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

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 40% discount. Flavoursome!

In 2007, Hidden Shoal pushed onward with a ridiculously full release schedule and tons of new signings. The label continued its expansion internationally with 2007 seeing releases from a diverse and beautiful spectrum of artists based in Germany (Sankt Otten and Jumpel), France (Beautiful Lunar Landscape), the US (Slow Dancing Society, The Hero Cycle, Iretsu, Wes Willenbring, Monocle), Belgium (Colour Kane) and Japan (Cheekbone, The Retail Sectors).

Locally, 2007 saw releases from ambient duo Moongoat, a new album from Chris Mason and an EP under his My Majestic Star moniker, plus an EP from Melbourne instrumental quartet Bury The Sound (with HSR’s Tim Clarke on guitar).

In May 2007 we were proud to celebrate our first birthday with the release of the second volume in our free download compilation series, The Garden of Forking Paths. And if that wasn’t enough, we saw out the end of the year with the release of a third compilation, Limit of Maps, rounding up tracks from the second half of 2007 and also featuring a sneak preview of a few 2008 releases, too.

However, perhaps the crowning achievement of a busy year was being named one of Textura’s 10 favourite labels of 2007. The feeling’s mutual – Textura is easily one of our favourite music sites. To be just one year in and be acknowledged like that felt like quite an honour.

HSR013:   Moongoat Moongoat EP
HSR014:   My Majestic Star Fining EP
HSR015:   Sankt Otten Wir Koennen Ja Freunde Bleiben
HSR016:   The Hero Cycle Lakes and Ponds EP
HSR017:   Colour Kane A Taste Of
HSR018:   Wes Willenbring Somewhere Someone Else
HSR019:   Various artists The Garden of Forking Paths
HSR020:   Bury The Sound Autumn Magnets EP
HSR021:   Chris Mason Restless
HSR022:   Jumpel Samuel Jason Lies on the Beach
HSR023:   Cheekbone Yesterday EP
HSR024:   Beautiful Lunar Landscape Alone in this Dark Romantic Night EP
HSR025:   Iretsu The Moon and Stars Remain in the Morning Sky
HSR026:   Slow Dancing Society The Slow and Steady Winter
HSR027:   Monocle Outer Sunset
HSR028:   The Retail Sectors Foregone Conclusion
HSR029:   Sankt Otten Wunder Gibt Es Immer Wieder
HSR030:   Various artists Limit of Maps

Throughout the month of May 2011, Hidden Shoal Recordings is celebrating its fifth birthday. The celebrations kick off on Friday 6 May with the release of its latest free sampler album, Hydrozoa, which compiles 18 singles released over the last 18 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 the gorgeous neo-classical/minimal ambient of Antonymes through to the genius space-pop of Hotels and beyond the visionary team at Hidden Shoal continues to play an integral role in promoting exciting new independent music.

In 2003 Sankt Otten released a limited run of Zuhause Fuhle ich Mich Wie Ein Tourist [Remixes]. The EP contained remixes by other German artists around 2001/2002. The release was then available in 2003 as a 3″ special edition CD. It’s been sold out for years – until now! The charitable gentlemen of Sankt Otten have now made the songs available via Soundcloud for free! Check it out here.

Sankt Otten – Lustig, lustig, demain encore lustig Sankt Otten – Lustig, lustig, demain encore lustig