Hidden Shoal News
Hidden Shoal Featured at Happy!
Check out this wonderful feature on Hidden Shoal over at the brilliant Sydney based zine Happy. Some lovely mini write ups of the new Slow Dancing Society album The Cogent Sea and Kramies The Wooden Heart EP in there as well. We loved these guys and girls already but this just takes the relationship to another level. Here’s a taste,
“After grabbing your favourite pair of headphones, Hidden Shoal Recordings should be your first destination. They’re a Perth-based label offering what they describe as a “remote” musical experience; a collection of music from composers and bands which all offer a respite from the noise pollution most of us are surrounded with. Each track in their catalogue is a new step in a sonic journey… It is somewhat telling that Hidden Shoal also has a large part of their catalogue available for film and TV licensing. Much of the music on the label has a cinematic feel that I could easily imagine being set to sweeping shots of rolling hills in a nature documentary or a viral motivational video.”
If you’re not already a Happy reader then do check them out – much awesomeness awaits!
More Glowing Reviews for “The Folklore Sessions”
Kramies beautiful new free EP The Folklore Sessions is continuing to garner praise as it reaches new ears. The, which features the piano talents of Ghost Hunters’ Grant Wilson, has just scooped two glowing reviews over at Backseat Mafia and Music Won’t Save You. Here’s a taste to get you in the mood,
“Dutch/American singer song writer Kramies has released three truly breathtaking, stripped back versions of songs from his two EPs released by Hidden Shoal… “ – Backseat Mafia
“…the version of ‘The Wooden Heart’ in this acoustic session, which renounces the incendiary original epic title track of his previous Ep without losing but rather amplifying the rhythmic pathos.” – Music Won’t Save You
The Folklore Sessions is available for free download from Kramies Bandcamp.
Slow Dancing Society Reviewed at Santa Sangre
Slow Dancing Society’s stunning 6th album The Cogent Sea has just scooped a glowing and beautifully written review over at the excellent music zine Santa Sangre. Check out out a grab,
“No detail is too small nor are any set of notes too remote for this one not to reach, he’ll bring out the atmosphere in even the most mundane setting. With the gradual progressions of a wave forming out at sea and then gracefully dying before it hits the shore this is an album made for two. Be they waves and sand, acrimony and regret or as The Church put on the inside of an album: the joy of expectation.” – Santa Sangre
If you’ve not yet checked out the album and scored yourself a copy then head to the Slow Dancing Society Bandcamp for streaming, CD and digital.
Slow Dancing Society – ‘Pull’
Slow Dancing Society’s “The Cogent Sea” Out Now!
We’re incredibly excited to announce the official release of Slow Dancing Society’s 6th album, The Cogent Sea. This is yet is another absorbing progression in Drew Sullivan’s mesmerising discography. The album continues the submersed exploration of Sullivan’s ’80s influences while also drawing upon an incredibly focused and cinematic ambient minimalism. There are trademark elements from across Slow Dancing Society’s stunning, critically acclaimed back catalogue, but rather than being throwbacks they present a continuity of narrative that is rarely found over such a large body of work. On single ‘A Clearing’, gently overlapping waves of synthesizer are suspended amid sustained tones, holding the listener transfixed before Sullivan’s trademark guitar sound gently brings the listener back down to earth, transformed. Second single ‘Pull’ is aptly titled, its droning radiance, warm piano chords and magnetic guitar figures pulling the listener irresistibly into its enveloping glow. This is Slow Dancing Society at his masterful, immersive best.
The album is available in CD and digital formats via Slow Dancing Society’s BandCamp. For a limited time CD orders through Bandcamp also include a copy of Laterna Magica, Slow Dancing Society’s previous album. The album is also available digitally via iTunes, eMusic, Google Play, Amazon along with a range of other digital stores.
New Slow Dancing Society Album CD Pre-Order
It’s less than a week before Slow Dancing Society’s stunning 6th album The Cogent Sea is officially let out into the world. But why wait when you can head over to Bandcamp and pre-order the CD right now. Even better you get an immediate download of the album and for a limited time a bonus cd copy of his previous album Laterna Magica.
The Cogent Sea is officially released on the 26th of June and will be available from Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Google Play and the other usual digital suspects.
Kramies “The Folklore Sessions” Reviewed at Lux Atenea
Fantastic review in the Spanish blog Lux Atenea for Kramies beautiful new EP The Folklore Sessions (featuring the wonderful Grant Wilson). You may need to draw on your Spanish lessons to read this or use the Google language mutilator.
Don’t forget you can download The Folklore Sessions for free from Bandcamp. Well what are you waiting for?
New Free Kramies EP Featuring Grant Wilson of Ghost Hunters!
We’re super excited to release The Folklore Sessions, the free new EP from Kramies. The EP features acoustic versions of songs from his two acclaimed Hidden Shoal EPs The European and The Wooden Heart, plus the piano talents of Grant Wilson (of Ghost Hunters TV show fame).
While his previous EPs mined a wonderfully rich seam of atmospheric yet epic songcraft, The Folklore Sessions demonstrates that Kramies’ songwriting is just as stunning without the undeniable production talents of Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) and Todd Tobias (Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard, Circus Devils). With just his voice and acoustic guitar, plus languid piano backing by Grant Wilson, these stripped-back versions of The European’s ‘Antiquarian Days’, The Wooden Heart’s title track and ‘Sea Otter Cottage’ are given vivid new life through Kramies’ genuinely affecting performances.
“It’s rare to find dream-pop that resolves with such assured optimism, in which you can sense experience shifting into its proper place… Kramies seems to have mastered the talent of simply breathing it into shape” – Misfit City on single and title track ‘The Wooden Heart’
Head to Kramies’ Bandcamp to grab the EP for free then head to the Hidden Shoal Store to check out Kramies previous releases The European and The Wooden Heart.
PERTH Remix Album, Free Download!
Hidden Shoal Recordings is excited to announce the release of the freely downloadable Where’s My Dystopia? by Australian outfit perth, comprising remixes of tracks from the band’s acclaimed second album What’s Your Utopia?
What’s most startling about Where’s My Dystopia? is not only how beautifully it complements the original album, but also how well the remixes work together as an integrated whole. This is a reimagined journey through the musical landscape of the original album rather than a collection of disparate snapshots. Where’s My Dystopia? includes the single ‘Drank, Kites And Tomorrow’ remixed by GUM (Tame Impala and Pond’s Jay Watson) alongside radical reworkings by Seams, Filter Beds, Water Graves, Mei Saraswati, Valerio Cosi, Usurper of Modern Medicine, No. 9, Ghost Drums and Mental Powers.
perth’s second album What’s Your Utopia?, which forms the raw material for this new remix album, manages to meld psychedelic pop, folk-laced electronica and shoegaze into a beautifully cohesive statement – a tribute to the idea of a fond place, or utopia, quietly residing in ‘no place’, beyond ourselves. The band’s magic lies in their ability to refract the individual members’ unique sensibilities through an experimental lens; kaleidoscopic sound design is matched by the band’s songwriting dexterity throughout the album’s nine tracks.
“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” – Who The Hell’s review of What’s Your Utopia? in their best of 2013 round-up
Head over to Bandcamp to grab your copy. Note it’s a “pay what you want” but throw a zero in there and still feel good – we live to give! And if you’ve not already indulged in the sonic and melodic majesty that is perth’s sophomore album, What’s Your Utopia?, then head to the Hidden Shoal Store to grab yourself a copy on CD or in digital formats.
Kramies Featured at Record, Rewind, Play
The Kramies and Jason Lytle collaboration, ‘Clocks Were All Broken’, and its beautiful new music video has just received a glowing write up at the awesome Record, Rewind, Play blog,
“Taken from Dutch-American singer and song-writer Kramies’ The Wooden Heart EP, and featuring the talents of the very excellent Jason Lytle, ‘Clocks Were All Broken’ is not so much a song as a dream fragment, slowly looping and pulsing. Round and round it goes, as you absorb its hidden textures, until suddenly its gone, at which point you’re aware that something is missing, just not quite sure what.
I’d be forever happy if the song’s theme of time standing still – creating an eternally perfect moment like the trippy summer’s day at the beach – were somehow made real, its beautiful and dreamy psychedelia stretching out endlessly. As it is I have to make do with pressing repeat every four minutes, as indeed I have been doing for the last hour or so.” – Record, Rewind, Play
Head over to Youtube to watch the music video. The track is lifted from Kramies stunning EP The Wooden Heart available here.
New Slow Dancing Society Track – Free Download + Stream
‘A Clearing’ is the new single by US ambient artist Drew Sullivan (aka Slow Dancing Society), taken from his forthcoming sixth album The Cogent Sea. ‘A Clearing’ sets the scene beautifully for The Cogent Sea‘s masterfully handled journey into new territory for Drew Sullivan. Gently overlapping waves of synthesizer are suspended amid sustained tones, holding the listener transfixed before Sullivan’s trademark guitar sound gently brings the listener back down to earth, transformed.
Slow Dancing Society’s sixth album The Cogent Sea is another absorbing progression in Drew Sullivan’s discography, introducing elements such as saxophone and old-school drum machine rhythms into the mix. The album explores some of Sullivan’s more overt ’80s influences while also drawing upon elements from across Slow Dancing Society’s stunning, critically acclaimed back catalogue.
‘A Clearing’ is available as a free download from Bandcamp. The Cogent Sea will see release on the 26th June 2014.