‘Flight’ is the second single taken from Bloc4, the new album by German minimal ambient-electronica maestro Jumpel.

In contrast to the dreamy ambient-pop elegance of first single ‘Blue Ceiling’, ‘Flight’ literally takes off from the outset with its head-nodding beats and eerie synth pads. Chloe March’s stunning vocal turn evokes the incandescent yet sinister brilliance of Curve’s Toni Halliday on the Leftfield classic ‘Original’. It’s hard to know whether to dance or hide under the covers; either way, this beautiful track will richochet around your skull from the first spin.

Bloc4 centres around the elevated yet lonely world of a tower block, each track poetically investigating its multi-faceted elements and spaces. The songs were written throughout 2012, with ideas collated, reviewed, developed and remixed. Following the wonderful results of his collaboration with Chloë March on Europa single ‘Edinburgh’, Joe Dürbeck presented the ideas for Bloc4 to March and invited her to select tracks and develop vocal ideas. The March-fronted tracks, including first single ‘Blue Ceiling’ and new single ‘Flight’, are especially stunning – and offer a perfect counterbalance to the more melancholic, spacious instrumental pieces.

Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the official release and digital availability of I Razor, the soundtrack to the no-budget experimental feature film of the same name directed by Todd Tobias. The album comprises challenging, playful, twisted, murky and downright beautiful pieces of music by Todd Tobias and Circus Devils, featuring vocals from Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) as well as instrumental versions of some of the Devil’s existing songs. The album is a cinematic feast within itself, uncompromising, redemptive and always engaging. It weaves lo-fi keyboards through shimmering guitar textures, scatters unsettling rhythms across ethereal synthscapes, and unveils kaleidoscopic new treasures among its 30+ tracks with each listen.

“Wistful, pretty, and melancholy, Pollard lets loose a truly affecting melody with a wonderfully natural delivery. It’s been said over and over again that he makes it look easy — and even after years and years of songwriting, tracks like ‘You First’ indicate that he’s far from reaching a brick wall.” – Pitchfork on Circus Devils Ringworm Interiors

The album is available now in digital formats (Mp3 and FLAC) and on CD through Hidden Shoal. The CD version of the album comes as a limited edition custom package and includes an immediate digital download of the album in FLAC or MP3 format. The I Razor film is also available for order on DVD (including a DVD+CD deal). Head to the Hidden Shoal Store (http://store.hiddenshoal.com) for all the details.

Limited edition CD pre-orders available now through the Hidden Shoal.

Monocle - “Transpacific Sound Paradise” Album Teaser (by hiddenshoal)

Jumpel - ‘Blue Ceiling’ (by hiddenshoal)

musicforants:

I love to hear new music from Perth, Australia, which is like a second home to me since my family moved there last year. Apricot Rail plays the type of soft/loud instrumental post-rock that I don’t hear enough anymore (short of Explosions in the Sky). The band’s new single “Basket Press” is a superb track featuring lovely woodwinds and a powerful, building climax.

Apricot Rail’s sophomore album Quarrels is out now on Hidden Shoal.

‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’ by Circus Devils (Robert Pollard, Todd Tobias and Tim Tobias) is the first official cut from the soundtrack to I Razor, the no-budget experimental feature film directed by Todd Tobias. The track finds Circus Devils at their most introspective, as Robert Pollard’s unmistakably commanding and affecting vocals and wonderful lyrical play roll out over beds of melancholic sequenced piano and synth by Todd Tobias. ‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’ soundtracks the final sequence of I Razor, providing a beautifully reflective and suitably dreamy cinematic finale. This is some of Pollard and Tobias’s most nuanced work to date.

The I Razor soundtrack, to be released by Hidden Shoal in May 2013, comprises work by Todd Tobias and Circus Devils, featuring vocals from Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) as well as instrumental versions of some of the band’s existing songs. The album is a cinematic feast within itself, uncompromising, redemptive and always engaging.

“Wistful, pretty, and melancholy, Pollard lets loose a truly affecting melody with a wonderfully natural delivery. It’s been said over and over again that he makes it look easy — and even after years and years of songwriting, tracks like ‘You First’ indicate that he’s far from reaching a brick wall.” – Pitchfork on Ringworm Interiors

‘Benjamin’is the second single from Wizards of Time epic prog-pop debut album “Will The Soft Curse Plague On?”. The track is available for free download at the Hidden Shoal Store - http://store.hiddenshoal.com.

While first single ‘Little’s Jingle’ announced Wizards’ more bombastic, riff-driven side, ‘Benjamin’ is achingly reflective. Andrew Levi Hiller intones the devastating transformation of a child into a monster. In the words of Hiller, the song explores “the tumble from sheltered religious teachings into the lightlessness of scorn”. Yet, somehow, the song evolves into something life-affirming and triumphant. How do they do it? Magic. The song glows with a kind of preternatural melancholy and plays with a similar removed narrative intimacy as Sufjan Steven’s classic ‘John Wayne Gacy Jnr’.

“Wizards of Time have crafted a unique, powerful musical experience with Hidden Shoal’s 2012 release Will The Soft Curse Plague On? Here is an apocalyptic concept record through shimmering sounds… one of the best albums of 2012” - Will the Fire

“Though never predictable, the album is always appealing and inviting; its sense of openness intrigues … packed with melodies and rhythmic swirls, woven together in a tapestry of sound… a glorious haze of light and dark shades … this release suggests that they can achieve anything they set their eyes on” - Absolute Punk

Before [The] Caseworker, Conor and Eimer Devlin fronted slowcore trio Half Film, whose two acclaimed albums - East of Monument and The Road to the Crater - are now lovingly reissued by Hidden Shoal (October 31). To celebrate their reissue, Hidden Shoal is releasing ‘Machines, Hawks and the Perfect Equation’ from The Road to the Crater for free download.

‘Machines…’ distills the Half Film aesthetic into four minutes of shadowy, see-sawing guitar splendour. The song’s slowburn never yields an easy payoff, the tension becoming its own reward, as the insistent, nagging riff roils beautifully, occasionally flaring into strummed chords before coiling back inside its brittle shell.

“Low-key underground guitar atmos that’s very moody indeed… Stark like Joy Division and darkly melodic like Neil Young… 4/5.” – Melody Maker

East of Monument and The Road to the Crater are released as a double CD and in digital formats on 31 October, with CD pre-orders available on 18 October.