HAM003 I Fieldhead 'They Shook Hands For Hours' CD - plus limited bonus remix CD
Tracklist: This Train Is A Rainbow/Half Names/Document One/They Shook Hands For Hours/ Of October/He'd Found The Sea/ Songs Well Known/Broken/I'm Fond Of Maps/Introductions
Remix CD Tracklist:Half Names(Jasper TX Remix)/Almost Everything There Is To Know (Pausal Remix)/Broken (Northerner Remix)/He'd Found The Sea (The Declining Winter Remix)/This Train Is A Rainbow (Library Tapes Remix)/Introductions (Matthew Collings Remix)/Birthday Celebrations (James Yates Remix)/Of October (Yuri Lugovskoy Remix)/I'm Fond Of Maps (Seaworthy Remix)/Songs Well Known (Machinefabriek Remix)/They Shook Hands For Hours (Glissando Remix)
It is with great pleasure that we announce details of our third release, due in the autumn of 2009 (release date - 2nd November). It comes from Leeds resident, Paul Elam, who records his solo works as Fieldhead. Paul is a full-time member of The Declining Winter and a part time member of Glissando's Fleeting Glimpse Ensemble. He recently contributed a remix to the bonus CD of 'Haunt The Upper Hallways' (HAM002) and his remix of 'Cull' is also featured on Northerner's CD 'The Ridings' (HAM001).
‘They Shook Hands For Hours’ is his debut release and takes the minimalist, glitchy, low end rumble of Machinefabriek, Phillip Jeck and The Caretaker but contains arrangements that are concise, structured and almost pop orientated in their brevity. The dusty, grainy textures can be reminiscent of Khonnor’s textbook 2005 album ‘Handwriting’, but in this case the ambient cinematic drones of Stars of the Lid and Labradford replace the ghosts of lo-fi pop. It is no wonder that the artist divulges his number one influence as tape hiss, but in no way should it be taken that this is a minimalist or avant-garde work. The melodicisms are notable from the opening ‘This Train Is A Rainbow’ with its Labradford style guitar twangs through to the echoes of Aphex Twin’s dusty loops on ‘I’m Fond Of Maps’. The warmth of ‘real’ instruments is always audible, particularly violins which swoop and soar in the wide open landscapes of ‘He’d Found The Sea’, recalling Manchester acoustic-electro favourites The Boats.
A limited number of copies will be issued with an accompanying CD of remixes from the likes of Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, Seaworthy, The Declining Winter, Northerner, Library Tapes, Pausal, Glissando, James Yates, Yuri Lugovskoy and Matthew Collings. We would recommend that you pre-order this item on our website in order to ensure that you receive the bonus disc and avoid disappointment.
HAM002 I The Declining Winter 'Haunt The Upper Hallways' 7" Single with bonus CD
7" Tracklist: Haunt The Upper Hallways/My Name In Ruins/Hey EFD.
CD Tracklist: Haunt The Upper Hallways/My Name In Ruins/Hey EFD/Red Brick Houses/Where The Severn Rivers Tread/Come On Feel The Willingness/Drenched/Goodbye Lights LS28/Carta Remix/Hey EFD (inst).
When the brothers Adams allowed Hood an extended sabbatical it was always going to be interesting to see how far their musical paths would diverge from their unmistakable blueprint. Now temporarily freed from the pressures and expectations of the Hood environment, Richard Adams has breathed an audible sigh of relief into his new project, The Declining Winter.
The latest instalment from The Declining Winter is due for release on 27th July 2009. It has taken some time to work out the format for this release but after much deliberation we have decided it should come as a 7" record which includes a CD containing a full album of material. We hope this will satisfy those who require a 'vinyl fix' and everyone else also receives what is effectively The Declining Winter's second full length album on CD, in its own packaging. A slightly unusual format but perfectly in keeping with Adams' idiosyncratic approach to music making. In addition to all this, the first 100 website orders will also receive a further CD of remixes of 'Haunt The Upper Hallways' from the likes of Part Timer, Winter North Atlantic, Northerner, Fieldhead and Richard Adams himself.
Throughout the course of 'Haunt The Upper Hallways' you will encounter passages of breathtaking beauty akin to those found on Rachel's mesmerising 'Music For Egon Schiele', followed by wistful, reflective pieces that conjure up comparisons with Robert Wyatt, Deerhunter, Grizzly Bear and latter day Talk Talk. There is a freshness to Adams' approach to songwriting which is beautifully exhibited in the addition of dulcimer and violins throughout these ten mini epics.
‘Haunt The Upper Hallways’, true to Adams’ pedigree, is the work of an artist for whom contradiction, severity, experimentation and dissonance are as much grist to the mill as harmony, melody and concord. Close attention to the multi-layered vocals sometimes reveals that Adams might also be grinding axes or even settling old scores throughout the course of these songs. Or, perhaps it’s just the ramblings of a man lost and confused on the number ninety-one (Pudsey to Chapeltown) bus.
To order a copy of 'Haunt The Upper Hallways', please go to our buy page. You can also find a couple of full audio tracks on our listen page.
HAM001 I Northerner 'The Ridings' 2xCD
Disc One Tracklist: The Ridings/Direction/Caroline/J C de M/Cull/Lost Logic/Fin/Titus/The Cut/Sleep/Cull (reprise).
Disc Two Tracklist: Cull (Fieldhead rmx)/Fin (Bracken rmx)/Direction (aus rmx)/J C de M (The Declining Winter rmx)/Lost Logic (Part Timer rmx)/The Cut (Glen Shipley rmx)/Sleep (Gareth S Brown rmx)/Caroline (Epic45 rmx)/The Cut (Portal rmx)/The Ridings (Winter North Atlantic rmx)/Titus (Yuri Lugovskoy rmx).
Northerner's debut album 'The Ridings', released in February 2009 to a wave of critical praise consists of eleven beautifully constructed instrumental pieces for guitar and other instruments plus an additional disc featuring remixes from a number of invited artists including aus, Bracken, The Declining Winter, Epic45, Part Timer and Portal (amongst others). The remixes take Northerner's compositions into new musical territories and provide a wonderfully eclectic companion to his original work. A number of tracks from 'The Ridings' can be found on our listen page and copies can be purchased from our buy page.
Critical praise for 'The Ridings'
"'The Ridings', the debut for West Yorkshire's Martin Cummings....his pop-ambient take on electronica really gels when he goes for simplicity, as on the albums highlights, the blissed-out glitch scape of 'Cull' and the guitar drift-works of 'Fin'". Uncut Magazine.
"I'm loving this new Northerner album! Plain and simple it's cocking ace....Gorgeous pastoral electronica with acoustic guitars and a general ethereal loveliness....It's a great album from start to end and I get the urge to stick it back on when it's finished which is usually a good sign (so rarely happens these days....)". Norman Records (Album Of The Week).
"Deeply melodic, ambient and ethereal, goes down well with a malt whisky at the end of a busy day". Piccadilly Records (Record Of The Week).
"The Ridings draws together strands of guitar and delicate electronics....by embedding lightly sculpted six-string textures in a tapestry of field recordings and plugin tweaks....Lovely". Boomkat (Recommended Release)
"If you are going to start a new label, then you better make sure your first release is something quite remarkable. Home Assembly Music’s first release is Northerner’s first full length album and the results have taken us by storm. If this is the shape of things to come from HAM, then I’m salivating already....This will definitely be one of the albums of the year and I can safely say that, even though we are in February. Ambience at its most innovative and original". Crumbs In The Butter.
"Cummings achieves a sort of kaleidoscopic sound that plays off your ears like light filtering through a cracked prism". Opuszine.
"The beginning of the year is usually a quiet time for new releases so it’s with great pleasure that I can report on the first great album of 2009. It comes from the West Yorkshire-based musician Martin Cummings who records his ambient works under the self-explanatory moniker of Northerner....Very few groups, let alone solo acts, show this much adventure and promise on their first recordings....Although February has barely started as I write this, ‘The Ridings’ is likely to be one of the most significant releases of the year". Jon Leonard [sic] Magazine/Leonards Lair
"It’s a relaxed series of chilled out ambiences that freshen the mind and help you to lay back and relax....it finds itself very comfortable with soundtracking those mellow parts of a day". Sonic Dice
"The Ridings is an album of sublime shine....an album to hold close to your heart". God Is In The TV
Related Release....
Northerner '1976' EP/Mini LP - Hibernate Recordings (hb04). October 2009
"Northerner, aka Martin J Cummings, is one of a growing band of musicians operating in the UK’s blossoming electro-acoustic scene. ‘1976’ closely follows mammoth double-set ‘The Ridings’ (on Home Assembly Music), a special little release that further enhances Cummings reputation. Avoiding the familiar, Cummings sets about transporting the listener down new paths, where gossamer guitar textures mingle with shimmering, bucolic atmospherics, forgotten voices and deftly laced found sounds, suggesting a kinship with the heart-warming nostalgia of fellow countrymen Epic45. The miniature electronic pulses and glitches adroitly placed throughout add a beguiling sheen, often found lacking in the genre.
Despite its compact running time, this release is no stop-gap, with each track purposefully flowing into the next, suggesting a narrative hidden just underneath the surface. There’s a rich, emotional depth prevalent here and the countless left turns render this record as riveting, taking us from the intoxicating chill of ‘The End of December’ through to the comforting hazy warmth of ‘Red Soil’". Michael Henaghan – Phantom Channel
This is a limited edition release of 200 copies. To order, please visit the Hibernate Recordings website.
"Everything about UK producer Martin J Cummings’s ‘1976′ screams ‘winter’, from his nom de plume Northerner on the Hibernate label to the frosted leaves adorning the cover, yet it sounds anything but. Rather, the glistening, buttery synths, washed up alongside barren tufts of guitar and hazy static recall a blissful summery sunset, stoned on tropical grass, Mai Tai in hand, swaying gently in a hammock. Well that’s the first track, ‘The End of December, and if the remaining pieces fail to reach that near-sublime level of sunkissed languor they all evoke similarly drowsy summertime settings. In the title track a throbbing low-end hints at Tim Hecker while glitchy snatches of harmonica lap the sides, ‘Can’t’ pits watery guitar chords against Pole crackle and sparkly synth blips, while ‘If You Could’ takes to the desert, brief snatches of Sergio Leone twang over flickering gusts of wind. Each piece flows freely into the next, bringing added consistency to an already taut album, making the enjoyment even more effortless". Cyclic Defrost