical melodies.

Acclaimed electronic producers Medard Fischer (Arc Lab) and Tim Arndt (Near The Parenthesis) have never been in the same room nor even spoken. They ‘met’ online for the first time through their debut label, Toronto-based MMBP, and developed immediate admiration for each other’s work. Both artists have since released pivotal albums on the influential label n5MD. From their online musical collaboration comes Down Review, melding their unique sensibilities to create a delicious hybrid – warm, human electronica for alienating times.

‘Anything is Everything’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store until the release of Down Review’s debut EP From Here, For Anyone on 11th August.

Read a full press release here.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/07/13/2v5w2c_apricot_rail%27s_debut_album_released Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:57:58 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/07/13/2v5w2c_apricot_rail%27s_debut_album_released Hidden Shoal Recordings are proud to announce the release of the debut self-titled album by Perth-based multi-instrumental pop quintet Apricot Rail.

Apricot Rail produce some of the most discretely charming, lush instrumental pop music you’re likely to hear all year. Delicate, bell-like arpeggiated guitars weave around snaking clarinet and flute, while the beautifully held back yet sanguine rhythm section drives the whole thing into a blurred, sun-soaked horizon.

Their debut album features the wonderfully received single ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’, an anthem without ever having to be anthemic, a melancholic reverie that never resorts to the emotional ease of sadness. ‘If You Can’t Join Them, Beat Them’, which featured on the 2009 Spunk Singles Club compilation album, is another chiming standout. And gorgeous closing track ‘Halfway House’ weaves in bubbling electronics as the band lead the listener through glowing landscapes and light-drenched vistas.

“this shyly retiring gem is predisposed to a seductive spectral / ethereal head bowed beauty much reminiscent of the Grails in more tender moments.” – Losing Today on ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’

Apricot Rail’s self-titled debut hits the streets on the 4th of July, released through Hidden Shoal Recordings. The album is distributed in Australia through Hidden Shoal Distribution and internationally via n5Mailorder. The album is also be available digitally through the Hidden Shoal Store and all good third-party digital music stores (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon etc). Check the Hidden Shoal Store for all availability info. The album will be launched at Mojos Bar in Fremantle on the night of the release in what promises to be one of the gigs of the year as Apricot Rail share the stage with local legends Pond who’ll be launching their new album on the same night.

Preview the album in full here and read a full press release here.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/23/2tipj2_tarcutta_debut_album_digital_pre-release Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:32:50 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/23/2tipj2_tarcutta_debut_album_digital_pre-release
Hidden Shoal Recordings are proud to announce the digital pre-release of the self-titled debut album by Melbourne-based instrumental rock trio Tarcutta.

On their self-titled debut album, Tarcutta transport the listener on a compelling ride through a breathtaking musical landscape. Right from the scene-setting intro of opener ‘Mount Bartle Frere’ to the raw, explosive power of finale ‘Flaghags Must Die’, the band render their songs with astonishing detail and clarity, cramming more melodic ideas into each song than most instrumental bands manage in whole albums.

“a gliding, circling instrumental… a massive, yet light-footed piece of music… fine proof of more elegance and grace to come” – Luna Kafe on Single ‘You Gotta Crawl…’

Tarcutta is now available in digital format from the Hidden Shoal Store and all good third-party digital distributors. The album will be launched and officially released on CD at Melbourne’s East Brunswick Club on July 23rd. The album will be distributed in Australia through Hidden Shoal Distribution and in the US and Europe via n5Mailorder.

Stream the album in full here and read a press release here.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/23/2timlh_apricot_rail_feature_album_on_rtrfm_all_this_week Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:59:12 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/23/2timlh_apricot_rail_feature_album_on_rtrfm_all_this_week
With only two weeks left until the debut Apricot Rail album gets launched and released through Hidden Shoal, things are starting to heat up. The band has already played three sizzling gigs to wowed Perth audiences and is set to drop another sonic bliss bomb this Saturday night as part of the RTRfm Fremantle Winter Music Festival (details here).

For anyone who's been itching to hear the album before the release and even have the chance to win a copy then you're in luck as the album as been chosen as the Drivetime feature album all this week on RTRfm. You can tune in from 5 to 7pm everyday this week and hear tracks from the new album as well as have the chance of picking yourself up the CD. For those of you not in radio range of Perth then don't forget you can stream and re-stream RTRfm. No excuse to miss out on what has to be one of the best independent radio stations on the planet - there we said it (listen and find out why we mean it)!]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/13/2slrwy_tangled_star%27s_that_time_ep_released Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:51:11 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/13/2slrwy_tangled_star%27s_that_time_ep_released Hidden Shoal Recordings have announced the release of That Time, the gorgeous new EP by the Craig Hallsworth-led Australian outfit Tangled Star.

That Time features the stunning single ‘seabirdtown’. The track opens with the expansive open-air sound of Pink Floyd-style organs and spatial guitars before falling into an earthbound shuffle and a taste of a lush, full-band sound for Tangled Star. The song’s gradual build to a towering edifice of glowing overdriven guitar, droning organ and harmony vocals is topped off by an echoed guitar line that sketches glistening arcs in the stratosphere. The single is indicative of That Time’s strengths as a louder, more flowing version of the melodic, evocative spaces of Tangled Star’s twilight pop songs.

That Time is the follow-up to the recently re-issued Tangled Star EP Our Man In Eden Hill, which features the sublime pop genius of the EP’s lead single ‘tosleepingpeople’.

“the same surging, warmly anthemic sound of stellar forebears galore, each sonically different – the Triffids, Died Pretty, perhaps most inevitably The Go-Betweens – but which altogether seem to capture a sense and a style more than might be guessed, something detailed, mournful, and a little crushing even at its strongest” – AMG on Our Man in Eden Hill

Tangled Star features the inimitable talents of Perth musical luminaries Craig Hallsworth (The Slow Beings, Outstation, Bamboos), Lorne Clements (The Slow Beings, A Minor Ache, Bing, Chimpy) and Jim Butterworth (Outstation).

That Time is available digitally from the HSR Store and all other good third-party digital stores, and on CD through n5Mailorder. Perth fans can also head into 78 Records or Planet and pick up a copy.

Read a full press release here.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/02/2rmao5_apricot_rail_debut_single_released%2C_free_download_available Tue, 2 Jun 2009 00:55:55 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/06/02/2rmao5_apricot_rail_debut_single_released%2C_free_download_available Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of the debut single by Perth-based multi-instrumental pop quintet Apricot Rail. ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ sees Apricot Rail producing some of the most discretely charming, lush instrumental pop music you’re likely to hear all year. Delicate, bell-like arpeggiated guitar weaves around snaking clarinet and flute, while the beautifully held back yet sanguine rhythm section drives the whole thing into a blurred, sun-soaked horizon. ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ is an anthem without ever having to be anthemic, a melancholic reverie that never resorts to the emotional ease of sadness.

Most instrumental rock suggests the apocalypse is coming. If it is, Apricot Rail are too busy crafting beautiful lilting melodies to care. This Perth quintet have the charm, humour and songwriting nous – and a killer live show – to re-ignite anyone’s belief in music’s subtle, giddy powers.

“The might of, I dunno, Mogwai is still there, but the charm of múm is also present. They paint mountains in broad strokes but afterwards they take time to put in Sherpas and goats partying on the cliff face. That’s how I like my monumental arms of guitar served up - gigantic but also tiny” – Love Is My Velocity

‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store until the release of Apricot Rail’s self-titled album on the 4th of July.

Read a full press release here and be sure to catch the band live as they play run of shows in Perth throughout June and July.

]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/05/19/2qhfuf_debut_tarcutta_single_released%2C_free_download_available Tue, 19 May 2009 13:11:58 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Hidden_Shoal/journal/2009/05/19/2qhfuf_debut_tarcutta_single_released%2C_free_download_available Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of the single ‘You Gotta Crawl Before You Walk Before You Waltz’ by Melbourne-based instrumental rock trio Tarcutta.

‘You Gotta Crawl…’ unfolds into being with a luminous pattern on 12-string electric guitar, the low hum of Hammond organ, and a delicious brushed drum pattern. Gradually, delicate organs runs are stirred in before the song seems to fall away, then changes direction and builds into an eddying spiral of tumbling melody. All three instruments bob and weave expertly before building into a subtle climax that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. After over six minutes the song gradually rumbles to a close – leaving your jaw on the floor, hungry for more.

“a truly lovely instrumental tapestry... bewitching and addictive” – Luna Kafe

Tarcuttadraw inspiration from rock, punk and post-rock to create their own distinctive and emotive blend. The subtle ebb and flow of their compositions, the complex interweaving of guitar, organ and drums, and the raw immediacy of the playing, captured live in the studio, distinguish Tarcutta as an essential band. Inspired by Sonic Youth, Theodore Adorno and sporadic bushwalking, Tarcutta formed in North Fitzroy, Melbourne in late 2004. Peter Barrett (drums), Justin Buckley (guitar) and Justin Wheelahan (Hammond organ, piano) recorded their self-titled debut album at Head Gap studio, Melbourne with Casey Rice, who has worked with Tortoise, Dirty Three and Hidden Shoal’s very own Fall Electric.

‘You’ve Gotta Crawl Before You Walk Before You Waltz’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store until the digital release of Tarcutta’s self-titled album on June 23rd, followed by a CD release in July.

Read a full press release here.]]>