hi everyone!

hope this finds you all doing well things have been moving along quite nicely in the signal hill camp(s). since our last update, we all got to hang together again in NYC (second time in 6 months!).  not only did we get to play a great show with our pals north end, calls, and new friends no grave like the sea, but we also got to spend a few days refining the songs for our new album. many thanks to all who were able to make it out for the show. felt good to be playing live again!

here’s the setlist we played:

additionally, we are thrilled to report that we have pretty much solidified the new tunes, and are pretty darn close to begin recording. at this point we are targeting a late spring/early summer recording session (subject to change!), likely back at the compound with friends jeff lewis and patrick murphy. there’s not a target launch date yet, but certainly it will be out this year.

the new record will be called “chase the ghost” and the tentative tracklist, in no particular order (also subject to change!) is:

• the fantastic hours
• collide us
• corners
• the pacific northeast
• bauhaus balconies
• van gogh sky
• untitled tune
• chase the ghost
• test trains

we are excited to begin sharing these new tunes with you (all songs are new with the exception of van gogh sky, which was initially on our split 7″ with all india radio).

here’s a super short clip from dave’s phone of us working on “corners”.

also, while we are all together tracking the new album, we just might have to do a show in the LA area..been far too long. hoping we can find the time to squeeze in a show, we will definitely keep you posted!

that’s about it for now, but you will definitely be hearing more from us in the very near future!

thanks for listening and for your continued support!

your friends,

signal hill

p.s. want more frequent nonsensical updates, follow us on facebook and or twitter!

(photo by pamela masters)

wow, cannot believe 2011 is coming to a close! that might be the same opening we use at the end of every one of these year-end posts, but it’s true! it was a great year, and we cannot thank you all enough for your support!

some 2011 highlights for us

• getting together and doing our first ever east coast shows. not to mention, the only time we all got to hang out together this year. it was just like old times, a bunch of nonsense, with a group of really good friends. thank you all who were able to make it to one of the shows, help set one up, and/or told friends to come! we met a lot of new friends and saw some really great bands.

• writing and recording a new song (bi-coastally) called “van gogh sky”, which we released as a limited edition split 7” with our friends all india radio. there are still a few copies remaining which you can order here! the all india radio song on the split, “rippled” has an amazing video which you should definitely see:

• 2011 also saw the release of a cover of the song the radiator (by ida) as part of the “more hope for japan” compilation. we were incredibly honored to participate in this project, with the proceeds all going to support relief efforts for japan. 37 bands, 37 tracks, available via digital download or physical release in the form of a strictly limited edition (100 copies) 4 disc cd set! stream our tune along with the other 36 jams here: http://morehopeforjapan.com/stream_the_entire_album/

2011 was also a year of some really fantastic music, hence the unavoidable: a top albums and tracks lists from us.  but before we get into that, a couple of quick notes regarding what’s next to come.

early plans for next year

mid-feb, the west coast branch will join the folks in the east coast office to finish fine tuning the songs for the new album. at this point, we are looking to begin recording in april and hopefully launching a late summer release! more to come on that.

we thought while all together, we might as well play another show!

friday feb 17 @ don pedro’s in brooklyn, with north end, calls, and alcian – rsvp by going to the facebook event

lastly, our sincere gratitude for your continued support. warm wishes, season’s greetings, happy holidays etc.

with love,

signal hill

our top albums and tracks all in no particular order.

brian

top albums

1. owen – ghost town
2. blue scholars – cinemetropolis
3. beware of safety – leaves/scars
4. tycho – dive
5. m83 – hurry up, we are dreaming
6. helios – unleft
7. silian rail – (acoustic music)
8. the drift – blue hour
9. the sea and cake – moonlight butterfly
10. sleepmakeswaves – …and so we destroyed everything

top tracks

1. m83 – steve mcqueen
2. tycho – a walk
3. brothertiger – feel
4. the water – elf storage
5. gorillaz – on melancholy hill
6. all india radio – ripple
7. owen – an animal
8. owen – i believe
9. arms & sleepers – kepesh
10. blue scholars – cinemetropolis

tim

top albums

1. ben howard – every kingdom
2. tycho – dive
3. white denim – d
4. the antlers – burst apart
5. iron & wine – kiss each other clean
6. motorcycle diaries – soundtrack, gustavo santaolalla
7. the north end – atlantica
8. beware of safety – leaves/scars
9. the besnard lakes – are the roaring night

top tracks

1. ben howard – lonely pine
2. ben howard – black flies
3. white denim – burnished
4. white denim – anvil everything
5. m83 – intro (ft. zola jesus)
6. iron & wine – walking far from home
7. iron & wine – godless brother in love
8. iron & wine –  me and lazarus
9. the besnard lakes- like the ocean, like the innocent; pt. 2 the innocent
10. gustavo santaolalla – leyendo en el hospital, the motorcycle diaries soundtrack

rishi

top albums

1. real estate – days
2. washed out – within and without
3. bibio – mind bokeh
4. owen – ghost town
5. the weeknd – house of balloons
6. craft spells – idle labor
7. the antlers – burst apart
8. tycho – dive
9. destroyer – kaputt
10. beach fossils – what a pleasure (ep)

top songs

1. real estate – green aisles
2. keep shelly in athens – “okionos negri street
3. washed out – “eyes be closed”
4. casiokids – elefantenes hemmelige gravplass
5. shabazz palaces – swerve… the reaping of all that is worthwhile (noir not withstanding)
6. arms and sleepers – i sing the body electric
7. john maus – cop killer
8. atlas sound – te amo
9. the drums – i need a doctor
10. toro y moi – how i know

dave

top albums

1. teebs – collections 01
2. people get ready – ep
3. owen – ghost town
4. the sea and cake – the moonlight butterfly
5. radiohead – the king of limbs
6. washed out- within and without
7. tycho – dive
8. beach fossils – what a pleasure
9. the drift -  blue hour
10. m83 – hurry up, we’re dreaming

top songs

1. shabazz palaces – are you…can you… were you? (felt)
2. mogwai – letters to the metro
3. kisses – kisses
4. kuedo – ascension phase
5. m83 –  echoes of mine
6. teebs – verbena tea (featuring rebeckah raff)
7. low – especially me
8. the drift – luminous friend
9. the sea and cake – inn keeping
10. beware of safety – moorpark ends
11. north end – synergy
12. wait what – before one love (Nas/Washed Out Mash Up)
13. people get ready – cathedral
14. tycho – hours
15. radiohead – lotus flower

greetings friends!

we hope your summer is off to a great start and this finds you well.  things have been heating up (no relation to summer) in camp signal hill  and we wanted to share a couple of quick updates!

our east coast shows are booked!

many thanks to all who sent contacts and pitched in from the last email and for helping make this a reality! friends in the north-east we are so excited to play for you for the first time. we are thrilled to be sharing the stage with some truly great bands!

• 9/21 @ pale horse – west chester, pa  W/ north end and more TBA (this will be our first show in over a year!) (facebook event page)
• 9/22 @ the depot – baltimore, md w/ time columns, the water, uakari, & sonorous (facebook event page)
• 9/23 @ the charleston – brooklyn, ny w/ calls and more TBA (facebook event page)
• 9/24 @ p.a.’s lounge – boston, ma w/ hadoken, ,parachuter, & vanzetti (facebook event page)

we’ve put together a flier/poster for anyone that wants to help support the cause! sharing is caring… J  (download)

pick our setlist?

speaking of the shows, help us pick our setlist! we’ve never played the east coast, and rather than picking what we would play,  we thought it’d be better if you guys chose!  simply go here and vote for the top 3 songs you would want us to play. even if you’re not able to make it, you should still vote – maybe there will be some live video of us playing some of the songs you voted for:  http://signalhillmusic.com/2011/07/03/help-pick-our-setlist/

split 7” with our buddies all india radio

as mentioned in our last email, we are doing a split 7” with our melbourne australia friends, all india radio. each band will have one song special to this release. our tune happens to be one of the brand new jams we’ve been working on. the bass and drums were tracked last weekend in california, and guitars will be tracked this weekend in new york. this release will be pressed on solid red vinyl, and super limited to only 250 copies. we will have it at one of our upcoming shows and will put a limited amount on pre-order prior to the release and tour!

the tracks are:

• signal hill: van gogh sky
• all india radio: rippled (7” version)

more info & artwork coming soon!

new beware of safety album

ok, this is not signal hill news per se’ however, its news about our very good friends beware of safety. their new album, leaves/scars dropped this week and is available for purchase/streaming now from their bandcamp page. go listen and get phased! they are also hitting tour on the west coast,  so peeps on the western US, check their schedule and definitely check em’ out if they hit your town!!

we promise to harass you again soon, but in the meantime, you can follow our nonsensical (and studio) updates over at facebook, twitter, tumblr, or our sitio web oficial.

with love,

signal hill

even if your not able to make it to one of our upcoming shows, which tunes would you want to see? pick your top 3!

oh and here are the dates:

9/21 – philly/westchester, pa @ venue tba

9/22 -baltimore, md @ the depot

9/23- brooklyn, ny @ the charleston bar

9/24 – boston, ma @ venue tba

hi everyone,

we are definitely supporting record store day tomorrow (april 16 2011) and think you should too!  if reviewing the list of  all of the righteous special releases by bands/labels isnt enough to entice you (really want that new pinback release!!), we would like to offer FREE downloads  for anyone that supports record store day.

all you have to do, is snap a photo from within a record store, or a pic of your purchase (hey we like to see what you’re buying!)  and share it on our facebook wall, or email it to us (siggyhill(@)gmail.com along with whatever download(s) you would like! who knows, maybe we will even give away some physical goods too (shirts/records/cds, stickers etc) to a few lucky winners!

support your local record store, buy something great  and get free music – win, win, win!

share away, and have a great record store day!

signal hill

(photo by pamela masters)

hi everyone,

spring has arrived! the flowers are blooming, the trees are filling in, as is brian’s moustache

so what’s new? well, we have been writing new songs, and are super excited with how they are sounding. while they aren’t quite ready for you to hear them, we can tell you that, this whole bi-coastal thing is working out just fine!

here are some of the working titles – of course in true signal hill fashion, most of these will likely change, because that’s how we roll!

1. the saddest notes
2. northeast/southwest
3. collide us
4. blizzzzzzarrd
5. piano song

so the plan is this, wrap up these tracks and a few others that we began during the distance sessions, record em, and release a new record! we are in the very early stages so lots of logistics to sort out, but we are proud of the progress!

east coast tour? we need your help!
we are doing it and its looking like our good pals, all india radio (http://www.allindiaradio.com.au/)  are planning on joining us for our first ever east coast dates! right now, the window for the 3-4 shows will be sometime between september 21 – september 28 and we are targeting these cities:

1. boston
2. new york
3. philly
4. dc

we need your help! if you can help tell us the clubs to play (or steer clear of) and or  know any bands in these cities, please let us know. we would be forever grateful!

shoot us an email: siggyhill(@)gmail(dot)com

side project shiz!
the azure vault
speaking of shows – tim’s new project called the azure vault (http://theazurevault.com), with steve molter (beware of safety, le sigh, etc.) is playing a show with pals silian rail (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Silian-Rail/205716287438 ) at pehrspace on april 15th.  the show is presented by launderground. sillian rail absolutely kills it, and just read this review of the azure vaults last pehrspace show to see what kind of treat you will be in for! (http://the704.blogspot.com/2010/10/victor-ship-azure-vault-mad-night.html)

avesta.sweden

rishi’s solo project, avesta.sweden is giving away a new track for free. its a song called girls, and is a cover tune from a gal who sang the most memorable tune from the movie goonies and whose name rhymes with mindy dauper. grab the free download or stream the tune here:http://www.thisyeariwillforget.com/girls.html

a couple of weeks back, dave curated a podcast and did an interview with our friend armand on his twice weekly podcast called postrock paper scissors. dave’s  playlist includes tunes from some of our favorites including tristeza, mercury program, helios. it’s available to stream and download for free here: http://www.mixcloud.com/babarm87/episode-65-curated-by-dave-masters/

 

follow us:
facebook: http://facebook.com/signalhillmusic
twitter: http://twitter.com/signalhillmusic

thats all we have for now friends! stay in touch with us, we’d love to hear from ya!

best,
signal hill

hi everyone!

we hope you are all having a great and joyous holiday season. in all
sincerity, we cant thank you enough for your continued support and for
your help in making  2010 a great year!

while this year we played fewer shows than any previous year, somehow
we still leave the year feeling accomplished. rishi lived in scotland
for the first half of the year,  yet we were able to finish and release a
new ep and our first ever 7″ (we still have a few of each of the 300 pressed for purchase here).
as a special holiday treat, we’re making the b-side of that 7″
available for free mp3 download as a thank you for all of your support!
this is the first time this song is available in digital format.

download “down to bed” for free!

2011 plan?

so, what’s the plan for 2011? for starters, we are going to do our
first ever shows in the east coast that we are targeting for spring.
however with brian’s gnarly leg break that occurred a few weeks ago, we
might push that back a bit…..

additionally, we have already started working on new tunes! with
rishi and dave now both in nyc, they have committed to writing a few
days a week and sharing the love with the west coast rhythm riders!

we are forever grateful for your support through the years and are
looking forward to a sharing more with you in the near future!

avesta.sweden – rishi’s solo album out now!

in other news from the signal hill camp, rishi recently completed a solo album under the moniker avesta.sweden.
five years in the making and it’s finally finished! he worked with our
good buddy patrick murphy to mix, produce and master the tracks. you can
stream the album, grab a free track, and read about inspiration behind
each song from the album’s web release, www.thisyeariwillforget.com. and if you feel so inclined, you can buy it for 3 smackers!

2010 favorites

and, what would a year-end wrap-up be without a list of some of our
favorite albums/tunes from the year! we will leave you with our
favorites, but before we go, THANKS AGAIN! we love you!

here’s to a great 2011!

signal hill

2010 favorites

brian (aka stash)

albums

1. Foxes in Fiction – Swung from the Branches

2. Holy Fuck – Latin

3. The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come

4. Of Sinking Ships – Of Sinking Ships

5. You May Die in The Desert – International Waters E.P.

6. The National – High Violet

7. hammock – chasing after shadows…living with ghosts

8. beach house – teen dream

9. jonsi – go

10. Mice Parade – What it means to be left handed

songs

1. Foxes in Fiction – Snow Angels

2. Foxes in Fiction – 8 / 29/ 91

3. Jonsi – Boy Lilikoi

4. Jonsi – Hengilas

5. Holy Fuck – Stay Lit

6. The Mountain Goats – 1 John 4:16

7. Dusty Brown – Weather

8. The National – Lemonworld

9. The National – Sorrow

10. Mice Parade – Do Your Eyes See Sparks

rishi

albums

1. the Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme

2. Everyone Everywhere – Everyone Everywhere

3. I’m Not As Good At It As You – S

4. Junior – Kaki King

5. Tame Impala – Innerspeaker

6. Toro y Moi – Causers of This

7. Foxes in Fiction – Swung from the Branches

8. Foals – Total Life Forever

9. Small Color – In Light

10. Holy Fuck – Latin

songs

1. the Radio Dept. – Heaven’s on Fire

2. Foxes in Fiction – 15 Ativan (Song for Erika)

3. Tangled Hair – Cardboard Hilltop

4. Epic45 – Ghosts on Tape

5. Toro y Moi – Talamak

6. Of Sinking Ships – the Circumstance

7. Tycho – Dictaphone’s Lament

8. Tera Melos – Trident Tail

9. Pantha du Prince – Stick to my Side

10. Tame Impala – It’s Not Meant to Be

tim

albums:

1. Arp – The Soft Wave

2. Brad Mehldau – Highway Rider

3. Brian Eno – Small Craft on a Milk Sea

4. Gonzales – Solo Piano

5. Jamie Cullum – The Pursuit

6. Jonsi – Go

7. Junip – Fields

8. Mice Parade – What it Means to be Left Handed

9. Neil Young – Dead Man (soundtrack)

10. Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs – God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise

songs:

1. Gonzales – Meischeid

2. Jamie Cullum – Please Don’t Stop the Music

3. Jonsi – Hengilas

4. Neil Young – Guitar Solo, No. 5

5. Ray LaMontagne – God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise

dave

Albums

1. beach house – teen dream

2. the national – high violet

3. four tet – there is love in you

4. jonsi – go

5. beach fossils – beach fossils

6. everyone everywhere – everyone everywhere

7. hammock – chasing after shadows…living with ghosts

8. tycho – past is prologue

9. toro y moi – causers of this

10. teebs – ardour

songs

1. beach house – 10 mile stereo

2. beach house – take care

3. the national – afraid of anyone

4. four tet – sing

5. washed out – hold out

6. teebs – wind loop

7. tristeza – cholo

8. balmorhea – night squall

9. jonsi – go do

10. pantha du prince – the splendour

UPDATED 11/29/2010

thanks so much everyone for your support! we are gonna tally up all the sales and make a donation to Mike and Emily in the next day or so. since the special is over, we have replaced the purchase buttons with a free download from each release!

more signal hill news coming soon!!! all the best!

sh

ORIGINAL POST 11/24/2010 (with special priced links removed)

howdy everyone!

we hope this finds you well as we head into the thanksgiving weekend!  things here have been good. we have begun writing some new tunes, and are in early discussions for a few shows in the east coast early next year! we are thankful for your continued support and still cant believe that a little over 6 years ago now, our little group got together to have fun and make some tunes. happy to say that 6 years later, we all still get the same enjoyment!

special offer for a good cause!
so our friends mike and emily are currently (even as we post this) running the sea to the stars to raise money and awareness for building the first all general childrens hospital in sub saharan africa.  they are running 40+ miles a day from mombasa kenya, to mt. kilimanjaro!  read all about it here  http://www.shoe4africa.org/

in an effort to help the cause, we are doing a special offer Nov 24th through Nov 28th. all digital downloads of all of our releases will be $1 each with 100% of the money going directly to helping mike & emily reach their donation goals! additionally, for all physical goods, 7″, cd’s, and shirts, we will donate 50% of all of those transactions to the cause as well!

already have our goods (or dont want any of them!) and want to help anyhow? definitely! donate directly to the cause itself (including sponsoring a runner) by going to the Shoe4Africa site!

digital downloads – $1 each for any format (MP3, MP3HD, FLAC etc.)(100% will be donated)

(click the image or the button below to open up the purchase window)

physical goods – (50% of all proceeds donated)

visit our store and make a purchase on ANY item and 50% of all proceeds will be donated! Buying any physical copy of the cd’s will automatically get you a digital download of the release.

thanks again everyone for your continued support! have a happy thanksgiving!

sh

(disclaimer: this offer is not in anyway endorsed or solicited by shoe4africa and instead is something we want to do to help support our friends and a cause that we think is great!)

first of all, a very big thank you to you all for purchasing, listening to, and or sharing our latest ep distance. we are proud of it and think it has a few of the best songs we have written to date! for those of you who haven’t grabbed the limited edition cd and 7″ you can grab em in our distance ep /ca is too long store page.

so what else is new? well, rishi made it back to the US after living in edinburgh, scotland for a year. he’s currently living in san diego and spending additional time up in LA. CA is sure lucky to have him back! he has been hard at work on his solo album that he will be putting out later this year. its a collection of songs that he has written over the past few years, under the moniker avesta.sweden. he tracked it himself, and is being mixed and mastered by of our good pal patrick murphy (more after we’re gone & distance).  it should be finished in the next few months so stay tuned for more info.  its sounding great!

tim has started a new project called the azure vault with our good friend steve molter (beware of safety, le sigh, ::thinkstandard::) .  they are working out the final touches before playing their first 2 shows in october! its a new world for tim as he plays rhodes, guitar, and other misc items (and of course a few drums!).

upcoming the azure vault shows

Friday, October 8, 2010 – 8:30pm
Pehrspace
325 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
All ages. BYOB.
Support TBD

Saturday, October 9, 2010 – 9:00pm
Ché Café
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
All ages.
w/Glaciers, more TBD

brian is still waiting for the lovely car rental insurance place to replace his bass!  it was oh, you know, 2 months ago that our van got broken into and they are still trying to make a decision….. lovely insurance! aside from that, brian (aka stache) has been working, finishing up school and being a good pops to baby lauren!

dave and his wife are actually moving to brooklyn, ny later this week!  what does this mean for signal hill… well:

1. east coast tour early next year
2. continue to write and record tunes
3. continue to play in the west as permitted

so besides not having rehearsal regularly (which we hadn’t in over a year), and not being able to play shows as frequently as we would like (also not much different than the past year), not really much changes! we are committed to writing and recording music with each other for as long as it remains fun… and frankly, we have a lot of fun.

we have already begun talking about writing our next set of material, not to mention that when we went in to record Distance, we actually had about 5 other demos recorded that are sitting on the backburner. so… rest assured, plenty more to come!

also, we are doing a website redesign soon!

so what else? let’s see… 2 of our tunes were featured in a series of Fox BMX videos, floruit was featured in a stand-up surf video from soul surf media, as well as some other videos that we have seen across the net! its great seeing our music in these types of videos, most of us grew up skateboarding and or snowboarding, and watching those videos as teenagers opened us up to a lot of the music we listen to today! here are a few of the vids  below!

Fox BMX – Golden State of Mind Tour (GSoM part 2 of 3) Featuring: Intelligentsiya

Fox BMX – GSoM Tour Part 2 from FoxHeadInc on Vimeo.

Fox BMX – Golden State of Mind Tour (GSoM part 3 of 3) Featuring: California is Too Long – Alternate

Fox BMX – GSoM Tour Part 3 from FoxHeadInc on Vimeo.

Soul Surf Media – Sessions with Chuck Patterson – Featuring Floruit

Sessions: Chuck Patterson from Soul Surf Media on Vimeo.

know of any other videos out there that are have any of our tunes? let us know, we would love to see em!

thats all for now friends, again thank you for the continued support!

best,

sh

friends,

the time has come. our new ep, distance and 7″ of ca is too long – alternate b/w down to bed, are available now!

head over to the distance store page to order both releases and get an immediate download of the ep!

the cd is limited to 300 physical copies, and comes packaged in a silk screen printed eco wallet. they are hand numbered, although, we didnt actually number them. we wanted to make them a bit more personalized, so we thought we would do something a little more fun. each cd has a unique hand written phrase that has an inside story about signal hill. as you get your copy, we encourage you to email us, so that we can share the story.  everyone gets something different!

the vinyl is also limited to 300 copies and is pressed on white wax. these are all hand numbered.  the 7″ was an idea conceived by a dear friend, nicolas the dictator, who helped get signal hill off the ground more than 5 years ago. when we released our self titled ep and he  listened to our song “california is too long” he said it was mandatory that it end up on a white 7″ somehow. four years later we have it and this newer recording, we call it the alternate version, sounds better than we dreamed of at the time. the b-side is a song called down to bed.

want to stream the ep for free? stream away! if you enjoy, we encourage you to share the below streaming widget with your friends, facebook, twitter,  favorite blogs, etc.

lastly, we have our first two shows of the year this coming week to celebrate these releases.

friday, july 23rd @ the gingerbread house w/ silian rail

saturday, july 24th (tim’s bday!) @ pehrspace w/ silian rail and cue the moon