Hidden Shoal Recordings » Down Review Reviews

Down Review “From Here For Anyone” – Some Lost, Some Found

Thea Porter — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:10:44 +0000

Excerpt: “Copious layers of soothing electronic elements blip, bloop, and glitch their way to an EP of mellow chilled out music…an almost perfect example of how to create an intelligent EP showcasing what can be done with a minimalist approach to the electronica genre.”

Some Lost, Some Found

Down Review “From Here, For Anyone” – Adequacy.net

Thea Porter — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Excerpt: “The four tracks on the EP are a dense swirl of multi-textured electronic soundscapes that develop tunefully with mellow and warm melodies, crisp rhythm blips and playful clicks and pops. The duo mix and manipulate sounds into a soothing atmosphere of instrumental electronic songs… The impressionistic compositions don’t stray too far into the nebulous atmosphere but stay grounded with gently rolling drums, dynamic rhythms, periodic waves of buoyant keyboards and bright, celestial guitar leads.”

Adequacy.net

Down Review “From Here, For Anyone” – PopMatters

Hidden Shoal Recordings — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:13:22 +0000

“It’s difficult to listen to Down Review’s debut instrumental EP, From Here, For Anyone, without being reminded of early Broken Social Scene. It’s not as if these guys are offshoots from the Toronto indie collective or anything. Rather, the EP manages to mesmerize and mesh trippy guitar loops with defiant electronic beats in an immensely contagious manner. Broken Social Scene mastered this art, and don’t be surprised if Down Review soon attain as much hype. Four tracks and 23 minutes in length, From here, For Anyone rattles as much as it hums. It prods the subconscious with an array of sounds at once. For those who find Four Tet’s stuff a little tough on the melodies, you should know Down Review manages to escape that fate with an EP rich with color and promise.”

PopMatters

Down Review “From Here, For Anyone” Textura

Thea Porter — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:26:12 +0000

Excerpt: “The EP’s material can be characterized as wide-screen, richly-textured electro-acoustic sound design underlaid by laid-back rhythms inflected with subtle shadings of funk and hip-hop. Commendably, Down Review opts for understated elegance, with the duo recognizing that the song’s twilight ambiance is all the more effective when delivered with restraint.One expects that it’s only a matter of time before a full album’s worth of Down Review material sees the light of day.”

Textura

Down Review “From Here For Anyone” – Leonard’s Lair

Thea Porter — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:08:32 +0000

Excerpt: “[Down Review] deliver further proof that it’s possible to make beautiful music without ever being in the same room together. Beginning with the deliciously comforting sounds of ‘Anything Is Everything’, the scene is set for some lovely, warm instrumental music. Luddites will profess that the Internet is killing music but ‘From Here, For Anyone’ shows that bringing together talents via computers and wires is something to celebrate. Especially so when they produce electronica featuring such distinctly human qualities.”

Leonard’s Lair

Down Review “From Here For Anyone” – Cyclic Defrost

Thea Porter — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:31:09 +0000

Excerpt: “This four track EP opens with variations of melodic chords soaking the upper register, and combines pristine drum and synth programming. It is quite obvious that the form is predominantly electronic, yet it has all the hallmarks of post-rock sensibility and sonic attunement. ‘Archive’ clothes itself in manipulated crowd samples before launching into a layered drum, synth and bass combination. ‘Always Enough’ weaves bright tones, dub sensibility and chopped up samples in highly wrought simplicity. ‘All In’ closes the album, playing with an almost anthemic extended chord, a hybrid drum beat and chirping bright synth which builds to dominate before dissolving quickly. It is a sharp finish, but the ride is quite exhilarating.”

Cyclic Defrost

Down Review “Anything is Everything” – Luna Kafé

Thea Porter — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:11:05 +0000

Excerpt: “‘Anything Is Everything’ is a slow digital drizzle, a crisp’n’sparkling piece. Electronic drums, glowing synths and purring bass-lines glide slowly through the city lights, the city night. It’s a drifting, sweeping loop-track, soothing and relieving, and a very pleasant piece of music.”

Luna Kafé

Down Review ‘Anything is Everything’ – Losing Today

tim — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:55:38 +0000

Excerpt: “Okay its gorgeous, in fact frankly its sublime… A beautifully snoozing dream woven treasure that had us here recalling in an instant the likes of Gnac, Landshipping and Boards of Canada, all crunchy beats, heart caressing tenderised electronic symphonic swathes applied with wide screen aspects and serviced with that kind of majestically forlorn bitter sweetness that was once the sole remit of godspeed you black emperor and touchingly daubed in frost tipped baubles of orbiting opines all mellowed magically into a tempting tapestry that to these much humbled ears had us imagining a particularly chilled Faltermayer cosying up to Manual for a spot of reclined star watching. A gem.”

Losing Today