Hidden Shoal News
Three Questions With Giuseppe Musmeci (aka Willem Gator)
Giuseppe Musmeci is a man of many talents. He’s a self-taught composer, guitarist, electronic musician and member of the Italian post-rock outfit HC-B. His work under the Willem Gator moniker is a beautiful tapestry of atmospheric down-tempo, big basslines and oriental instrumentation, often counterpointed by urgent and angular beat-driven explorations. He creates music that is not only about ‘place’, but also deeply embedded in its own place of construction and composition. His pivotal 2011 album Hong Kong Express is testament to this approach, composed while the artist lived in a ‘cubby hole’ apartment in Kowloon.
So let’s hand it over to Giuseppe as we ask him to pull three questions out of the bag…
Who is your dream collaborator?
Definitely Peter Hook from Joy Division-New Order!
Describe your musical career in 6 words or less.
Traveling, observe, breathe, absorb and release …
If you were writing a soundtrack/score, what director would you most want to work with?
David Lynch
New Chloe March Single and Video!
We’re excited to announce the gorgeous new single and music video for the Chloë March song ‘Orpheus Head’ taken from the 2014 re-release of her album Nights Bright Days. ‘Orpheus Head’ is pure, sensual dream-pop. Its hypnotic pulsing rhythm, arpeggiated keyboards and swelling synths provide the perfect backdrop for March’s stunning vocals. Textura Magazine could not have summarised her voice’s magnetic appeal any better:
“a smoky alto that unfurls like a plume of cigarette smoke, its velvety tone a sensual narcotic… it’s hard not to think of the mythological sirens who used their hypnotic voices to lure sailors ashore.”
The music video for ‘Orpheus Head’ is available for viewing at YouTube and Vimeo and the song can be download for free via Bandcamp and streamed via SoundCloud. You can also stream Nights Bright Days and Chloe’s other releases via her artist profile.
Featured Track – DrAlienSmith ‘Guth and Zeno’
![DrAlienSmith - [ interstellar terraforming ]](https://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/DrAlienSmithplasterheadshot-300x300.jpg)
Al Smith, working under his DrAlienSmith moniker, makes big music and this is no further evidenced than on the track ‘Guth and Zeno’ lifted from his debut EP Under Songs. The scope of this song is not simply due to its broad, monolothic, yet layered sonic palette but also extends to the temporal and almost geophysical landscape it generates. The shifts between cavernous interstellar terraforming and atmos-laden solitude and reflection are incredibly striking and make for an emotive listening experience. This is a story too big for words and a film too visual for image. Stunning stuff!
New Music Video for Markus Mehr’s ‘Buoy’
In the new video for Markus Mehr’s ‘Buoy’, taken from his latest album Binary Rooms, the music and visuals co-exist in unnerving synchronicity. Created by Hidden Shoal’s own Cam Merton, the video’s three-dimensions are populated by blurred figures. As they move through the inky expanse, they seem to be both creating the song’s menacing soundworld with their movements, and responding to the dynamics of the music with their shadowy choreography.
Mehr’s work has seen a subtle shift in scale across his five studio albums. From the widescreen cosmic vistas of Lava to some of the more intimate moments of his 42-minute single-track opus Off, Mehr has now come to examine the most challenging space yet – that of our everyday lives and the spatial narratives that surround us. Mehr’s music has always possessed a keen sense of and negotiation with scale, and on Binary Rooms he challenges notions of personal space, juxtaposing the human against the industrial, the gentle and intimate against the jolting and harsh. Mehr acts as a fragment hunter, meshing machine-like tones with the discarded elements of humanity; narrative with anti-narrative. On Binary Rooms he manages to create a spatial remix – a striking re-design of aural reality filled with a living, digital biology.
Check out Binary Rooms and Mehr’s other releases here and watch the video for ‘Buoy’ at Youtube or Vimeo.
The October Solution Sign to Hidden Shoal
Hidden Shoal fans will be delighted at the news of our signing of dream-rock architects of The October Solution. Although the band name may not be familiar, its members certainly will be: The October Solution are Drew Sullivan (Slow Dancing Society, City of Satellites) and Jarrod Manuel (City of Satellites). While steeped in ’80s nostalgia, their music moves beyond familiar tropes to stand as defiantly futuristic and progressive. As you would expect from Sullivan and Manuel’s lineage, their songs resonate with soaring guitars, ethereal vocals, and deftly woven pop melodies, melding the incandescent ambient sounds of Slow Dancing Society within the propulsive songcraft of City of Satellites.
The band’s debut full-length, Axis Swim Scar, will be released through Hidden Shoal on the 15th of April, with the first single dropping on the 25th of February. Hidden Shoal will also be releasing a deluxe re-issue of the band’s first two EPs later in the year.
Kramies French Tour in April!
French citizens prepare to be dazzled as dreampop troubadour Kramies lands in April to play some shows and tape some performances. We’ll give you a list below but we thought we should make special mention of his big show on the April 8 at the Grand Theatre in Angers supporting the wonderful French outfit A Singer Must Die who will be backed a chamber orchestra. Cool right? Here’s a list of the shows and sessions with two more hopefully announced soon:
April 7th – Showcase at the FNAC Record Store in Angers
April 8th – Grand Theatre in Angers
April 10th – The Jokers Pub in Angers
April 11th – Le Cargo session in Paris (Studio only and published online)
April 11th – Frogg’y Delight Session in Paris (Studio only and published online)
We’ll give more details as we get a little closer. For now though watch Kramies as he gives a nod and a smirk to Bob Dylan and bi-bilingually tells us about one of his forthcoming shows.
Willem Gator Signs to Hidden Shoal
We’re excited to welcome the wonderful Willem Gator (aka Giuseppe Musmeci) to the Hidden Shoal family. Willem Gator creates a unique blend of downtempo beats, fat basslines and a multitude of oriental and orchestral instruments. Musmeci is a self-taught composer, guitarist, electronic musician and member of the Italian post-rock outfit HC-B. Musmeci’s rich background in electronic music production and keen sense of texture sees him creating highly distinctive music under his Willem Gator moniker: “My music is photography of a time, of the people I met and the emotion they gave to me.” Willem Gator has performed throughout Europe, sharing the stage with musicians such as FM Einhet (Einsturzende Neubauten), Flying Luttenbachers, Unsane, DJ Spooky, Pansonic, Nobokazu Takemura, U-Cef, Battles and Art Brut.
Two Willem Gator albums have now been added to the Hidden Shoal catalogue, Touch Me and I Will Save You (2008) and Hong Kong Express (2011). All songs are available for licensing for film, tv, web, games, compilations and more. Stream the albums here and contact us if you’d like to know more.
Stunning New Sci-fi Film Noir Music Video for Involved
We’re excited to present the stunning new 3D animated music video for Involved‘s ‘Radiation Leak’, taken from their 2014 debut Revolving Maze. The video, created by Hidden Shoal’s Cam Merton, is a brooding sci-fi film noir set piece featuring ghostly silhouettes wandering through a smoke-filled city of glittering skyscrapers and glassy plazas. What at first seems graceful, peaceful and organised, soon appears menacing, like watching a sleepwalking populace trapped within a futuristic cage.
Involved’s Revolving Maze fuses the psychedelic sounds of ’70s kosmische with ’80s electronic and more modern ambient styles, creating evocative, cinematic music. However, rather than being revisionist, the duo curate fresh sounds from a musical palette that spans 40 years. Lush synth tones are deployed with an innate sense of melody, leading the listener through widescreen narratives of enviable scope. This is complex, engrossing music that transforms with each spin.
Check out the video at YouTube and Vimeo, and stream and buy Revolving Maze here.
Hidden Shoal Feature in Misfit City 2014 Wrap Up
One of our favourite blogs, Misfit City, has just posted a wonderful, sprawling wrap up of 2014. It features some fantastic music (live and recorded), including a healthy dose of love for Hidden Shoal and its artists. Here’s a snippet,
“Hidden Shoal continued to stake their claim to be releasers of some of the broadest, most accessible art-pop and avant-garde recordings. Some of my favorites were Markus Mehr’s ‘Binary Rooms’ (assorted interferences floating over majestic found sound) and Chloë March’s ‘Nights Bright Days’ (an art-pop songwriter cycle with a Eurydice twist).” – Misfit City
Check out the full article here.
French Outfit Les Limbes Signs to Hidden Shoal
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the signing of the awesome French outfit Les Limbes. Born from the ashes of a number of previously active bands from Bordeaux, south west France (Beautiful Lunar Landscape, Nihil, Nucold), Les Limbes build on their heritage and elevate it to new heights. Their music is all about propulsion and atmosphere, creating epic, rocket-fuelled post-rock’n’roll woven together with heavy guitars, soaring strings and driving pianos. The five piece comprises Arnaud Sigonney, Yoann Roy, Daniel Guerin, Julien Favreau and Nicolas Pointeau. Les Limbes’ soon-to-be-released debut self-titled EP is testament to the band’s ability to not only write smart compositions, but also bring them to life with incredible energy and a stratospheric sound.
The Les Limbes EP will be released in April 2015, preceded by a single in March. Check out the very teasing teaser below and read more about the band here. The music of Les Limbes is also available now for licensing (film, tv, web, games and more), so be sure to contact us if you’d like to have a listen for your upcoming project.