Hidden Shoal News

Kramies "The Wooden Heart" Live and Unplugged

KramiesWe have a beautiful stripped back version of the sumptuous title track from Kramies new EP The Wooden Heart to share with you.  Recorded in a cabin in Ohio this wonderful acoustic rendition disrobes the original’s shoegaze attire and leaves a stark, fragile yet gorgeous pop song in its place.

The Wooden Heart EP from Colorado based Kramies features collaborations with Jason Lytle of Grandaddy and Robert Pollard co-conspirator and GBV producer Todd Tobias. It’s a luscious and expansive 6 tracker that calls to mind Mercury Rev at their most reflective and Slowdive at their dreamiest. You can grab the original studio version of ‘The Wooden Heart’ (track) as a free download and check out the rest of the EP at the Hidden Shoal Store.

PERTH "What's Your Utopia?" Out Now (CD + Digital)

We’re incredibly excited to announce the release of the brilliant sophomore album from Australian experimental pop outfit perth. On What’s Your Utopia? the band manages to meld psychedelic pop, folk-laced electronica and shoegaze into a beautifully cohesive statement.

Single and opening salvo ‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’ summons forth glowing brass arrangements, reverb-drenched vocals and skittering breakbeats crafted from found sounds, building into a krautrock jam reminiscent of Neu! and Caribou. The gorgeous ‘Saw Promenade’ reimagines the shimmering vibes of prime Tortoise on an Australian beach, while ‘Greasy Moon’ is an echoing, disorientating, addictive stomp. Finale ‘Viewmaster’ mutates from brittle, spectral space-folk into a heartbreaking robot waltz, before dissolving then regrouping into a delirious droning coda.

The album is available now in digital and limited edition CD formats from the Hidden Shoal Store. All CD sales come with an immediate download in either FLAC or MP3 format.


perth – “What’s Your Utopia?” Album Trailer from Hidden Shoal Recordings on Vimeo.

Review Love for PERTH's 'Greasy Moon'

perth - 'Greasy Moon'Only one sleep until perth‘s brilliant sophomore drops! While you wait check out these super lovely reviews for the band’s latest single ‘Greasy Moon‘ from the wonderful City and Sound and The Sunday Experience blogs,

“Greasy Moon is the second single to be taken from perth’s forthcoming sophomore album ‘What’s Your Utopia’. It’s a stompy psyche-pop affair dripping with reverb. In parts it glistens, and elsewhere it’s swampy, playing like a delicious piece of audio acid. The deep vocals are reminiscent of The National’s Matt Berninger, prompting some soothing melancholic reflection.”City and Sound

“Latest loveliness from Aussie dream studio Hidden Shoal sees the imminent arrival of the new perth single ‘greasy moon’. ripped from their forthcoming sophomore set ’what’s your utopia?’, ’greasy moon’ is a slow ice thawing slab of darkly unfurling majesty cradled amid a ghost light seasoning of subtle soft psyche strobes marooned in cool cold wave texturing and spectrally dappled and harnessed upon swathes of waxing and waning oceanic opines unto which a sense of a shadowy gravitas bleeds – best filed somewhere near the Church in terms of understated bruised beauty.”The Sunday Experience

PERTH's "What's Your Utopia?" Is This Week's RTRFM DriveTime Feature Album!

What's Your Utopia?Exciting times my friends – perth‘s stunning sophomore album What’s Your Utopia?” lands this Thursday! What better lead up than an RTRFM Drivetime Feature Album slot all this week! Listen in via radio or stream and hear album tracks before the release as well as being able to win a copy from 5-7pm (Perth time) each weekday!

Don’t forget to nab the first two singles from the album if you haven’t already, available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store.

Glowing Review for Kramies New EP in PopNews

The Wooden HeartKramies sublime new EP The Wooden Heart, which also features the talents of Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) and Todd Tobias, has just scooped a glowing review in the French zine PopNews. Here’s a taste,

“Dutch-American songwriter based in Denver, Colorado, Kramies Windt is by far one of the best kept secrets in American indie -pop…  We ‘re willing to bet that this five title EP will emerge from the shadows for good.”PopNews

The Wooden Heart is available now in digital formats as well as a limited edition CD. Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for more details.

Stunning New Antonymes Album out on Hibernate

 There Can Be No True Beauty Without DecayWe’re very excited to pass on news of a brand new album from the ever amazing Ian Hazeldine (aka Antonymes). His sublime new album,  There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay, has just been released on the wonderful English label Hibernate and is available now as a beautifully packaged CD and in digital format from Antonymes Bandcamp site.

In late 2009 Antonymes released Beauty Becomes the Enemy of the Future on Cathedral Transmissions of which the CD is now unavailable. Since then he has revisited the album, which has culminated in this new release. Hazeldine’s own reworkings are intertwined with those of friends Ian Hawgood, Isnaj Dui, Offthesky, Field Rotation, Wil Bolton, Spheruleus and James Banbury to create an album of captivating melancholy and beauty. The guest reworkings venture into other, darker territories, where one might be harder pressed to identify the original material.

Antonymes fans can also expect a wonderful new album next year through Hidden Shoal as a follow up to the brilliant 2011 release The Licence To Interpret Dreams.


Antonymes – The End Of Everything -ii-

 

‘Greasy Moon’ from perth – New Single!

perth - 'Greasy Moon'We’re very excited to present the  second delicious taste of the forthcoming album from Australian experimental pop outfit perth. ‘Greasy Moon’ is an echoing, disorientating, addictive stomp that offers a tantalising hit of the wonderful songcraft woven throughout new album  What’s Your Utopia?’s expansive, eclectic patchwork. As reassuring as it is creepy, as uplifting as it is doggedly despondent, ‘Greasy Moon’ exemplifies the perverse pleasures and ear-bending dichotomies perth draw upon for their sophomore album. Grab or stream the track below as well as previous single ‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’.

‘Greasy Moon’: SoundCloud + Free Download
‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’: SoundCloud + Free Download

‘Greasy Moon’  and ‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’ are lifted from perth’s anticipated sophomore album What’s Your Utopia? out November 14th through Hidden Shoal.

“a record that has surpassed all expectation… combines elements of post-rock, electronica and psych, but this genre-collage never feels forced. Instead, it’s a well-constructed body of work that sounds more accomplished than any debut record I’ve heard in quite a while”Life is Noise on perth’s debut album Babes, Water, Waves

Kramies and [The] Caseworker Reviewed at Luna Kafe

Kramies - 'The Wooden HeartThe lovely Norwegian blog Luna Kafe has once again given a bunch of love to some new Hidden Shoal releases. Kramies title track to his stunning new EP The Wooden Heart and ‘Dependence Day’ taken from [The] Caseworker’s just released album Voices Out There have both been reviewed in the latest edition of Luna Kafe.  Here’s some excerpts to get you started,

“I will line up to check the album. “Dependence Day” is so distinct and focused, so intense and enigmatic it is just perfect guitar-pop melancholia. Sadness painted in bright colours.”Luna Kafe on [The] Caseworker ‘Dependence Day’

“a swaying, head-in-the-sun pop piece… it is a beautiful and magic/mystic song… pop music turned inside out”Luna Kafe on Kramies ‘The Wooden Heart’

Head to the Hidden Shoal Store to download both tracks for free and check out their fantastic respective releases.