Hidden Shoal News
Hidden Shoal Turns Six!
Throughout the month of May 2012, Hidden Shoal Recordings is celebrating its sixth birthday. Later in the month will be the release of the latest free sampler album, Triangulating Nature, which compiles 12 singles released over the last 12 months. Other delicious surprises will be revealed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more info.
Since starting up in Perth, Western Australia in 2006, Hidden Shoal has developed an enviable roster of genre-defying global and local recording artists. With 40+ acts from 10+ different countries, ranging from British ambient artist Antonymes through to American musical experimentalist Todd Tobias and beyond, the committed team at Hidden Shoal continues to play an integral role in promoting exciting new independent music.
Come join us and keep an eye on the Hidden Shoal Store for lots of cool special birthday deals!
Todd Tobias's Medicine Show Gets Standing Ovation From Fluid Radio
Todd Tobias’s ultra-awesome new solo album Medicine Show has just received a fantastic review over at Fluid Radio. What do you mean you don’t know who Todd Tobias is? He’s that dude who’s worked with Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices, and plays in Circus Devils! Sheesh! Get with the program!
Head over to the Hidden Shoal Store to stream the album in full and place your pre-order for the CD, which gives you an immediate download of the album, plus a free download of the bonus EP Night Above Ground. Get to it and we’ll forgive you for the whole ‘Who’s Todd Tobias?’ thing.
Medicine Show by Todd Tobias Available for CD Pre-Order & Digital
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the availability of CD pre-orders and digital downloads for Medicine Show, the debut solo album by musical experimentalist, Guided By Voices producer and long-time Robert Pollard collaborator Todd Tobias. All CD orders come with an immediate download of the album as well as an exclusive bonus download of the previously un-released Night Above Ground EP.
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.
“A psychedelic boat ride that leads to a poorly lit and wicked place, where even the nursery rhymes of youth become foreboding…” – AllMusic on Circus Devils’ Ringworm Interiors
Head to the Hidden Shoal Store to preview and order the album ahead of its official release on the 26th of April. The CD comes as a limited numbered edition of 200 in a beautiful Stuart Medley designed, 4 panel gatefold with insert. All CD orders come with an immediate download of the album as well as an exclusive bonus download of the previously un-released Night Above Ground EP.
Massive Batch of Markus Mehr Reviews
Markus Mehr‘s latest album In, the first of a triptych, has been receiving glowing reviews left, right and centre. To keep track of the lovin’, pop along to Markus’s reviews section, or visit any of the following wonderful music review sites to find out why everyone’s been getting juiced up: Luna Kafe, Ambient Blog, A Closer Listen, Igloo magazine, Absolute Punk, The Silent Ballet, Reviewed Music, Petal, Textura, and Leonard’s Lair. Wowser!
Visit Soundcloud to hear excerpts from In‘s two epic tracks, ‘Komo’ and ‘Ostinato’:
And, of course, visit the Hidden Shoal Store to purchase the album in CD and digital formats. Part two of the triptych, On, will be released on 21 June, with the final part, Off, coming in January 2013.
New Single From Elisa Luu – Free Download!
Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the release of ‘Se fosse per me’, the new single by Italian ambient electronica artist Elisa Luu, taken from her forthcoming second album. Download the track for free here.
Blossoming into life like a field of neon flowers, ‘Se fosse per me’ is all eyes-wide and life-affirming. It imbues its wistful tones with light through buoyant beats and skittering horns, leading into a reflective textured coda. Elisa Luu’s trademark blend of digital manipulation with analogue warmth, chiming tones with immersive drones, is on virtuoso display, whetting the appetite for her upcoming second album Un Giorno Sospeso.
Though digitally crafted, Elisa Luu’s music is warm, inviting and uniquely human, betraying a vulnerability and sensitivity that is rarely found in the male-dominated sphere of electronica. With its sighing, lilting qualities, Elisa Luu’s music reawakens a sense of childlike wonder and adventure with every sprawling and sparkling track. This alchemical touch is in full bloom on long-awaited second album Un Giorno Sospeso, which takes the glorious blueprint of debut Chromatic Sigh and accentuates the highlights and shadows, making for a deliciously disorientating trip.
“fully-formed music-making that blends melody-based song structures and bold instrumental arrangements into a thoroughly satisfying whole” – Textura
“an astonishingly talented artist, crafting immersive and emotive soundfields with ease” – Luna Kafe
Head to the Hidden Shoal Store to grab the track and hear more from Elisa Luu ahead of her sophomore album Un giorno sospeso, out 1st June.
Kramies Continues to Chart at Soma FM
Kramies beautiful EP The European continues to get deserved love over at Soma FM. The track ‘Antiquarian Days’ is sitting at number 4 on the top 30 by spins and number 5 on the top 30 by listeners Digitalis charts. Check it out here.
We have still have some copies of The European in the beautiful limited edition mini CD postcard format which can order here, along with digital in all its various formats. Also keep an eye out for the new music video for the Kramies track ‘The Inventors’ which will be hitting your retinas in a few weeks.
New Single From Todd Tobias (Circus Devils, Robert Pollard) – Free Download!
Hidden Shoal Recordings is excited to announce the release of new single ‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ by musical experimentalist and long-time Robert Pollard collaborator Todd Tobias, taken from his forthcoming debut solo album Medicine Show.
‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ is a multi-part mini-epic that offers a tantalising taste of Medicine Show’s shadowy steampunk dystopia. The track kicks in like a panic attack, a dizzying flurry of organ and toms alternating with lurching guitar. The chaos soon calms, but builds in intensity again as a massive detuned riff pummels your ears into submission. The final coda is an exercise in unwinding as the song’s tight, muscular coils begin to lose their tension. The single comes with a bonus ‘B side’ called ‘Crystal Palace People’ taken from the soon to released bonus EP Night Above Ground. A lilting and intimate electro-folk ballad, ‘Crystal Palace People’ is a glimmering, soft-focus comedown after the A side’s rush – only to become unhinged in its closing moments as the recording is chewed and slurred.
“A psychedelic boat ride that leads to a poorly lit and wicked place, where even the nursery rhymes of youth become foreboding…” – AllMusic on Circus Devils’ Ringworm Interiors
‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store, packaged with bonus track ‘Crystal Palace People’. Medicine Show is released in CD and digital formats on 26 April. Read a full press release here.
Slow Dancing Society Interview on KZSU Available for Download
If you missed the wonderful interview with Drew Sullivan (aka Slow Dancing Society) on KZSU then never fear as the ever wonderful Adam Pearson, KZSU GM and interviewer extraordinaire, has posted a download on his blog. Go to it!
Hidden Shoal Signs Todd Tobias
Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the signing of musical experimentalist Todd Tobias to its roster of artists. After years of producing Guided By Voices and playing in Circus Devils with Robert Pollard, Todd Tobias is striking out on his own with his debut solo album, Medicine Show, a multi-faceted instrumental opus, evoking a shadowy steampunk dystopia.
Todd Tobias and older brother Tim Tobias grew up in Northeast Ohio, USA, where the two played together in a string of bands, culminating in Clouds Forming Crowns and Circus Devils (the latter with Robert Pollard). Todd has been Pollard’s in-house record producer since 2002, beginning with Guided by Voices’ Matador release Universal Truths and Cycles. Todd has also produced many other indie-rock projects over the years, including the latest release from fellow Hidden Shoal Recordings artist Kramies (The European EP).
Medicine Show is released by Hidden Shoal on 26 April, preceded by single ‘Manatoc Enters The City / The Long Fall’ on 13 March. Read a full press release about the signing here.
Salli Lunn '50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix) – New Single, Free Download
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of single ‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ by Danish spectral noise-rock quartet Salli Lunn, taken from their recently released album A Frame of Reference, which comprises remixes of songs from their debut album Heresy and Rite, plus all-new songs.
‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ sees the previously unreleased track from the Heresy and Rite sessions reworked by Denmark’s TV-Baby as a driving, lo-fi chase scene. The track hurtles through your brain like a delirious late-night panic attack, rapid-fire beats ricocheting against woolly bass surge, disorientating echoes and electro squiggles. Then, in its closing seconds, a gorgeous coda of chiming interwoven guitars lulls you to a narcotized sleep, the chaos of the preceding minutes a distant dream.
‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ is taken from remix album A Frame of Reference, which also includes single ‘Mirror Girl (Scott Solter Remix)’ and remixes of Heresy and Rite tracks by Markus Mehr, City Of Satellites and Manual. Previously unreleased track ‘White Sight’ rounds out the album in fine style.
“The Danish noise rockers show on A Frame of Reference the hidden depth of many of their prior songs, as well as willingness to re-envision them on the fly… This is no stopgap release, but an extension of Salli Lunn’s growing confidence… The band’s blend of Krautrock, shoegaze, techno and straight on melodic rock is an addicting stew.” – Music Emissions on A Frame of Reference
‘50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store. A Frame of Reference is available as an exclusive digital release through the Hidden Shoal Store and all good third party online stores. Album Heresy and Rite is also available worldwide in CD, vinyl and digital formats through Hidden Shoal Recordings.
Salli Lunn – ’50 Kisses (TV-Baby Remix)’