Blog: Hidden Shoal Recordings

2011 is almost over and 2012 is knocking on the door like a life insurance salesman at the apocalypse (I'll work on that one). To end the year with some lovin and fantastic music we are having a huge sale over at the Hidden Shoal Store. Over 20 CD & digital releases have been reduced from artists such as Slow Dancing Society, Sankt Otten, City of Satellites, Apricot Rail, Umpire, Wes Willenbring, Hotels, Rich Bennett, Liam Singer and Salli Lunn to name but a few. All CD purchases include free shipping and an immediate mp3 album download and [...]

Two lovely reviews for recent Hidden Shoal releases over at Norway's Luna Kafe . The first was in November's edition of the zine for City of Satellites ' Remixed, "The outcome is stunning... With so many different remixers it is as expected some variations here, but it still feels like a wholesome album, tied nicely together by the underlining of City Of Satellites shoegazing dream-pop material... And in some parts, these mixes has not just made the tunes slightly different, or added another kind of quality, [...]

Head over to Delusions of Adequacy to read a fantastic interview with Conor Devlin of The Caseworker . Conor waxes lyrical about everything musical from Steely Dan to Opeth to The Caseworker. Regular DOA readers will remeber the glowing review of The Caseworker's stunning 2011 album Letters From The Coast . Speaking of which, after your fill of words you should then head here to stream the album in full and buy a cd or a bagful of files! The Caseworker - 'Boats'

German ambient drone maestro Markus Mehr will be following up his stunning debut album Lava with not one, not two, but three Hidden Shoal releases across 2012 and 2013. The first part of the triptych, In , will be released on 26 January 2012. It comprises two monumental tracks, 'Komo' and 'Ostinato', each of which clocks in at around 25 minutes, circling around and building upon hypnotic instrumental motifs. You can take a sneak peek at what's in store by viewing some live footage of Mehr's performing ' Komo [...]

• Markus Mehr - 'Hubble'

Lots of lovely US college radio action happening for our current round of releases. Here's a run down! City of Satellites Remixed is one of WRSU top 5 RPM adds and Kramies The European is one of the top 5 Radio 200 adds, Salli Lunn's A Frame of Reference and Kramies' The European are in Bagel Radio's top 5 CMJ adds this week, The Caseworker's Letters From The Coast continues its long term camp in the Bagel CMJ top 30 charts, Salli Lunn's A Frame of [...]

It's not even December, yet Textura have boldly published their best of 2011 lists , featuring Scott Solter's One River among the year's best albums, and Antonymes Meets Slow Dancing Society's We Don't Look Back For Very Long among the year's best EPs. If you're not already intimately familar with Textura, subscribe to their montly round-up of the best new ambient/classical/experimental /avant-rock releases for some essential reading. Many, many thanks to Textura for their support throughout 2011!

Scott's Solter's sublime ambient album One River , recently reissued by Hidden Shoal, has just received glowing reviews over at Textura and Igloo Magazine . The album is available in CD and mp3 formats via the Hidden Shoal Store .

We Don't Look Back For Very Long , the recently released collaboration between Antonymes and Slow Dancing Society, is currently sitting pretty at number 12 on the Asheville FM CMJ Top 30 charts and number 3 on their Classical/Ambient charts along with the likes of Fennesz, Chubby Wolf, Wolves In The Throne Room and Zola Jesus to name a few. The EP is now availble in MP3 and lossless formats and was also released as a limited edition CD package. If you missed out on the CD through Hidden Shoal there may still be limited stock [...]

Last year, Kramies was interviewed by Big Smile magazine on the eve of commencing a tour of Ireland, on which he road-tested songs that would eventually become his new Hidden Shoal EP, The European . The follow-up interview has just been published, in which he talks about how the tour shaped the songs, his signing to Hidden Shoal, plus what's next. The European EP is available now from the Hidden Shoal Store in mp3 and limited edition CD postcard [...]

Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the official release of The European, the new EP by Colorado based Dutch-American atmos-pop artist Kramies . Produced by Todd Tobias ( Guided By Voices , Robert Pollard , Circus Devils ), The European sets Kramies' gorgeous voice and acoustic guitar within a glowing tableau, epic in scope yet delicate in detail. The EP fades into view with 'Intro', a simple cyclical pattern of guitar, piano and vocals gradually subsumed by drones and distortion. This leads into the majestic, [...]

• Kramies - 'The European'

For those who aren't already avid Textura readers (and why wouldn't you be!?!) be sure to head over to their latest edition to read a lovely review of the Antonymes meets Slow Dancing Society EP We Don't Look Back For Very Long . For the uninitiated, We Don't Look Back For Very Long sees Antonymes reworking a track from each of fellow Hidden Shoal artist Slow Dancing Society's four albums, casting radiant new light on the stunning originals. Across [...]

[The] Caseworker's superb new album Letters From The Coast has received another lovely review, this time over at the very savvy Skeleton Crew Quarterly . Check out the review and then head to the Hidden Shoal Store to stream this beautiful thing in full and buy it after you've fallen deeply in love it, just as we did. The Caseworker - 'Boats'

Excerpt: ....It's the perfect marriage of Sullivan's 80's era Ambient meet Hazeldine neo classical minimal ambient. To top it off it's mastered by Wil Bolton (Hibernate records artists and the owner of the fine "Time Lapse" album) and comes in a limited edition of 100 copies that are letter pressed on 700gm GF Smith board designed by Ian himself. The release is/was a pre-order available from the Hidden Shoal store with 60 copies being there and the remaining 40 going to Norman Records and Stashed Goods. 2011 has been a very productive year for Antonymes, this being the third release on Hidden Shoal (the [...]

Excerpt: "They aren't exactly mysterious, [The] Caseworker, they just spread themselves around a lot. With band members variously inhabiting San Francisco, Switzerland and rural England, they seem less of an actual band and more of an association bound only by their musicality.... What it is, is a mellow, blissed out sequence of West Coast guitar pop, one that references Green On Red and Teenage Fanclub as much as it does the more abrasive Sonic Youth and monochromatic Velvet Underground whom [The] Caseworker acknowledge as influences. Alex Chilton casts his lengthy shadow over the songs here too, and there are inflections in the [...]

Excerpt: "Letters from the Coast sees the band exude the feel of a shoegazing Velvet Underground as if reared by the Flying Nun label: the perfect balance of drone and chime. Perfectly intoxicating." Lost At E Minor

Excerpt: "It might seem curious for a band to follow up its debut with a record of remixes of songs from that debut, but Salli Lunn are anything but predictable. 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. There are a couple new songs here too for the nervous. This is no stopgap release, but an extension of Salli Lunn's growing confidence. The acoustic techno of "Parachutes Forever (Markus Mehr Remix)" is heavy buy warm, to say nothing of daring [...]

Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the availability of CD postcard pre-orders for The European, the forthcoming EP by Colorado based Dutch-American atmos-pop artist Kramies . Produced by Todd Tobias ( Guided By Voices , Robert Pollard , Circus Devils ), The European sets Kramies' gorgeous voice and acoustic guitar within a glowing tableau, epic in scope yet delicate in detail. The EP fades into view with 'Intro', a simple cyclical pattern of guitar, piano and vocals gradually subsumed by drones and distortion. This leads into the [...]

• Kramies - 'Inventors'

The reissue of Scott Solter's ambient masterpiece One River has received some loving over at the Underground of Happiness blog , where you can also watch Twins and Wives , a film by Laura and Mark Solter to accompany the album. Beautiful stuff.

[The] Caseworker's superb new album Letters From The Coast and its lead single 'National Runner' have been receiving glowing reviews left, right and centre: Rave Magazine , Groovemine , Delusions of Adequacy , Mojophenia , Listen, Dammit , Scene Point Blank , KJHK and Noise , to mention a few. Plus, there's an interview with the band at the Underground of Happiness blog . There'll no doubt be plenty there to convince you to shell out your record-buying dollar, so visit the Hidden Shoal [...]

Salli Lunn's remix album A Frame of Reference - which includes remixes by Scott Solter, Manual, and Hidden Shoal's very own Markus Mehr and City of Satellites - has received a lot of delicious coverage of late, including Brisbane's Rave Magazine and 4ZZZ radio station , the Delusions of Adequacy review site, and the German blog Schallgrenzen . Head along to the Hidden Shoal Store to stream the album in full, along with the band's debut album Heresy and Rite , [...]