MixTapes
Wrap your ears around artist and label curated mixtapes. Expect these mixtapes to cover broad ground as you’ll see from our inaugural mix from Markus Mehr. Some mixes will focus on the Hidden Shoal catalogue and others will draw from the global pool. Be sure to follow us on MixCloud to keep up with new MixTapes.
“Still” – A Mixtape Curated by Memorybell
With an album due out next month that is an abject lesson in understanding the spaces between things, Grant Hazard Outerbridge (aka Memorybell) is well poised to present this beautiful mixtape, aptly entitled Still. Lets hand it over to the man himself to explain.
“Society these days is in such a rush. We bounce from one thing to the next, often, it seems, with little idea of where we’re going. As an artist I attempt to fold into my process a slowing down, preferably to a stasis where blurred notes and ideas become suspended, frozen in air where I can analyze and manipulate them. The songs included here for me represent stillness in many of its forms: sitting with discomfort, ennui, idleness, sadness, relief, and release. Once distraction is removed, we’re left with our bodies and thoughts which, in turn, can lead us to some unexpected realizations.” – Grant Hazard Outerbridge (Memorybell)
“Long Range Transmissions” MixTape Edition
Here we present the MixTape version of Long Range Transmissions, the first in a new series of themed compilations from Hidden Shoal. The album showcases the ambient and neo-classical side of the catalogue, bringing together beautiful tracks from artists as diverse as Robert Pollard collaborator Todd Tobias, British chamber-pop songwriter Chloe March, and American ambient nostalgist Slow Dancing Society. From the delicate piano of Antonymes, Kryshe, Gilded and Medard Fischer, and the celestial experimentalism of Elisa Luu, Markus Mehr and Cheekbone, to the expansive guitarscapes of My Majestic Star, Erik Nilsson and Sleeping Me, Long Range Transmissions is an essential introduction to just one of the many facets of the Hidden Shoal label and licensing catalogue.
Long Range Transmissions is also available as a free downloadable album via BandCamp.
“Long Range Transmissions” – A Hidden Shoal Compilation by Hidden Shoal on Mixcloud
“Music is Color for Life” A Battlestations Mixtape
Taking some time out after the release of their sublime new album The Extent of Damage, Battlestations sat down and crafted a delicious mixtape for our collective delectation. Not as dark as one might expect but every bit melodic, the mix moves from the likes of Craig Armstrong and New Order to Ulver and Goblin to name but a few. Here’s some thoughts from Battlestations to get you in the mood,
“Music is color for life. Like a painting, it’s sometimes big, brutal brush strokes that leaves a thick black stain in the soul, at other times feather-light, embracing and soothing tiny pecks of color melting within the soul. In either case, magic. Let these sound canvasses paint your soul.” – Battlestations
“Music is Color for Life” A Mixtape by Battlestations by Hidden Shoal on Mixcloud
“Running Man” A MixTape by Liminal Drifter
The wonderful Liminal Drifter, aka Dr Simon Order, brings us the next installment in our mixtape series. The mix, lovingly produced by Warren S, is inspired by Order’s other life as a long distance runner and includes some gorgeous ambient electronica and downtempo works. Let’s hand it over Liminal Drifter to explain further,
“Running Man is drawn from the long-distance running tunes of ambient electronic producer Liminal Drifter. Delicately mixed by DJ maestro Warren S, these are songs that fuel the run and relax the body, moving through space, floating on the groove, effortlessly, in movement. Songs inhabiting the wandering psyche of the runner, paths of calm, shifting melody and gentle shuffling beats. Warren S resonates the mix in sympathy, a playful and harmonically uplifting curation.” – Liminal Drifter
“Running Man” A MixTape by Liminal Drifter by Hidden Shoal on Mixcloud
“Melody Makers” A MixTape by Todd Tobias
The latest installment in our mixtape series finds the wonderful Todd Tobias curating a deliciously melodic time capsule. The mix features tracks from across a 30 year period starting in the 40’s and featuring artists such as Nat Cole, Sam Cooke, Neil Young, Nick Drake, David Bowie and even some Andrew Lloyd Webber! Let’s hand it over to Todd to explain,
“Here is a collection of 13 melody-driven songs written in a wide time range (1947-1977). Melody is the one element I struggle with in my own music, so I have an appreciation for it as a listener. In many of these songs the writers and performers convey a melancholy mood without being cute, maudlin or sentimental – something I admire because I know it’s not easy to achieve.
Many of the artist names will be familiar, but in a few cases perhaps not the names of the songwriters or vice-versa. Where it applies, the name of the writer is included alongside the performer. Thanks to Cam at Hidden Shoal for asking me to share this mixtape.” – Todd Tobias
“Melody Makers” A MixTape by Todd Tobias by Hidden Shoal on Mixcloud
“The Sparkling Ground” MixTape by Chloe March
We have another delicious artist curated mixtape to quench your thirsty ears. The Sparkling Ground comes to us courtesy of the supremely talented UK songstress Chloe March as she takes us from the Cocteau Twins to Flying Lotus to Grasscut to Kate Bush and beyond. Here’s what Chloe has to say about the mix,
“Songs that sparkle and songs that evoke a powerful sense of place and often both things combined in the same song. I’m fascinated by melancholy and rapture in song and the way the two play with each other. A lot of this music is fairly new to me, music I fell in love with once I’d finished my own album, but there are some old friends here too, artists who have had and still have a profound effect on me, both as a listener and a writer. Hope you enjoy this sparkling sound-trip.”
“The Sparkling Ground” A MixTape by Chloe March by Hidden Shoal on Mixcloud
“Glitch before Kitsch” MixTape by Markus Mehr
A beautiful sister mix to Markus Mehr‘s previous Kitsch before Glitch mixtape. This time around Mehr takes us from David Sylvian to Thomas Köner to Aphex Twin to The Beatles and beyond. Let’s hand it over to the man himself to explain,
“This is the ‘sister’ to my previous mixtape, Kitsch Before Glitch – but they’re not identical twins. This mix is the complete opposite of the last. It’s music that has attracted me and moved me over the last six or seven months.
It starts with David Sylvian’s ‘Darkest Dreaming’, a beautiful miniature I rediscovered last summer when I was finishing the album Binary Rooms. I played it in the morning, before I started working, for an A/B mix comparison, during the breaks, and again at the end of the day. I am addicted to this song. It makes me remember my taxi driver days, when I would record one song onto tape over and over again (such as ‘Heartbeat’ by Sakamoto/Sylvian, ‘Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely’ by Hüsker Dü, or ‘Someone To Pull The Trigger’ by Matthew Sweet), then listen on repeat the whole night through.
After this intro you’ll hear a lot of outstanding music released in 2014, previously unreleased music, tracks from colleagues and with colleagues, and some hard-to-find electronic classics of the early ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. And it ends with The Beatles’… by accident. If you’ve been listening to the whole tape, you are definitely also a ‘Fool On The Hill’ – a very nice one.”
– Markus Mehr
“Glitch before Kitsch” by Markus Mehr by Hidden Shoal on Mixcloud
“Wealth” – Mixtape by Kryshe
On the latest Hidden Shoal mixtape, German ambient artist Kryshe picked tracks from cherished albums he owns on vinyl. The mix traces a line from ’70s German kosmische through to Talk Talk’s majestic ‘Wealth’, taking in instrumental touchstones such as Klaus Schulze, Olafur Arnalds and A Winged Victory For The Sullen along the way. In moving between cosmic synthesized soundscapes and the intimate tones of strings and piano, Kryshe explores the myriad influences that have shaped his own exquisitely subtle and detailed ambient work.
Kryshe is the live and studio-based ambient project of German musician Christian Grothe. Grothe’s music often evolves from live improvisation sessions, incorporating sound-manipulation software such as max/msp to develop a richly layered yet spacious sound. Grothe is also a member of the improvisational trio Unland, featuring ambient artist Jonas Meyer and clarinetist Shabnam Pavaresh. His releases to date are the Dreamland and In Between EPs, and the full-length release Growing. Listen to Kryshe’s music and learn more about the artist here.
“The Unspoken Wheel” – Mixtape by Hidden Shoal
This beautiful new installment in our mixtape series comes from Hidden Shoal partner and Art Director, Stuart Medley. So without further rambling let’s hand it over to Stu to introduce the mix,
“This mixtape is all instrumental, but for me it gives voice to the essence of Hidden Shoal’s sublime cinematic spirit. I press play and the pictures begin flickering to life. Why do particular pieces of music get inside while others merely bounce off? As a visual creator, the music that takes hold of me connects synaesthetically to the kinds of pictures that have always arrested me, and are somehow necessary. Albert Camus said “A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened” (L’Envers Et L’Endroit, 1958). This mixtape brims with tunes that for me project those pictures in my mind and remind me that there is already an entire world within Hidden Shoal, wheeling through the cosmos. I hope the wheel can take other listeners back around to their important images. What pictures made you?” – Stuart Medley, Art Director and Hidden Shoal Partner
“The Everlasting Thursday” – Mixtape by Antonymes
The ever wonderful Ian Hazeldine, aka Antonymes, steps up to the plate and presents the next installment in our MixTape series. Those who follow the work of Hazeldine will know his work under the Antonymes moniker is as much about timing as it is about texture and melody. How perfect then that this mixtape should focus so heavily on a genre that is all about timing, jazz. Not only that, the mix is based around a wonderful conceit as explained by the artist below,
“The concept for this mix has been stuck in my head for several years now. Each track in the mix is in the same position it would be in on the album it came from. For example, Questar is track one on Keith Jarrett’s My Song, Caravan! is track two on The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble’s Here Be Dragons. You get the picture.
Normally when I prepare for a mmix I start with a whole bunch of tracks and end up only using half. It usually comes together very quickly. With this mix I started with a single track and built it from there, not really knowing where it was going to end up.
It’s a mix filled with old favourites and newer discoveries. I hope you enjoy it.” – Ian Hazeldine
The Everlasting Thursday – A Mix for Winter Nights by Antonymes by Hidden Shoal on Mixcloud