Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the signing of Wizards Of Time to its roster of artists. Wizards Of Time deftly unleash technicolour art-rock like lightning bolts from their nimble fingers. Progressive without being prog and pop without being pap, the Wizards’ debut release Will The Soft Curse Plague On? is a staggering and unique concept album that weaves a universe-enveloping tapestry of dizzying complexity and emotional depth. They are the music makers, the makers of music, the slingers of sound. They are the Wizards Of Time…

Wizards Of Time came together in 2008 with the mutual aim to explore unfamiliar songwriting territory. Over the next couple of years, the band wrote, arranged, and performed live the songs that would be found on their debut album. In 2010, WOT assembled with engineer/producer Scott Solter to call down Will The Soft Curse Plague On? The rest is mystery.

Will The Soft Curse Plague On? is released by Hidden Shoal on 26 June, preceded by single ‘Little’s Jingle’ on 23 April. In the meanwhile head over to FaceBook, join the Wizard Of Time clan and await the goodness!

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.

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.

Hidden Shoal Recordings is excited to announce the release of  ‘Consequences of Recklessness’, the first track lifted from American ambient craftsman Wes Willenbring’s forthcoming third album Weapons Reference Manual.

‘Consequences of Recklessness’ is Weapons Reference Manual’s shimmering centrepiece, setting icicles of delayed guitar amid an aching tapestry of drones and feedback. It sets the tone for the album as a whole, perhaps Willenbring’s most complex and satisfying release to date.

As a further progression from his acclaimed debut Somewhere Someone Else and his stunning sophomore album Close, But Not Too Close, Weapons Reference Manual features a varied and richly hued palette of visceral guitar tones, effects-warped textures and achingly beautiful piano work. Immersive and darkly emotive soundscapes, such as droning opener ‘Dreams and Schemes’ and the 15-minute epic ‘Quaaludes’, are counterbalanced by seductively melodic pieces, such as ‘People Disappear Everyday’ and closing track ‘Ashes’.

“a gorgeous ambient album … a serene, hypnotic and majestic soundscape suitable for daydreaming… hauntingly beautiful atmospheric compositions” – Delusion Of Adequacy on Close, But Not Too Close

“Absolutely gorgeous. Dreamy dark meandering melancholia for fans of Stars Of The Lid, Eluvium, Dead Texan, Tim Hecker, Godspeed and other purveyors of darkly dramatic, abstract moody minimalism” – Aquarius Records on Somewhere Someone Else

‘Consequences of Recklessness’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store. It is taken from Wes Willenbring’s forthcoming third album Weapons Reference Manual, which is released in CD and digital formats on 12 April 2012.