Hidden Shoal News
New Todd Tobias Music Video – 'Pre-Dawn Visitation'
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of the haunting new music video for the Todd Tobias track ‘Pre-Dawn Visitation’, created by video artist and Hidden Shoal manager Cam Merton. The track is taken from Todd’s debut solo album Medicine Show, recently released through Hidden Shoal Recordings.
After years of producing Guided By Voices, playing in Circus Devils with Robert Pollard, and helping to create the music for Pollard’s solo albums, Todd Tobias is striking out on his own with his debut solo album. Defiantly unique and vividly realised, Medicine Show is a multi-faceted instrumental opus, evoking a shadowy steampunk dystopia. By turns nightmarish and hauntingly beautiful, the three-dimensional musical universe that Tobias conjures across 40 minutes is totally addictive. From the dark GBV-esque groove of ‘Night of the Club Foot’, through the gaseous synths of ‘Pre-Dawn Visitation’, evoking a hallucinogen-fuelled walk among a misty moon-lit forest, to the visceral lurch of single ‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’, Medicine Show plays out like the soundtrack to a Terry Gilliam movie starring Tom Waits, each song a totally immersive scene, leading inexorably into the next.
Check out the music video on YouTube or Vimeo and listen to Medicine Show in it’s entirety here.
Todd Tobias Rides The Charts!
Todd Tobias’s supremely adventurous and utterly wonderful full length Medicine Show is making its presence felt across US and Canadian college radio. Along with healthy rotation across a bunch of stations and previous chart entries, the album is holding down the number 1 spot on the CJSW Experimental Chart and is sitting pretty at number 4 on the Asheville FM Top 30 Chart.
Order the limited edition CD and digital album here.
Markus Mehr "On" – Official CD Release
Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the official CD release of the new album On by German experimental ambient artist Markus Mehr. The album forms the second part of a triptych that also includes recent release In and the forthcoming Off.
On is a continuation of the experimental direction of Markus Mehr’s previous releases, with eight diverse tracks employing samples, field recordings and slathers of Mehr’s trademark distorted drones. This approach is apparent right from opener ‘Gonna Make You Mine’, as scything slashes of sound leap from the speakers. Single ‘Flaming Youth’ counterbalances fragments of static against a gorgeous sleepy-eyed loop of mangled lounge-jazz. A track as expansive and moving as ‘Duck Became Swan’ is followed by brief rhythmic piece ‘Olympia’. This tightrope walk between dizzying samples and exacting digital manipulation is walked with aplomb throughout On’s adventurous and thrilling 45-minute runtime.
“ … prepare for a shuddering, near chaotic, kaleidoscopic experience as Mehr challenges our and his own preconceptions of what “electronica” is, what it represents and of what his instrumentation can achieve…. Mehr creates soundscapes of epic grandeur, intersperses them with bursts of pure noise, then adds touches of absurdist humor to further complicate his already intricate creations.” – DOA reviewing ON
“…with On, Germany’s Markus Mehr is really on ~ in fact, this is the best thing we’ve ever heard from him. ” – A Closer Listen reviewing ON
On is available now on CD and in MP3 and FLAC digital formats. The CD version of the release comes as a limited edition (pressing of 200) numbered, 4 panel wallet CD designed by Stuart Medley with an immediate album download. Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for all orders and a full album stream.
Elisa Luu's "Un Giorno Sospeso" is this week's RTRFM Feature Album
Elisa Luu’s stunning sophomore album for Hidden Shoal, Un Giorno Sospeso, has been receiving loads of deserved love of late and it doesn’t take more than one listen to know why. This week the love continues thanks to the ever awesome RTRFM (Perth, Western Australia) where the album is the station wide feature album all this week. Not only will local and online listeners get to hear the album played across the station all week, but they will also have a chance to win copies of the limited edition CD, featuring beautiful artwork by our very own Dr Stuart Medley.
To coincide with the feature we’re offering 10% off the album in the HSR Store for this week only. Go!
“The saddest moment is when the album ends, because of how short and fleeting it is — you want to stay in it forever. These missives from the consciousness of Elisa Luu embrace you in codes, like having a conversation with a dear friend, and what they say more than anything else is that she appreciates you — she seems to have a feeling for who you are and who you could be, and it’s encouraging. You could make a film or a slideshow of your life or your art to go with it and no matter what, this soundscape would pull your story toward cool, disciplined discoveries. (9/10)” – SSG Music
New Batch of Glowing Reviews of Markus Mehr's ON
Markus Mehr‘s magnificent new album On has just received another round of glowing reviews, with plaudits from Luna Kafe, Fluid Radio, Cyclic Defrost and Delusions of Adequacy. Visit Markus Mehr’s reviews section to read these reviews and more.
Markus’s three albums to date – On, In and Lava – are all available in CD and mp3 format from the Hidden Shoal Store, with Off due for release in January 2013.
Elisa Luu's "Un Giorno Sospeso" is Fade To Yellow's Record of the Week
Following on from a number of glowing reviews (more to come!), Elisa Luu’s amazing new album Un Giorno Sospeso has been chosen as the Fade To Yellow radio show’s Record of the Week. Tune in to this fantastic show from 9-10pm (CST), Tuesdays nights on Koop Radio.
Un Giorno Sospeso is available now as a limited edition CD and in digital format. Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for all details and to stream the album in full.
Elisa Luu's Stunning "Un Giorno Sospeso" Is Now Officially Available!
Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the official release of Un Giorno Sospeso, the stunning new album by ambient electronica artist Elisa Luu. The album is available as a limited edition CD and digital download.
As evidenced on recently released single ‘Se Fosse Per Me’, Un Giorno Sospeso is dense with chiming tones, buoyant beats, skittering horns and immersive drones. From the shimmering, levitating tones of ‘Flussigirl’ to the rattling, dark drone-beat of ‘Il Tempo Di Capire’, Elisa Luu’s brilliant marriage of texture and composition is on virtuoso display.
“It’s an album of constant surprises and left turns—pleasingly so—where one never knows what direction the next piece will take. That’s a bit of a risky strategy as it can result in an album lacking in unity and cohesiveness, but Luciani manages to walk that tightrope skillfully enough that no such impression results. Instead, one comes away from Un Giorno Sospeso taken by both her imaginative command and her compositional and arranging prowess.” – Textura on Un Giorno Sospeso
Elisa Luu’s alchemical touch is in full bloom on this, her long-awaited second album for Hidden Shoal. Her uniquely crafted compositions carry a warmth and vulnerability that belies their digitally manipulated textures. The album takes the glorious blueprint of debut Chromatic Sigh and accentuates the highlights and shadows, making for a deliciously disorientating trip.
Un Giorno Sospeso is available now for immediate digital download and CD mail order from the Hidden Shoal Store. The CD comes as a limited edition (200), 4 panel wallet with stunning illustration and design by Stuart Medley. CD orders also come with an immediate download of the album. All those who pre-ordered will get their units shipped out today! Get in quick while CD stock lasts.
New Markus Mehr Track on SoundCloud
Markus Mehr fans rejoice! The forthcoming full length On is only a few weeks away from its official release and is also currently available for digital download and cd pre-order. While you wait for this truly sublime album to officially land you not only have a free single to enjoy but we’ve also just put a new cut from the album up on SoundCloud for your delectation. ‘Only For A While‘ is a huge, levitating gaseous giant of a track and yet another example of Mehr’s mastery of texture and emotional resonance.
New Slow Dancing Society Single – Free Download!
Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the release of ‘I’ll Leave A Light On’, the new single by US post-ambient artist Slow Dancing Society, taken from his forthcoming fifth album Laterna Magica.
Built around chiming, delayed guitars but never succumbing to their delicious momentum, ‘I’ll Leave A Light On’ sees Slow Dancing Society evolving once more, masterfully adjusting his tonal palette to create a gleaming musical universe. Like a trance breakdown that threatens to build into a booming pay-off but never does, ‘I’ll Leave A Light On’ leaves the listener perpetually gazing into an undersea abyss, suspended agog.
‘I’ll Leave A Light On’ is taken from the forthcoming fifth Slow Dancing Society album Laterna Magica. Underpinned by his gorgeous trademark guitar drift and warm synth wash, yet sparingly propelled by throbbing electronic undercurrents, the tracks on Laterna Magica demonstrate another key progression in the Slow Dancing Society discography, which is becoming one of the essential bodies of work in contemporary ambient music.
‘I’ll Leave A Light On’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store. It is taken from Slow Dancing Society’s forthcoming fifth album Laterna Magica, which will be available from 15 August.
Markus Mehr Album Reviews
Markus Mehr’s new album On, part two in an ambitious and beautifully realised trilogy, has just received a superb review at Clicky Clicky Music blog. Music Review Database has also covered ‘Komo’, the first track of the first part of the trilogy, In. Pop along to Markus’s reviews section to read these and many more reviews of his acclaimed releases.
In and On are both available in CD and mp3 format from the Hidden Shoal Store, along with debut album Lava. The third and final part in the trilogy, Off, is released January 2013.