Hidden Shoal Recordings » Mukaizake Reviews

Mukaizake ‘Unkown Knowns’ – Delusions of Adequacy

Jamie — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 05:54:45 +0000

Excerpt: “What would happen if you took Red House Painters and gave them Wheaties before recording? Mukaizake’s languorous rhythms and stretched-out singing, as well as its minor-key melodies, do take a page from RHP. The songs hide a certain complexity, though, that might get them tagged as math-rock were the band to play them at twice their speeds. As it happens, playing somber math rock at half speed brings out subtleties that you might miss otherwise…. You barely notice that the band has been sneaking in the odd beat, the odd melody, the unusual attenuation of form because it’s always delivered fluidly and naturally. Maybe Mukaizake is best described as a thinking man’s slowcore.”

Delusions of Adequacy

Mukaizake “Unknown Knowns” – Drum Media EP of the Week

Hidden Shoal Recordings — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:39:51 +0000

“While listening to this, and contemplating the automobile artwork, you sit with ears and senses open, waiting for some guitar hook or divine melody to capture you and force you to hit repeat. It doesn’t come. See, it sounds like a pop release, but that’s the trick! Once you realise this you can begin appreciating Unknown Knowns for the interweaving guitars and all the space used by the drawn out arrangements as the mini-album/extended EP sublimely unfolds.”

Drum Media

Mukaizake ‘Unknown Knowns’ Feature on Mess & Noise

Jamie — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:53:26 +0000

Excerpt: “Being spread across three different states isn’t the most productive way to keep the band going. We always had in the back of our mind that we’d release those tracks that we’d recorded. But with Dan and I living away it was too hard to get into a position where we could finish it off and release it… Now we’re only dealing with two states in Australia instead of three, so it’s easy for us to fly Dan back for a show… It was actually quite nice revisiting the tracks that long after it. A lot of things came a long way in the mixing. We did a bit more production and got a bit more creative with how we approached them… No additional recording was done to finish the songs. Everything you hear on Unknown Knowns was recorded in 2004 and mixed in late 2009. The main thing that changed in the mixing of the record was that we took a lot out. We were one of those bands where everyone was playing all the time, and part of coming back and revisiting the record was, ‘Do we really need that part going for the whole song? Is it better pulling out some of those those bits, creating a bit more space?’”

Mess & Noise

Mukaizake ‘Unkown Knowns’ – Mess and Noise

Jamie — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:20:34 +0000

Excerpt: “Unknown Knowns seems blissfully unaware of the anticipation that surrounds it; Mukaizake sound like a band that don’t feel they have anything to prove, whose humble goal is nothing more than to write and record the best possible songs they can, expectations be damned. Unknown Knowns more than lives up to the promise of its predecessor. These six songs are everything the band’s patient fans could have asked for, as well as being strong enough to introduce Mukaizake to a whole new audience.”

Mess and Noise

Mukaizake ‘Unknown Knowns’ – Blog Critics

Jamie — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:31:19 +0000

Excerpt: “The best indie rock sounded experimental and exciting while still being accessible and interesting. Perth band Mukaizake nail this winning formula on their sophomore EP, Unknown Knowns….As with many indie bands, the lyrics are deliberately obscure and ambiguous. The meaning of the songs is conveyed in the way Symons sings them and the snippets you can make out. Put on paper, the lyrics probably wouldn’t be too impressive, but they work in the songs. More impressive is the tension in all of the tracks between melody and dissonance. Melody always wins, but Mukaizake does an excellent job of adding jagged edges to their songs.”

Blog Critics

‘A Million Square Miles’ – The Dwarf

Jamie — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:32:38 +0000

Excerpt: “Turn the clock back a few years and most people were convinced there was something in the water in WA because of the sheer number of excellent acts who called that piece of Australia home. Fast forward to 2010 and it seems our short attention spans have been diverted elsewhere in the search of the source of the ‘next big thing’. A Million Square Miles is a compilation…. Drawing together 16 tracks from eight artists, it successfully navigates the folk, indie pop and rock genres….A Million Square Miles is a pleasing and mellow offering that is easy-on-the-ear and reaffirms the fact that there is something in the water out west.”

The Dwarf

Mukaizake ‘Unknown Knowns’ – The Dwarf

Jamie — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:12:33 +0000

Excerpt: “an intricate artwork that could only be have been made over such an amount of time….channeling such indie favourites as My Morning Jacket, Mogwai and Death Cab For Cute, an elaborate combination of strong guitar pieces, airy vocals and subtle, yet essential drumbeats is presented”

The Dwarf

Mukaizake “The Yeah Conditioner” – Luna Kafe

Thea Porter — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:26:53 +0000

Excerpt: “‘The Yeah Conditioner’ is indeed a good-old indie-rock song. A neat rhythm, sublime bass-lines and nice guitars, topped with some fresh and melodic vocals. By ’spinning’ the mp3 many rounds I realise this is an addictive song, with its swirling magic, leaving me eager to check out more. Looking forward to hear the album. “The Yeah Conditioner” is of very good condition.”

Luna Kafe

Mukaizake “Unknown Knowns” – Rave Magazine

Thea Porter — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:33:57 +0000

Excerpt: “Part math-rock, part jangly dream-pop, the six songs are a beguiling dive into the oceanic sounds of 90’s indie rock. Vocalists Geoff Symons and Erickson can both actually sing with clarity, lending the songs a sort of choirboy purity, even when singing about slashing tyres… The outcome is a pristine and intelligent composite of sounds old and new… It’s a heady combination, and one that hopefully won’t need another five years to reoccur.”

Rave Magazine

“A Million Square Miles” – Adequacy.net

Thea Porter — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:38:46 +0000

Excerpt: “This is the rare exhibition of musical aptitude that delights from start to finish, with nary a disappointment to be found. Being tagged by some as Australia’s answer to the British label 4AD, Hidden Shoal (HSR) does indeed specialize in a brand of music that places atmosphere, ambience, and texture high on the priority list. With an onslaught of reverb and delay effects that would put the Edge to shame, this album features eight acts that run the gamut from quirky playfulness (Toby Richardson) to hypnotic melodrama (My Majestic Star). Hidden Shoals’ impressive roster on A Million Square Miles is bound to shore up some buzz, and deservedly so: it’s an exhilarating listen from beginning to end.”
Adequacy.net

Mukaizake “The Yeah Conditioner” – Drum Media

Hidden Shoal Recordings — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:49:23 +0000

“With three quarters of Mukaizake reeling in the praise that comes with winning the WAM Song of the Year contest as Umpire last week, here comes another new track from the recently very busy local song peddlers. Sounding more mathy but no less catchy than their Umpire triumphs, ‘The Yeah Conditioner’ has a distinct ’90s American indie rock sound not unlike your Built To Spills or Pavements, and that’s more than alright by me.”

Drum Media