Now that the archiving of my music writing is out of the way, I can get on with the business of profiling the awesome Hidden Shoal artists whose music is available for licensing via dots and loops. The Hidden Shoal catalogue spans a startling array of genres and styles, from minimal, delicate ambient to heavy, rhythmic indie-rock. Nestled beautifully at the minimal, delicate ambient end of the spectrum is Antonymes.
Antonymes
Antonymes is designer, photographer and musician Ian M. Hazeldine, who is based in Wales. Ian's recorded output to date is characterised by sparse, thoughtful piano melodies, exquisitely rendered atmospheric textures and a truly cinematic approach to sound. His music is perfectly suited to moments of reflection, scenes of nature, and narratives that unfurl slowly and deliberately.
His album The Licence To Interpret Dreams was released to widespread critical acclaim in 2011. It comprises 12 beautiful pieces, including the single 'Endlessly', which is featured on my YouTube channel:
Another of Antonymes' songs, 'The Slow Beginnings of a Fragile Acceptance', which opens The Licence To Intepret Dreams, can be streamed on Soundcloud as part of an atmospheric/ambient compilation I've put together:
If you're interested in licensing Antonymes' music for your creative project, please contact tim@dots-and-loops.com
The following reviews from 2011 bring this archive of my music writing almost up to date. Phew! Unusually, not a single release that I reviewed during the year made it onto my list of favourite albums of 2011. Probably too busy enjoying the music to write about it...
Now I'm nearly up to date with these review links, I can almost taste the excitement I felt when first hearing some of the records listed below, particularly Mark Van Hoen's Where Is The Truth and The Walkmen's Lisbon. I still listen to both those albums a lot, so it's no surprise to see them at the top of my favourite records of 2010.
In 2008 I also began writing for another website called [sic] Magazine, which had just been started by Brett Holdaway. My first review published by [sic] was Deerhoof's Offend Maggie, which also appeared on Luna Kafe.