Hidden Shoal News
Umpire "Now We're Active" – Track 8 and RTRFM Feature Album!
The first day of the new working week not only brings a new Umpire track to preview but also sees their new album featured all week on RTRFM’s breakfast show and beyond! RTR subscribers can win a copy of the album to boot. And now for track 8 from Umpire‘s forthcoming full length Now We’re Active, ‘Milking A Thistle’. One the surface a little rock nugget but wait for that unbridled chorus and you’ll realise you’ve been played by the best. This track literally sticks a finger out of the speaker and presses the repeat button for you.
You can follow the link below to grab the track and embed it on your Facebook page, website, wherever. Tune in here tomorrow for track 9. Only 3 more sleeps until the Australian and digital release on the 2nd of June (everywhere else on the 14th of July).
Umpire "Now We're Active" – Track 7!
Sunday, Happy Sunday! Australian fans will know track 7 of Umpire‘s forthcoming full length Now We’re Active well. The original version of ‘Streamers” featured on the band’s gorgeous debut EP (Australian release only) and also won WAM Song of the Year in 2009. Here we have a touched up and remastered version of the track ready to spring upon international audiences and new Australian ears. If you are not humming the lead melody of this song all week after listening, you are not human.
You can follow the link below to grab the track and embed it on your Facebook page, website, wherever. Tune in here tomorrow for track 8. Only 4 more sleeps until the Australian and digital release on the 2nd of June (everywhere else on the 14th of July).
Umpire "Now We're Active" – Track 6!
What better way to introduce your weekend than with a brand new Umpire track. Sit back and open your ears as we present track 6 of Umpire‘s forthcoming full length Now We’re Active. ‘On The Fringes” is the stunning centerpiece of the album with its lulling verse that leads you like a drugged candle in the intense slow burn chorus. Devastatingly beautiful!
You can follow the link below to grab the track and embed it on your Facebook page, website, wherever. Tune in here tomorrow for track 7 and get ready for the Australian and digital release on the 2nd of June (everywhere else on the 14th of July).
Umpire 'Green Light District' Official Music Video
Thanks to the wonderfully talented Perth based director Robert Livings we’re excited to present the official music video for Umpire’s latest single ‘Green Light District‘. For the uninitiated, the track marries Umpire’s sprawling indie-rock sounds and reflective melancholy, providing the instant gratification of massive sun-drenched melodies and soaring vocals. ‘Green Light District’ is lifted from Umpire’s forthcoming debut album Now We’re Active out in Australia June 2nd and everywhere else July 14th.
“Umpire’s breezy wide-panned progressive rock – smothered in buttery, reverberating humbucker tone – puts you in a daze … the full-length is one Ill be sticking on as soon as it drops” – Rave Magazine on ‘Green Light District’, their Single of the Week
“Once again we’re blessed with another amazing band brought to us by Hidden Shoal Recordings… the single is upbeat and poppy with a chorus that wails, featuring a guitar line mid-way through the song that would make Sonic Youth bow their heads. If this track is in any way a sign of things to come, then rest assured that when the album hits, it’ll leave fans mesmerized.” – DOA on ‘Green Light District’
The video is available in glorious HD at both Youtube and Vimeo and you can download the track for free here. A full press release for the single is also available here.
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2008: This Generation’s 4AD
As part of our 5th birthday celebrations, during the month of May we’ll be looking back at the history of Hidden Shoal, year by year, casting some light on artists and releases that may have been overlooked. For one week, all releases covered below will be available from the Hidden Shoal Store with a 35% discount. Flavoursome!
2008 saw the release of a fresh new raft of superb albums and EPs, including those by new signings The Slow Beings, Fall Electric and City Of Satellites from Australia, Ghost In The Water and Rich Bennett from the USA, and RL/VL from Ireland. HSR stalwarts Tangled Star, Toby Richardson, My Majestic Star, Iretsu, Slow Dancing Society and Sankt Otten all followed up with some of their most critically acclaimed work. And at the end of the year we released compilation album East–West Section, volume four in our free download series.
As acclaim for our artists spread internationally, we were delighted to hear that prominent New York radio host DJ Mojo dubbed the label “this generation’s 4AD”. As huge fans of the classic label, this was a massive and humbling compliment.
HSR031: Tangled Star Our Man In Eden Hill EP
HSR032: Toby Richardson Evergreen
HSR033: Ghost In The Water Tooth
HSR034: The Slow Beings We Know Why The Earth Moves
HSR035: Iretsu Name Our Numbers, Numbers EP
HSR036: Slow Dancing Society Priest Lake Circa ’88
HSR037: My Majestic Star Too Late, The Day
HSR038: Rich Bennett Music For Underwater Supermarkets
HSR039: Sankt Otten Eine Kleine Traurigkeit
HSR040: RL/VL Chagrin
HSR041: Fall Electric Measure And Step
HSR042: City Of Satellites The Spook EP
HSR043: Sankt Otten Tiefgang EP
HSR044: Ghost In The Water Cardinal Red EP
HSR045: Various artists East–West Section
Umpire "Now We're Active" – Track 5!
Finally we make TGIF meaningful as we present track 5 of Umpire‘s forthcoming full length Now We’re Active. ‘Jewellery Can Be Disturbing’ was described to us by the band as their “big dumb rock song” but in actuality its their “big smart rock song”! Like The Posies playing an ode to Polvo, the track’s huge rockery is smothered in layers of melodic charm. You’ll be humming this sucker all through the weekend, trust us.
You can follow the link below to grab the track and embed it on your Facebook page, website, wherever. Tune in here tomorrow for track 6!
Interview with Hidden Shoal's Cam Merton in Drum Media Perth
Now that Hidden Shoal is a bouncy five years old, music mag Drum Media Perth recently caught up with Hidden Shoal’s very own Cam Merton to discuss the label’s inception, ethos, and the way in which we’ve blossomed into a label of delectable repute. Perth folk can grab a good ol’ paper copy, while everyone else will have to get their cyber hands dirty by going here and flicking forward to page 12 via the Interweb interface-o-tron.
And remember, as part of our celebrations you can grab our latest compilation album Hydrozoa for free. On it you’ll find 18 tracks from Hidden Shoal releases spanning the last 18 months. Yum!
Umpire "Now We're Active" – Track 4!
Thursday turns golden as we present track 4 of Umpire‘s forthcoming full length Now We’re Active. ‘The Canyon’ is a chiming, surging epic that grabs you by the grabbables and slingshots you towards the horizon! The track had its first public airing on RTRFM this week and has already scooped a track of the day on Tuesdays Drivetime (thanks Sarah Delfante!).
You can follow the link below to grab the track and embed it on your Facebook page, website, wherever. Tune in here tomorrow for track 5!
Antonymes and Slow Dancing Society Charting
Antonymes The Licence to Interpret Dreams and the reissue of Slow Dancing Society’s The Sound Of Lights When Dim are both charting at the awesome KZSU. Antonymes is is making his presence felt in the CMJ top 30 at KZSU and is holding down number 3 in the Experimental/Classical chart and Slow Dancing Society is keeping it in check at number 7 in the same chart. Go Hidden Shoal!
Umpire "Now We're Active" – Track 3!
Happy Wednesday as we unfurl track 3 of Umpire‘s forthcoming full length melody bomb Now We’re Active for your streaming pleasure. ‘Corner An Owl In An Alcove’ is yet another example of Umpire’s innate ability to marry a pop sensibility with epic rockness! The track moves from upbeat to loaded with gravitas in a matter of bars. Just as we like it.
You can follow the link below to grab the track and embed it on your Facebook page, website, wherever. Tune in here tomorrow for track 4!