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Seren Ffordd
Dreaming in the Well of Slow Shadows


Dave Fulton
Of Those Things Left Unsaid


Subradial
Ice Diving


Antonio Testa & Michel Moglia
Forget the Past


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Robert Rich
Sunyata & Inner Landscapes


Numina
The Deception of Reality


Bruno Sanfilippo
Urbs


Seren Ffordd + Oöphoi
The Martian Chronicles

Hypnos News Archive, 2000


2000.12.22 I've had several people write to me and say "I like to read the new reviews when you post them to your page, but you never tell us where to look for the new ones." So today, I'll at least point you toward which CDs have new reviews or blurbs posted this time:

The Contemporary Nocturne (2)
The Surreal Sanctuary
Sunyata (2)
The Most Distant Point Known
Entering Twilight
To The Shores of Heaven (2)
Near and Far

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2000.12.21 VidnaObmana has just finished remastering his live performance recording of Soundtrack for the Aquarium (an out of print limited edition disc from the early 90's), which will be part of the Soundtrack for the Aquarium 2CD Special Edition reissue on Hypnos in 2001. This will be a low-priced double CD with the original Soundtrack for the Aquarium (approximately 74 minutes) on disc one, and the remastered live performance (approx 45 minutes) on the second disc. Those of you who have been craving mellow, drone-based vidnaObmana material will be very happy with this one, which will be out next summer.

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2000.12.19 Today I'll be adding a whole bunch of new reviews to the Hypnos Reviews page.... at least a dozen. You'll find reviews of new releases, recent releases, and even stuff that came out a couple of years ago! If you enjoy reading what the critics are saying about Hypnos CDs, take a look.

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2000.12.18 More news related to Echoes radio and Hypnos and Jeff Pearce (this time also Saul Stokes). Echoes has released their "Editors Choice" list of essential CDs for 2000. Again, directly quoting the announcement from Echoes (thanks to Associate Producer Jeff Towne for forwarding this information):

A few days ago I posted the results of the Echoes Listeners Poll.
Now, here's the "critic's poll" as chosen by the Echoes staff, with only a
little bit of yelling, screaming and gnashing of teeth during the debates....

It is based a little bit on airplay, a little bit on our personal
favorites, and mostly on what CDs most exemplify what the show sounded like
over the past year.

We were not at all influenced by fruitbaskets from musicians' family
members, threats of lawsuits by James Baker, or even listener response.

more info at:
http://www.echoes.org/de.essential.html

Echoes 25 Essential CDs of 2000

1 - Arvo Part - Alina (ECM)
2 - Vas - In the Garden of Souls (Narada)
3 - Preston Reed - Handwritten Notes (Outer Bridge)
4 - Skyedance - Labyrinth (Culburnie)
5 - Axiom of Choice - Niya Yesh (Narada)
6 - Jeff Pearce - To The Shores of Heaven (Hypnos)
7 - Rasa - Devotion (Hearts of Space)
8 - Stephan Micus - The Garden of Mirrors (ECM)
9 - Harold Budd - The Room (Atlantic)
10 - Jonn Serrie & Gary Stroutsos - Hidden World (Narada)
11 - Joanne Shenandoah - Peacemaker's Journey (Silverwave)
12 - Erik Wollo - Guitar Nova (Spotted Peccary)
13 - Sorma - Mirage of the East (Pacific Moon)
14 - Milladoiro - Auga de Maio (Green Linnet)
15 - Kate Price - The Isle of Dreaming (Omtown)
16 - Ekova - Heaven's Dust (Six Degrees)
17 - Saul Stokes - Outfolding (Hypnos)
18 - Nakai/Eaton/Clipman/Nawang - In a Distant Place (Canyon)
19 - Martin Tillman - Eastern Twin (Unitone)
20 - Arc - Radio Sputnik (DiN)
21 - Steve Stevens - Flamenco.a.go.go (Ark21)
22 - Thomas Otten - Close to Silence (Higher Octave)
23 - Mary Jane Lamond - Lan Duil (Wicklow)
24 - Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning - Byzantium (Ark)
25 - Ketil Bjornstad & David Darling - Epigraphs (ECM)
END

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2000.12.15 Well, Echoes radio went ahead and spilled the beans regarding tonight's "Listeners Choice" show. The echoes.org web site revealed this morning that To the Shores of Heaven was their listeners' #1 choice as favorite album of the year. Here's their announcement:

Tonight on Echoes we feature the results of this year's Echoes Listener
Poll. For the last few weeks we have been encouraging Echoes listeners to
vote for their 3 favorite CDs of the year, and after ranking and
tabulating, we came up with this top 25.

There were plenty more good CDs this year, but these are the ones that
struck a chord with listeners.

The list is on-line at

http://www.echoes.org/poll2000.html

Following are the results of the Second Annual Echoes Listener Poll for the
25 Favorite Echoes CDs of the year. The program will be broadcast on
December 14, 17 and January 1.  Congratulations to the winners.


1   JEFF PEARCE-To The Shores Of Heaven (Hypnos)
2   ENYA-Day Without Rain (Reprise)
3   VAS-In the Garden of Souls (Narada)
4   AXIOM OF CHOICE-Niya Yesh (Narada)
5   ENIGMA-The Screen Behind the Mirror (Virgin)
6   YO-YO MA, EDGAR MEYER, MARK O' CONNOR-Appalachian Journey (Sony
Classical)
7   KATE PRICE-The Isle of Dreaming (Omtown/Higher Octave)
8   PRESTON REED-Handwritten Notes (Outer Bridge)
9   LISA GERRARD/HANS ZIMMER-Gladiator Soundtrack (Decca)
10  RASA-Devotion (Hearts of Space)
11  TANGERINE DREAM-The 7 Letters from Tibet (TDI)
12  STATE OF GRACE-State of Grace (Windham Hill)
13  SHEILA CHANDRA-Roots and Wings (Narada)
14  WILLIAM ORBIT-Pieces in a Modern Style (Maverick)
15  CHRIS SPHEERIS-Dancing with the Muse(Higher Octave)
16  HAROLD BUDD-The Room (Atlantic)
17  OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK-Dance Into Eternity (Celestial Harmonies)
18  MICHAEL THOMAS BERKLEY-Arctic (Numinous)
19  MICHAEL HEDGES-The Best of Michael Hedges(Windham Hill)
20  MICKEY HART-Spirit Into Sound (Grateful Dead Records)
21  STEVE STEVENS-Flamenco-A-Go-Go (Ark21)
22  PATRICK LEONARD-Rivers (Unitone)
23  ARVO PART-Alina (ECM)
24  ERIK WOLLO-Guitar Nova (Spotted Peccary)
25  STEVE ROACH-Early Man (Manifold/Timeroom Editions)

On behalf of Jeff Pearce, Hypnos would like to thank John Diliberto and Jeff Towne of Echoes radio, aw well as Echoes listeners nationwide, for this sincerely humbling honor. In such a "competition" for the ears, hearts and minds of the listening public, to beat out such great artists and formidable labels is truly something we're proud of. And to the mighty marketing machines of Reprise, Narada, Virgin, Sony, etc..... how do you like that?

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2000.12.14 (later) Just a quick followup to yesterday's note regarding To the Shores of Heaven being out of print.... the good news is that the re-pressing is already finished, so the disc's availability will not be interrupted.

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2000.12.14 Hypnos is pleased to announce the latest addition to the slate of upcoming releases for next year. Paul Vnuk Jr. of Ma Ja Le will have his first Hypnos release during 2001. It's a long-form "environmental" collage piece, perhaps superficially reminiscent of Entering Twilight by James Johnson and Sonic Continuum by Modell/Mantra, but on the other hand really not too terribly similar to either one of those...

It's called Silence Speaks in Shadow and it's a wonderfully subtle blend of electronic musicianship, documentarian location recording, studio trickery and who knows what else.

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2000.12.13 At the end of every year, Echoes Radio (a nationally syndicated show devoted to atmospheric and world music, on most public radio stations) has a "Listeners Choice" show. That show is the result of votes by Echoes listeners nationwide, in response to the question "What were your three favorite Echoes CDs this year?" The votes are compiled and on the yearly "Listeners Choice" show, Echoes host John Diliberto lists the 25 most popular choices. The list won't be officially announced until the show broadcasting tonight, so I won't give the details here, but fans of Jeff Pearce and Hypnos who listen to this year's "Listeners Choice" show will find that Jeff Pearce's To the Shores of Heaven fared pretty well, considering the competition was such major label stuff as Enya, Yo Yo Ma, Enigma, Tangerine Dream.... you get the idea.

Anyway, listen tomorrow (Thurs 12/14) to Echoes to find out how Jeff Pearce and Hypnos show on the top 25.

Also, this is a good time to mention that To the Shores of Heaven is, for the moment at least, technically "out of print." No copies exist in Hypnos HQ at the moment, though the re-pressing of the CDs is already in progress and they're due to be done any time now.

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2000.12.01 It seems at times that I spend more time typing review of Hypnos CDs into the Hypnos Reviews page on this web site.... but it's worth it, right? Added another review of Vidna Obmana's The Surreal Sanctuary, another on Robert Rich's Sunyata, and one of the first takes on Griffin/Fulton's The Most Distant Point Known.... and a couple other bits of lovely criticism on other, older CD releases.

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2000.11.30 The non-music-related web site space.com has a regular column on space-related music, written by Matt Howarth. Previous columns have featured Vidna Obmana, Saul Stokes, and other artists in the space, ambient and e-music communities.

The latest feature (linked directly here) covers Hypnos more generally, and the works of Viridian Sun and its members David Tollefson and M. Griffin, more specifically. The feature includes reviews of both Viridian Sun albums, both of Tollefson's solo albums, and Griffin's solo Sudden Dark, plus the "classic" 2-CD Hypnos compilation The Other World, on which Griffin and Tollefson appear individually as well as in their Viridian Sun guise.... along with 16 other artists.

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2000.11.29 A couple of weeks ago this update mentioned that Echoes radio had been doing a great job of featuring Hypnos artists (Pearce, Stokes, vidnaObmana). Well, this week's Echoes update announces a vidnaObmana "Living Room Concert" (their last feature was a bit of information, a short interview, and a song or two).

Wednesday 12/13, Saturday 12/16, Sunday 12/17,
A LIVING ROOM CONCERT WITH VIDNA OBMANA
Vidna Obmana is an ambient explorer from Belgium with over two dozen albums
out, including collaborations with Steve Roach and Jeff Pearce.  Vidna
travels from Belgium to the Echoes Living Room for an ambient orchestration
of synthesizers and fujara flutes.   Weaving these sounds together, he
builds a flowing, virtual landscape full of sonic detail and hidden
shadows.  This is an Echoes Living Room Concert for headphones.

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2000.11.28 Boy, a week goes by fast here. Five of those days were spent on a holiday weekend/mini-vacation, so I'm a bit behind on email at the moment (180+ messages in my in-box, after deleting all the spam & junk & mailing list messages). If you've emailed mgriffin@hypnos.com in the past few days and haven't heard back yet, don't worry -- your message has probably been received, and I'll get to it soon.

Another exciting addition to the Hypnos Online Store (following the hot, new Steve Roach special edition, Early Man), is a 2CD various artists compilation release entitled ambient.01@hyperreal. As the name hints (at least to those of you familiar with the ambient music mailing list served from hyperreal.org), the compilation is based around the members of the ambient mailing list -- some of the names will be familiar to many (M. Bentley, Deep Space Network, dreamSTATE, Forrest Fang, and a few others), while the majority are fairly unfamiliar, but the quality is surprisingly, encouragingly good. Though I don't know if this was intended, the first disc seems more rhythmic, ambient in the "mainstream" sense of the word, while the second disc is deeper and more abstract, perhaps more likely to appeal to the "average" Hypnos listener (if there is such a thing). This double disc set is a fantastic deal at $13.99 and won't last long (only 400 were pressed, and Hypnos has access to only a very small number of these), so amble on over to the Hypnos Store where you'll find this offered on the "Hypnos Recommends" section on the front page.

I should also add that the Kranky "closeouts" won't last much longer at $9.99 each.

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2000.11.21 The closeout on Kranky label titles on the Hypnos Online Store has just had its first victim - Stars of the Lid's album The Ballasted Orchestra is now sold-out and gone. Rush over there to grab up some nice Labradford, Wind & Carl and Roy Montgomery discs while they last, at $9.99 each. A couple of these discs only have a single copy remaining, and they'll be deleted from the catalog as they sell out (so no need to email first to confirm stock).

Also on the Online Store, a few hotly sought-after items that I've been waiting on for a while: first and perhaps most eagerly awaited is Steve Roach's special, limited edition release, Early Man. This special limited edition disc comes packaged between two (heavy!) slabs of granite. Please note: Until further notice, this item will only be shipped within the US and Canada. Once we investigate overseas packaging/shipping logistics, we'll make it available for export, though of course at a higher price to cover the dramatically higher shipping cost.

Described thusly by steveroach.com:
Nearly two years quietly in the making, this full-length compact disc of all-new Steve Roach material is limited to only 1000 copies in this one-of-a-kind collectors' first edition. EARLY MAN is encased in thick slabs of natural gray-green slate attached to a standard CD tray. The music can be best described as primeval space-ambient. Dreaming in the desert by ancient firelight, cave paintings come to life in a slow soul-dance of evolutionary magic. A day in the life of EARLY MAN moves through six different zones that conjure up ancient atmospheres and elemental soundworlds, along with occasional distant and subdued primordial rhythms calling one to the next place of dreaming.

Also, this album is within the new Manifold label category in the Online Store. Though it is the first item in that category, we'll soon be stocking a wider selection of Manifold titles. To avoid any confusion, Early man will also be available in the "Top Sellers - Steve Roach" section of the store. It will be priced at $26.99, partly to reflect the higher shipping cost (since the Hypnos store uses flat-rate shipping).

Another one many of you have been waiting for is the latest from Ron Boots on his own (well, co-own with Kees Aerts) Groove label, out of The Netherlands. This latest is Close But Not Touching. A number of other new Groove titles are available as well, and two of the Alpha Wave Movement discs that had been out of stock, are back in now. So if you're into Berlin school emusic and variations on that, check out the new Groove label titles (mostly $14.99 each).

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2000.11.17 Still more new reviews on the Hypnos Reviews page..... this time, a review of Vidna Obmana's The Surreal Sanctuary, as well as an impressionistic critical take (yes, he liked it) on Robert Rich's Sunyata.

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2000.11.16 The limited, special edition Saul Stokes A Collection of Live Recordings CDR is almost completely sold out. Only 15 copies remain, and these are only offered for sale at Saul's live performances (and he won't be playing live again until some time in 2001, after his move to Portland), and through the Hypnos Online Store. This means that if you want one of these last remaining copies, you'd better high-tail it over there and order up a copy.

In 2001, Saul will offer his third release in this series of hand-made, limited CDR special editions, Twin Worlds of Abstraction.

Also, yet another rave review for Robert Rich's Sunyata, this time by Star's End Radio host Chuck VanZyl, has been posted to the Hypnos Reviews page.

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2000.11.15 (later) Not only did Echoes radio (ANOTHER big giant widely- syndicated radio show) recently feature Jeff Pearce, and more recently feature Saul Stokes (whose feature was re-run last week), this week they'll run their new feature on Vidna Obmana, as described in Echoes' own press release:

Friday 11/17, Saturday 11/18, Sunday 11/19, Sunday 11/26
VIDNA OBMANA-FUJARA ILLUSIONS
Vidna Obmana is Belgian ambient composer Dirk Serries.  A disciple of Steve
Roach, Vidna Obmana works his own techno-tribal designs mixing synthesizers
with organic instruments including the Eastern European fujara
flute.  Vidna Obmana comes by to play his flute and talk about his music,
including his latest CD THE SURREAL SANCTUARY (Hypnos).

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2000.11.15 This week's installment of the Hearts of Space radio show (a big giant widely- syndicated space music radio show, for those of you who don't know) features THREE different Hypnos artists/CDs: Vidna Obmana's The Surreal Sanctuary, Jeff Greinke's Lost Terrain, and Robert Rich's Humidity.

Also, I thought I was doing a Really Good Thing by adding sound clips to the listings of Hypnos CDs on the Hypnos Online Store.... but it turns out there was an error in the addresses I entered for said clips, so they were coming up as "unloadable" files. That address error has been fixed, and I've also updated the list of "Hypnos Recommends" titles with a few new and fancy items.

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2000.11.14 Just added about a dozen reviews of various 1999/2000 Hypnos CD releases to the Hypnos Reviews page. That includes the first review of Vidna Obmana's The Contemporary Nocturne and the first review of Robert Rich's Sunyata. But there are lots of other ones too!

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2000.11.13 Though details remain to be worked out prior to a full and official announcement, Hypnos and The Foundry labels are working on a co-operative agreement to bring several aspects of The Foundry's operation into the dark and nebulous Hypnos realm.

Hypnos will still be Hypnos, and the Foundry web site (linked above) will continue to exist independent of hypnos.com, but future releases by The Foundry will be co-released, co-promoted, and distributed by Hypnos, probably (maybe) under the name "Hypnos/Foundry." More news soon, of course, but we're excited to be able to lend the formidable, towering might of the Hypnos juggernaut to the growing but under-appreciated Foundry label, thus helping it to obtain some of the attention it deserves, and furthermore (we feel) strengthening and enriching the ambient/experimental music scene by fostering the continuation and growth of one of the more interesting new labels around.

There remain details and logistics to be worked out between Hypnos tyrant (self) Mike Griffin and Foundry label head Michael Bently, so some of the above details may change or shift before finallly settling (kind of like those potato chip bags that always end up seeming 3/4 empty), but we are excited to break the news, and look forward to exploring future possibilities, along with our listeners and other interested parties.

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2000.11.11 Finally starting to recover from the whirlwind week past... first the election, and an almost-all-nighter spent with CNN and ABC News and MSNBC trying to figure out what's what (still don't know), and then the vidnaObmana/Steve Roach concert at the Old Church in Portland. Lots to do -- people to meet, equipment to procure and transport, and then of course the show itself and plenty of fun meeting and mingling before and after.

It was great to finally meet in person a lot of people I had previously only known via email. In two or three cases, I was introduced to somebody, and before I had a chance to even say hello, an arm grabbed me and pulled me away to talk to someone else.... so if you're one of those with whom I never had a chance to speak, I apologize! I wish the evening had been twice as long so I would have had more of an opportunity to speak with the wonderful listeners and other members of our music "scene" in greater depth and at greater length.

Though this event concludes vidnaObmana's tour for the year, I hope all of you who have the opportunity to see him perform in the future (whether with Steve Roach, as in this case, or solo as in his other US appearances this year) will not miss it. It was wonderful to find a great number of non-local fans in the audience.

Also in vidnaObmana-related news, we had a chance to speak (all too briefly) after the performance, and discussed the possible upcoming reissue of his "Antwerp Aquarium" project, possibly in a 2-CD bonus version including a live version of the same material in addition to the original. This is a reissue that I have a lot of enthusiasm about, as the great majority of VO listeners have never had a chance to hear it, and I consider it to rank with the best of vidnaObmana's atmospheric works. The bonus second CD, we feel, would make it an irresistible release, and this could see release during 2001.

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2000.11.08 Created some RealAudio sample clips from the new Vidna Obmana album The Contemporary Nocturne and added it to the "Hypnos Recommends" section of the Hypnos Online Store. Other additions will be made to that page in the next couple of days.

Also, all Kranky label titles have been marked down to $9.99 while current supplies last.

Lastly, tomorrow Echoes radio will re-run an interview with Saul Stokes, which they previously featured a month or two ago.

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2000.11.07 Finally put up RealAudio sample clips from Robert Rich's Sunyata on the Hypnos Audio page. The CD includes two long tracks, so I created more than one sample clip from each track, to give an idea of how the pieces evolve.

Also, Vidna Obmana's The Contemporary Nocturne is now available on the Hypnos Online Store at a price of $11.99, though it's not yet "featured" on the front page. That front page "Hypnos Recommends" section will be re-done today, to include not only The Contemporary Nocturne but also a selection of other interesting, new stuff.

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2000.11.06 Now available from Hypnos Recordings and Belgian ambient master vidnaObmana, The Contemporary Nocturne. This is the second half of the extended work begun last year with The Surreal Sanctuary, and represents perhaps vidnaObmana's most challenging and complex work yet. This past weekend, vidnaObmana performed at The Gathering in Philadelphia, and tonight he played with Jim Cole in Connecticut. This week, he will appear in Portland (see yesterday's news update). For those of you who attended one of the earlier shows, I regret that the new CD was unavailable, but it will be added tomorrow (Tuesday 11.07) to the Hypnos Online Store, and of course will be available for purchase at the Portland performance just mentioned.

Visit the Hypnos Online Store if you prefer to pay by credit card, or won't be attending the Portland show (and since less than 1% of the people who order CDs from Hypnos reside in this fair town, I guess that will be most of you). The usual direct price applies -- $11.99.

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2000.11.05 This page has become "press release central" lately, as I just pass along information about all the shows played by all the Hypnos artists all over the place...

VidnaObmana will perform with Jim Cole Monday November 6 at the
University of Hartford (CT).  Tickets: 1-800-274-8587 or locally: 768-4228

.... also, later in the week, here in Portland VidnaObmana will perform with guests Steve Roach and Jeff Feyman on Thursday, November 9 at the Old Church (on SW 10th near PSU, downtown).....

A Saturn Spell presentation of this one-time exclusive
West Coast concert. Sponsored by Soleilmoon Recording and Ozone Records
with special guest appearance by Steve Roach and Jeffrey Fayman
Thursday, November 9th, 2000 The Old Church, Portland, Oregon (on the
corner of SW 11th and Clay St.) Doors open at 7.30pm
Tickets are $15 before / $20 the day of the show. General Admission.
Tickets will be available in-store at Ozone Records and the New
Renaissance Bookstore.

Click here to view the promotional flyer for this show.

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2000.11.01 Further proof that Saul Stokes is on the road to world domination: this week Echoes Radio (a nationally-syndicated radio show with a world domination plan of its own...) will run their feature on Stokes, "Soldering & Synthesiers," as outlined below.

Thursday 11/9, Saturday 11/11, Sunday 11/12

SAUL STOKES-SOLDERING & SYNTHESIZERS

Saul Stokes has been called "Popular Mechanics musician of the year"
because he builds his own instruments, stylish futuristic constructions
of blinking LEDs, patch cords and knobs.  These custom devices give this
Philadelphia-based musician a distinctive sound that's been heard on
several recordings, including his latest, OUTFOLDING (Hypnos).  Saul uses
the flaws and unpredictability of his home-built synthesizers, to provide
 the expressiveness typical of acoustic instruments.  Saul Stokes talks
about making music from the wires up.

I believe a portion of this feature was run before, but I didn't get to hear it if it did, so I'm pretty excited to hear geekscientist Stokes talking on Echoes radio next week. Tune in on the 9th, 11th, or 12th (I guess it'll run in different areas depending on your local station's syncronization, or lack thereof, with one another).

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2000.10.26 Having finally had a chance to listen to Rausch by Komet (see 10.23 update), I wanted to slightly modify my "Caution! Dangerous listening!" disclaimer. This album is actually quite pleasant.... not at all "spacy" or "ambient" but a nice, intriguingly polyrythmic collage of bleeps and pings. Less extreme than much of what 12k and its Line sublabel have released lately, and perhaps my favorite 12k release ever along with Shuttle 358's optimal.lp and the out of print thesecretnumbertwelve by label founder Taylor Deupree under his former moniker Human Mesh Dance.

Also, I just received a re-stocking shipment of FAX label titles, which will be added to the Hypnos Online Store soon. Plus there is the latest title on the DiN label, and a few pre-DiN releases by Ian Boddy. Soon...

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2000.10.25 Posted a bunch of recent reviews, appropriately enough, to the Hypnos Reviews page, including commentary/analysis of The Most Distant Point Known, Altara, and To the Shores of Heaven.

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2000.10.23 (later) Anybody who saw the update earlier today about the new CDs by Vir Unis and Komet, and who raced over to the Hypnos Online Store only to find the discs weren't listed yet.... sorry! I posted the news update prior to actually making the discs available on the online store. I apologize for the false start, but both discs are listed at the store now.

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2000.10.23 Many of you have been asking when we'll get the new Vir Unis album, Aeonian Glow, on the Hypnos Online Store. Well, the time is now! Price is $13.99.

Also now available, the latest from the 12k: Rausch by komet, aka: frank bretschneider (the founder of germany's raster.music label). Komet/Bretschneider has become an important contributor to the world of microscopic sound and digital sonic art. Recently, he has been releasing material on labels such as raster, 12k, and mille plateaux, among others. The usual disclaimer applicable to all 12k release, applies here as well: This is challenging stuff, and not for everybody!

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2000.10.22 A recent update mentioned that there had recently been a delay processing orders placed on the Hypnos Online Store. I'm now pleased to report that in the past week, I've gotten caught up on all the backordered & mixed-up stuff, and orders are now back to being processed in 1-2 business days.

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2000.10.16 Got some great new deals on selected Amplexus discs on the Hypnos Online Store. This includes some of their best stuff -- CDs by names like Michael Stearns, Amir Baghiri, Thom Brennan, Loren Nerell, and others. You'll see prices like $7.99, $8.99, and $11.99. And the only ones that aren't marked down are the titles that are nearly out of print.... so stop by the Amplexus section and pick up a few.

Also received two new Steve Roach titles this week -- Prayers to the Protector by Roach with Thupten Pema Lama, a merging of Tibetans prayers with Roach's trademark atmospheres -- and The Serpent's Lair by Roach with Bryan Metcalf, a double-CD. The press release says "Steve's ultra-soundworlds, hybrid grooves and magical production combined with Byron's acoustic-organic tribal trance patterns..." Roach's other recent release, Early Man, is expected to arrive soon.

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2000.10.11 The lull is over!

All of July, August and September passed with nary a new release from Hypnos recordings. Partly that was the result of some bad luck (the many-times-mentioned-already mastering glitch on The Most Distant Point Known, which delayed its release by 2+ weeks), and partly it was a matter of the demands involved in buying one's first home, and them moving everything, both personal and business-related, into the new place. I honestly believed that any disruption to Hypnos activities caused by the move would last no more than a week or so, but in fact, although things have smoothed out about 90%, they still aren't quite back to normal yet.

The positive side to all of this is that the new location is much better in so many ways, not only more spacious but also conducive to an organized and efficient working arrangement. That means that Hypnos Recordings should be able to release CDs more often and more regularly, and that the Hypnos Online Store should be able to stock a wider and deeper inventory, and process orders more quickly.

Nonetheless, it has been a frustrating and difficult time, trying to get things like computers and furniture and electrical & data wiring and internet connectivity, planned and configured and running. In other words, sometimes you do a lot of work before you're even ready to start getting anything done!

This is intended as an apology and explanation to those of you whose orders have been processed a bit more slowly this past month than usual. I promise that this will improve effective this week, and already the great majority of orders will be processed in 1-2 business days again.

The other part of "the great lull" mentioned above, is the lack of Hypnos label releases since James Johnson's Entering Twilight in June. On that subject, I have immediate and very exciting news! Today, Hypnos releases two new CD titles, including the (already-shoulda-been-released in September) M Griffin/D Fulton collaboration The Most Distant Point Known, as well as the third Hypnos release by Robert Rich, Sunyata. Both of these are now available on the Hypnos Online Store, and direct purchase price is $11.99 as usual.

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2000.10.03 This evening updated the front page "Hypnos Recommends" section on the Hypnos Online Store. New titles on the front page include Rudy Adrian's Kinetic Vapors on the Groove label, the latest from Richard Chartier on the 12k label offshoot label, Line, entitled Series, a formerly out of print Rapoon CD, Fallen Gods which has been reissued with a second bonus CD, Cidar, which was originally available by sending in a postcard included with Fallen Gods and sending in a blank DAT tape, on which Staalplaat would record a copy of Cidar and return it to you. Even those of us who possess DAT recorders will agree that CDs are more convenient to listen to...

There are a couple of older Dweller at the Threshold discs featured as well, in tribute to the group's recent performance at The Gathering (see 09.28 update), as well as Dweller-leader Dave Fulton's soon-to-be-released collaboration with Hypnos founder Mike Griffin (who faithfully types these updates), entitled The Most Distant Point Known. Speaking of that one, I should have some more specific release date information in the next couple of days. Shouldn't be much longer!

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2000.09.29 With the whirlwind of activity around Hypnos HQ lately, there's been a backlog of written reviews of Hypnos materials that haven't been added to the Hypnos Reviews/Press page yet. About ten of those reviews from the past month or two, spanning releases as far back as 18 months (it's great to read a new review of a disc like Weightless, Effortless or Landscape in Obscurity, for example!), have been posted. More to come in the next few days, too.

Also thanks go out to an eagle-eyed Hypnos listener who suggested some minor, perhaps invisible, yet quite handy changes to the interface of the hypnos.com site, some of which I have implemented today. Not sure whether this fellow wants to be publically thanked (he might be a CIA agent, or on the run from mob, or something...), so.... thanks for the input, RA.

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2000.09.28 Dweller at the Threshold, the main project of Dave Fulton whose Hypnos collab The Most Distant Point Known is coming-soon (see 09.22 update), recently performed at The Gathering in Philadelphia, hosted by Star's End radio host Chuck VanZyl.

By all accounts this was a fantastic show -- Synthetic Block also appeared -- and photos of the concert are now available here. Also, you can read Jonathan (aka "Synthetic") Block's detailed journal of the event here.

In related news (related to Fulton and Chuck VanZyl and Star's End, but not Dweller, Synthetic Block, or The Gathering), played a track from one of "defective master" discs of The Most Distant Point Known following that show, and this week, Chuck has given The Most Distant Point Known a rave review on the www.starsend.org web site, and it will be the featured recording on this weekend's 10/01/2000 show.

Maybe you're wondering, "Why is The Most Distant Point Known good enough for Chuck to play on the foremost space music radio show in the world, but not OK to sell to me so I can listen to it?" The answer is simple -- the master was flawed only on one track, and Chuck knows not to play that track! Besides, when you're the hot-stuff big-daddy guru-godfather of the space music scene like Chuck is, you get whatever you ask for!

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2000.09.27 Not sure what to make of these ongoing hypnos.com mail server problems, as mentioned in the past few updates. Every time it seems to be fixed, I'll get a big blast of emails from the past day or so, then nothing for half a day, and POP server connection errors, etc.

So, despite the fact that the web hosting offered by Valueweb has been excellent, I've actually been considering switching to another domain hosting company due to the ongoing hypnos.com mail distribution problems. I just checked the Valueweb support page to see if there was any news other than "....continuing slowness and outages with POP mail servers..." as they've been saying for the past week. Now it's "Valueweb Network Operations will be implementing several steps to relieve the mail congestion issue."

I hope this means there is light at the end of the tunnel.

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2000.09.22 update... The hypnos.com mail server problem seems to be nearly resolved. I'm receiving emails now from the past 3 days in little batches... nearly 100 emails have arrived in the last 10 minutes. I'll try to deal with the highest-priority "emergency! help!" type messages first, and then deal with most of the rest this weekend. Thanks for your patience, everybody.

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2000.09.22 To add to the difficulties of the past week-plus (moving to a new house, discovering a bad master for The Most Distant Point Known and thus having to trash 1000 already-paid-for CDs), more recently the internet hosting company that hosts the hypnos.com domain has had a total failure of all their mail servers (delivering mail for tens of thousands of domains). This means that while I'm able to access the web, I can't reach the pop.hypnos.com server that stores & delivers email. So if you've tried to contact me in the last half of this week and haven't heard back yet, that's the reason. Supposedly the technical problem with the mail server is fixed and they're now trying to flush through a massive backlog of email, so maybe this will be working later today.

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2000.09.20 OK, a corrected master for The Most Distant Point Known has been submitted to the pressing facility, and new CDs are in the works. Also, Robert Rich's Sunyata is in process as well.

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2000.09.19 Uh oh.... the latest Hypnos project, The Most Distant Point Known (mentioned in the last 2 updates, so you know all about it by now) has an audible problem with one of the tracks and it looks like we're going to have to have the discs re-pressed. Yikes, what a pain! But I'd rather bite the bullet now and deal with a delay and extra expense, than start putting out sub-standard discs bearing the Hypnos name.

Though I hate to do it, I'm going to remove the disc from the Hypnos Online Store and not offer them for sale until we have the replacement discs. Won't know how long it'll take until I talk to the pressing plant during business hours Tuesday... Apologies to those of you who had already ordered this one, or who planned to pick it up soon.

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2000.09.18 It didn't happen quite as early today as expected, but the latest Hypnos release, The Most Distant Point Known by M Griffin & Dave Fulton, was released today and is now available at the Hypnos Online Store. As is usual with single-CD Hypnos releases, the price for direct orders is $11.99.

RealAudio samples for this title are now available at the Hypnos Audio Clips page.

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2000.09.17 The move mentioned in the last update is now complete, and things are gradually getting sorted out here in the new location. To those of you who ordered in the past few days, when I had no phone service or internet connection, I apologize for the delay in processing your orders. Everything will be caught up by tomorrow, Monday the 18th. Thanks for your patience, everyone. This new location should allow Hypnos to serve you even better -- to release even more CDs on the Hypnos label, and to stock a larger selection of non-Hypnos titles at the Hypnos Online Store.

To kick things off, the latest Hypnos release, The Most Distant Point Known by (yours truly) Mike Griffin & Dave Fulton, will be released tomorrow. Also the re-pressing of Vidna Obmana's Landscape in Obscurity will be ready just in time, as we were down to just two copies! Talk about timing...

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2000.09.12 A few examples of good new stuff, as well as a mostly new group of recommended titles for this month, at the Hypnos Online Store.

Hypnos World HQ is moving this week, hence the infrequent updates to this page in recent days. The new location will provide a lot more space for this world-dominating, ever-expanding, soon-to-be-large-enough-to-kick-Sony's-ass operation, which is good news. Orders are still being accepted during the move, though they might be processed a day slower than usual. Oh, and in the new location, email, web, fax, and PO box remain the same. It's only eight blocks away, after all!

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2000.09.11 Saul Stokes will be featured on the nationally-syndicated Echoes radio show (which also recently featured Hypnos artist Jeff Pearce). Their announcement is as follows:

Friday 9/15/00, Saturday 9/16/00, Sunday 9/17/00, Sunday 9/24/00

SAUL STOKES-SOLDERING & SYNTHESIZERS

Saul Stokes has been called "Popular Mechanics musician of the year"
because he builds his own instruments, stylish futuristic constructions of
blinking LEDs, patch cords and knobs.  These custom devices give his music
a distinctive sound that's been heard on several recordings, including his
latest, OUTFOLDING (Hypnos).  Saul uses the flaws and unpredictability of
his home-built synthesizers, to provide  the expressiveness typical of
acoustic instruments.  Saul Stokes talks about making music from the wires up.

Further proof of the Hypnos label's progress toward world domination (OK, maybe that's a slight, erm, overstatement): James Johnson's Entering Twilight debuts at #14 on the New Age Voice airplay charts this month.

Lastly, we're sold out of a couple of hot items on the Hypnos Online Store.... of the 4 Oophoi limited CDRs recently mentioned, two are sold out and the other two have just a single copy or two left. Still in stock are Mare Vaporum by Oophoi alone, and Upuaut by Oophoi with fellow Amplexus artists, Amir Baghiri and Matthias Grassow.

The other two titles, Oophoi's Night Currents and Behind the Wall of Sleep, are completely out of stock right now, though more copies may be forthcoming in the indeterminate future. Come to think of it, isn't ALL future indeterminate?

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2000.09.05 One teensy little correction the the last update on this page prior to the holiday weekend -- Saul Stokes's limited edition CDRs are actually not available for sale on his web site (which is worth of a visit nonetheless), but only at his live performances, and here at the Hypnos Online Store).

It has been a pleasant surprise to see how many people are purchasing both the Stokes A Collection of Live Recordings CDR, and the new Edge of the Forest. Also, for some reason I referred to the latter as DEEP IN the Forest recently.... sorry about that, Saul!

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2000.08.31 Another interesting new title added to the Hypnos Online Store).... a surprising number of you purchased Saul Stokes's limited edition CDR (in a special, handmade wood box) A Collection of Live Recordings. Now Saul has issued his second, similarly packaged limited edition, and this one is quite different. It's called Edge of the Forest and it combines treated nature sounds with synthetic ambience -- a major departure from the Stokes sound many of us are familiar with. Like the first limited CDR, this one is also $18.99, and it's limited to 200 copies. The only places you can buy these limited Stokes CDRs are Saul's own web site at www.saulstokes.com, at his rare live performances, and here.

Speaking of rare, limited CDRs, I should also mention that the four new Oophoi discs mentioned in yesterday's update will be gone in few days at most. I'll delete them from the catalog when they're gone, until I receive more in a month or two. If you're in a hurry to obtain these, do so quickly!

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2000.08.30 Several of you have been quite anxious to obtain the four Oophoi CDRs I mentioned recently. Those have now been added to the Hypnos Online Store). These $12.99 titles include:

 Oophoi/Grassow/Baghiri - Upuaut
 Oophoi - Mare Vaporum
 Oophoi - Night Currents
 Oophoi - Behind the Wall of Sleep
 

That first one is indeed, as it appears, a collaboration with Matthias Grassow and Amir Baghiri. Only a very limited number of copies of these titles are available.

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2000.08.29 Chuck VanZyl, host of Star's End radio and host of The Gathering series of concerts, recently posted the following update about the upcoming performance by Dweller at the Threshold. Though Dweller (and leader Dave Fulton) are actually Eurock Records artists, since Fulton & I have a project coming out on Hypnos (see recent updates regarding The Most Distant Point Known on this page), I thought this was somewhat relevant:

DWELLER AT THE THRESHOLD AND SYNTHETIC BLOCK TO PERFORM AT THE GATHERING

Portland based spacemusic ensemble Dweller At The Threshold and chillout synthesist Synthetic Block will perform live in concert as part of The Gathering Concert Series on Saturday, September 23rd, 2000 at St. Mary's Church Hamilton Village, 3916 Locust Walk in Philadelphia, PA.

Inspired by the electronic music movement of pre-ambient/techno Europe, Dweller At The Threshold grew out of a fascination with the ability of electronic music to create a cinematic experience in sound. Using modular synthesis, DATT produces original electronic excursions incorporating interesting rhythms and harmonies with deep-space textures. To DATT, the synthesizer is a creative tool which offers a wide palette of contrasting textures that can be animated by hands on manipulation.

Dweller At The Threshold is based in the Pacific Northwest and includes Dave Fulton and John Duval on synths and Lon Cudy on guitar. To date DATT has delivered two original CD releases: "No Boundary Condition" and "Generation Transmission Illumination". The Gathering concert will be their first performance on the east-coast.

Describing his music as "progressive ambience", Synthetic Block (Jonathan Block) combines classic '70s spacemusic with modern chillout room sensibilities. Block is credited with two studio albums, "Synthetic Block" and "The Opposite Of Staring Into Space" which display a mix of infectious, mild techno beats with the shimmering sequencer patterns of pre-sampling technology.

Synthetic Block embraces the challenge of translating his music in the unpredictable environment of the concert hall. Block says, "Playing live is at least half the reason why I'm involved in music. For me, it gets pretty boring holed up in the studio unless I know there will be a live outlet somewhere down the road". Along with his live electronic music, Block occasionally will read aloud his original poetry. "Quite haunting" according to Progression magazine.

The Gathering with Dweller At The Threshold and Synthetic Block will take place on Saturday, September 23rd, 2000 at 8:00pm in the church sanctuary of St. Mary's Hamilton Village, 3916 Locust Walk on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, PA. Admission (at the door) is $20. For more information, please access the Gatherings website or call (610) 734-1009.

Gatherings are live concerts featuring musicians from the ambient, electronic and space music worlds. For more information, please access: http://www.thegatherings.org

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2000.08.25 A quick update on Digitalis by Markus Reuter: we're investigating the possibility of issuing this as soon as October/November, though package design will have to come together quickly for this to occur. That same period -- the last quarter of 2000 -- will already see the release of vidnaObmana's follow-up to The Surreal Sanctuary, to be entitled The Contemporary Nocturne, as well as A Produce's Smile on the Void.

In fact, all told, the last 4 months of this year could see as many as 6 Hypnos CDs released, which would mean an even dozen CD releases for the year in total!

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2000.08.24 The first pressing of vidnaObmana's Landscape in Obscurity (his first Hypnos release, pre-dating our exclusive relationship which commenced with The Surreal Sanctuary) has sold out, and we're currently having it re-pressed. Only a few copies of the first pressing remain, and while the re-pressing will be identical, there will likely be a gap of a week or two in which no copies are available. So if you're in a BIG hurry to own this, order it now before it's (momentarily) out of print.

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2000.08.23 Update: The next Hypnos CD release is complete and will go into production tomorrow for September release. M. Griffin / D. Fulton The Most Distant Point Known, was mentioned here a couple days ago, but the track titles and sequence have been finalized. The track listing is as follows:

 1  tectonic
 2  lithospheric flux
 3  source of all gravity
 4  opposite horizon
 5  dark observer
 6  quadrature    phase 1
 7                phase 2
 8                phase 3
 9                curved beyond zero
 

.... and you can still see the cover artwork here.

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2000.08.22 Another announcement: Coming soon (possibly later in 2000, or could be pushed back to 2001 depending on all the variables that make CD release dates get pushed back), the first Hypnos release by Markus Reuter, Digitalis. Reuter is best known to space/ambient fans for his work on Ian Boddy's excellent DiN label (all CD releases available at the Hypnos Online Store), both with Ian Boddy on Distant Rituals and as a member of Centrozoon on the most recent DiN release, Blast.

In other circles, Reuter is perhaps better known as a member of the Europa String Choir, an adventurous instrumental ensemble signed to Robert Fripp's DGM label.

Markus's instrument is the Warr Guitar, a tap-style 8-stringed instrument which is played less like a true "guitar" and more like a Chapman Stick. The result is that Markus has a sound that is quite distinctive and wonderful! We are still working out certain details of this release and will post further details to this page as they are known.

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2000.08.21 Announcement: The new Dave Fulton/M. Griffin CD will be called The Most Distant Point Known and will be the next Hypnos release, coming in mid-September. You can see the cover artwork here.

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2000.08.20 Just two weeks after nationally-syndicated radio show Hearts of Space featured a selection from Saul Stokes Outfolding, this week's show includes two tracks from Jeff Pearce's album To the Shores of Heaven. Thanks, Hearts of Space, for the support and promotion!

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2000.08.18 The upcoming Hypnos collaboration between myself & Dave Fulton (leader and co-founder of Dweller at the Threshold) is taking shape quickly and is almost finished. It is our hope that these CDs will be ready in time for the Dweller performance at The Gathering in Philadelphia, next month.

Cover graphics and track listing will be previewed here soon. The music is completely done, and we're just finalizing things like titles, which tracks to include, and what sequence to put them in.

Whatever it ends up being called, it's a deep and spacy recording, yet quiet listenable -- quite different from previous Griffinmusic and Fultonmusic, yet working in generally familiar territory.

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2000.08.14 A few titles formerly available on the Hypnos Online Store have recently gone out of print. Since they're on the Amplexus and 12k labels, they were limited editions to start with, and like all releases on both these labels, they eventually ran out and will not be re-pressed. The titles in question are:

 Matthias Grassow - Dissolution (amplexus)
 Matthias Grassow - Fountain of Remembrance (amplexus)
 Alio Die & Yannick Dauby - Descendre Cinq Lacs... (amplexus)
 Sakoto/Chartier - 0/r (12k)
 

Sorry, but no copies of thes titles remain, either here in Hypnos Command Center, at the labels themselves, or at any of the distributors we order from.

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2000.08.13 Here's a news release from Saul Stokes relating to 2 upcoming live performances:

 The Fringe Festival in Philadelphia, PA:

 Where:  Ethereal Theater, Elfreth's Alley @ 2nd Street,
         Olde City Philadelphia

 When:   September 2, 9:00pm and September 5, 8:30pm

 Both performances will take place outside and are free of charge.
 

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2000.08.11 Just added 2 new titles to the Hypnos Online Store, which isn't a lot of new stuff, but these are hot ones!

They're from the Amplexus label, one of the finest labels out there, and they include Matthias Grassow's new album Fragrance of Eternal Roses, which is the usual $14.99 for these Italian imports; and Amir Baghiri's Blue Box Collection, a 4-disc box set that is $39.99.

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2000.08.11 Here's a news release from James Johnson relating to an upcoming live performance:

 ******************************************************************
 James Johnson live at The Ambient Ping Aug. 29th 2000
 ******************************************************************
 For those of you close to the Border or just looking for a reason
 to say "Road Trip!" James Johnson will be performing at The Ambient Ping
 http://www.theambientping.com in Toronto, Ontario. Join us for a pair
 of sonic performances on Aug. 29th starting at 8:30pm and going til.......
 James will be creating ambient soundscapes using a mixture of field
 recordings,
 computer synthesis and samples. This performance will be created
 in 4 point stereo for a completely immersive experience. For more information
 about "The Ambient Ping" and for directions visit
 http://www.theambientping.com

 On the Sunday prior to the show listen to a live webcast performance
 along with an interview of James Johnson on sound:escape, with DJ's
 Kresh & Robbie (Toronto 89.5 FM) from Midnight till 2am. to access the
 show via the web, tune your browser to:
 http://www.1groove.com.
 

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2000.08.10 Here's a link to a nifty feature article/interview on Hypnos artist Saul Stokes, including reviews of his 3 Hypnos CDs and his one self-released CDR special edition, on the space.com web site. The feature is by Matt Howarth, who previously did a similar feature on Robert Rich after the release of Humidity.

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2000.08.10 A quick summary of the upcoming Vidna Obmana tour:

 VIDNA OBMANA
 http://www.vidnaobmana.org
 12 Aug - The Cave/Leofels, Schwaebisch Hall
 21 Oct - Cultureel Centrum Jan Van Der Noot/Brecht
 04 Nov - The Cathedral/Philadelphia
 05 Nov - Live Radio Performance on Star's END, WXPN - Philadelphia
 06 Nov - Wilde Auditorium/West-Hartford, Connecticut (guest appearance by Jim
 Cole)
 09 Nov - The Old Church/Portland, Oregon
 12 Nov - Borders In-store performance: Simsbury, Connecticut
 

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2000.08.08 It's nice to see the Hypnos Forum starting to heat up, getting more frequent messages and a growing number of visitors and registered, contributing "members."

Hypnos artists such as Jeff Pearce, Saul Stokes, Vidna Obmana and James Johnson have contributed. A Produce and Dave Fulton have told me they'll post messages soon, too.

Also there are several new reviews on the Hypnos Reviews page, particularly a trio of very positive Saul Stokes Outfolding reviews.

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2000.08.07 Did a bit more work this weekend on the Hypnos Forum, and was pleased to see over a dozen people sign in (and dozens more stopped to read messages, and moved along without signing in). It was great to see people chiming in with their own questions, answers, suggestions and so on!

Another thing I think people will enjoy is that several Hypnos artists have told me they'll pop in from time to time and offer their own comments, updates and so on. Already you can see messages from Vidna Obmana, Saul Stokes, and James Johnson, and I'll work on getting others to visit and contribute.

This news page (the one you're reading now, not the Forum page I was talking about) will continue to be the primary source of info relating to new releases and so on, but you will often find more detailed information, along with the aforementioned contributions from the Hypnos artists themselves, on the Hypnos Forum.

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2000.08.06 The latest Saul Stokes album Outfolding has been featured on the most recent Hearts of Space radio show. This is Saul's first appearance on that nationally syndicated show, so congratulations go out to Saul! The track featured was "Thick Streets." The same show also featured a track by Hypnos artist Richard Bone, from his (non-Hypnos) release Ascension.

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2000.08.04 Here's something kind of cool and new for all you folks who are anxious to read about and discuss cool Hypnos (and related) music and artists 24 hours per day -- it's the Hypnos Forum and it's a web-based discussion board hosted on hypnos.com

I've just set it up and tested it, and it works, so you guys can check it out and start posting. In the near future, I'll "pretty it up" and enhance it, so it'll be more Hypnos-like and less generic looking. In the mean time I wanted to let everybody know about it so we can start some fun discussions in the coming weeks.

It's not necessary to "register" or create a username/password, if you just want to read what other people have posted. You only need to register (which just takes about 5 seconds, and is completely secure and confidential) if you want to create new topics, or write a reply to somebody else's topic or message.

Have fun, and be among the first to start a topic!

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2000.08.03 More news is less news?!

Sort of ironic, isn't it, that when things are really cooking here, I'm often too busy to update this "news" page. So as a result, people check this page (which must be a daily destination for many of you, considering how many hits this page gets -- it's by far the most visited page on hypnos.com), see no update, and assume "Hmmm, nothing new going on at Hypnos this week."

The fact is, I need to make a better effort to offer at least some kind of almost-daily tidbit, or else I get behind like this and don't even know where to start.

First, as mentioned in the last update, work is going full speed on Robert Rich's Sunyata. The master is done (Robert remastered it himself last year), and the package design is almost done, so we think a September release is pretty definite. We'll have some RealAudio clips available soon, and some more specific information about planned release date.

I've been working on the still-untitled-but-coming-soon collaboration between myself (Mike Griffin, for those of you just joining us) and Dave Fulton (co-founder and now-leader of Dweller at the Threshold). The 3 1/2 hours worth of recordings are in good shape and is mostly mastered, but needs editing down to CD length, and further audio tweaking (not to mention titles). It is our hope that this will be released in the next couple of months, perhaps in time for the Dweller at the Threshold show at the Gathering in Philly this fall. Again, more news soon.

Work has begun at last on the third Viridian Sun project (also as yet untitled), with the first recording session taking place last night. While the instrumentation was a bit different from before (guitar and bass guitar only, if you can believe that), and the sound a bit different, the approach and the general abstract ambient/space "feel" of the material will be familiar to VS fans. This one probably won't be ready for release until the first quarter of 2001, but it's nice to get started on it.

Sorta-kinda related to Viridian Sun, Hypnos is working on a sort of "side label" project, to be called (something like) "Hypnos Signature Series," which will release signed and limited-to-500 CD editions. They'll generally feature interesting and highly collectible material from familiar Hypnos artists (the first two will probably be Viridian Sun and Jeff Pearce). These CDs will be available primarily through Hypnos (due to the higher price and limited run), though we just might make them available through selected online distributors. No barcodes, though, so no retail at any price!

Lastly, I just received a box of Oophoi stuff from Italy and will be making it available on the Hypnos Online Store soon. These include not only his Hic Sunt Leones release Three Lights at the End of the World (which has been out of stock here for months!), and his Wouivre release on Amplexus, but also several high-quality, limited, CDR-only editions created by Gianluigi/Oophoi himself.

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2000.07.28 Speaking of Robert Rich (see yesterday's update regarding Humidity), we're moving forward now with his third Hypnos/Soundscape release, Sunyata. The master is done and the package design is almost finished, so it will probably be ready ahead of schedule -- September, perhaps. You may view the cover art here.

Some of you may be familiar with Sunyata, as it was Robert's first release, on cassette only. The version we're releasing on CD is edited and remastered by Robert himself. Many of you are anxiously awaiting Robert's Somnium DVD coming out on the Release label, an example of the most recent development in Robert Rich's well-known Sleep Concert format. In fact Sunyata could be seen as the opposite end of the spectrum from Somnium: the first explorations by Robert Rich in the slow-moving, low-key textural drone format that eventually became the Sleep Concerts. Whether as a companion or preview to Somnium, as a historical document, or as a recording that stands alone, Sunyata is something all Robert Rich fans are certain to want for their collection.

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2000.07.27 Robert Rich's Humidity is out of print! OK, it's back in print again.

Actually, for about 12 hours, we had zero copies of Humidity available, but the second pressing copies arrived literally the day after we ran completely out of copies from the first pressing. Hooray, CDs enough for everyone! The second pressing still includes the fold-up poster/booklet just as the first one did, and is identical in every respect, including price.

Also, I apologize for the slightly-less-frequent updates to this page in the past couple of weeks. First, I was away in Montreal and couldn't update from there (I really, really need to get a laptop, but am waiting until Apple's G4 Powerbooks come out in the new year), and this past week my FTP client is acting all screwy, so sometimes I can upload files and sometimes I can't.

The most recent set of updates to the site include plenty of new reviews, on the 'Reviews' page, naturally. These include 3 reviews of Vidna Obmana's The Surreal Sanctuary and 1 review of James Johnson's Entering Twilight. There are still several other reviews that I just need to type up and add in there, not to mention the scads of NEW reviews that will appear in print, undoubtedly, by the time I get done typing in the ones I already have.... so more updates are coming soon.

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2000.07.27 Those of you who live in a place where Echoes radio does not reach, or who missed the Jeff Pearce Living Room Concert feature on Echoes this month, take a look at the online, archived version of that feature. In it, you will hear some fabulous Pearce music performed live, and you will also have a chance to hear Jeff talk about his techniques and approach.

After which, of course, you will want to return here and purchase his latest Hypnos release, To the Shores of Heaven!

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2000.07.22 Still more new stuff on the the Hypnos Online Store. Today's additions include: the new Alpha Wave Movement album from the Groove label, Drifted into Deeper Lands. Jeff Pearce contributed to a pair of tracks on this one, and it's a return to the spacier, mellower style of the first two AWM albums; also from Groove, re-stocked copies of Ron Boots Screaming Caress, and Rudy Adrian's wonderful album Kinetic Flow (Sequencer Sketches Volume 1). Also included in the shipment received from Groove today, were a whole lot of copies of Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana's Live Archive, which had already been listed here before, but our limited stock on that item has been substantially fortified!

Also added 3 items from the UK's fascinating and wonderful Touch label, and added a category for that label to the store. The new titles include two Philip Jeck albums, Loopholes and Surf, and the Scala album Compass Heart. There are currently other Touch label titles in the Miscellaneous sections of the store, and those items will be moved over to the Touch category soon. Touch is certainly one of the coolest & most interesting labels in the UK, along with DiN (also available at the Hypnos store).

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2000.07.21 This morning, updated the "Hypnos Recommends" section on the front page of the Hypnos Online Store. New featured titles include Ambient Otaku by Tetsu Inoue, recently reissued on the FAX label; Lakeland, the fifth album by Ruben Garcia; and the various artists compilation from the Dark Duck label entitled Ambient Landscapes 2, which includes contributions from James Johnson (whose Entering Twilight was recently issued on Hypnos), Twine, Stephen Philips, and several others; lastly, we finally received the most recent Alio Die solo album, La Stanze della Transcendenza (spelling could be off on that one, as I don't have a copy of it in front of me), and I'm sure this will be a hot item, given how many of you have been exploring Alio Die's previous solo releases and 5000 Spirits projects.

Also, when Saul Stokes Outfolding was about to be released, we temporarily lowered the price on his previous two albums -- Washed in Mercury and Zo Pilots -- to $9.99 to celebrate his new release. Now that Outfolding has been out for over a month, we've about to end that special price and these two CDs will go back to the normal $11.99 price. If you want to take advantage of this special, hurry up and do so before the end of July!

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2000.07.18 This evening added about 30 titles to the Hypnos Online Store, including over a dozen new listings in the Fax label section, our first 10 titles from the Dark Duck Records section, the latest from Ruben Garcia entitled Lakeland, and three Projekt releases including Steve Roach's Midnight Moon, Roach's collaboration with Elmar Schulte Solitaire: Ritual Ground, and Jeff Greinke's archival reissue, Over Ruins/Moving Climates.

There are now over 400 titles available in the online store!

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2000.07.17 Hello again. Been back a few days now, and it's taken a bit longer to get things (mostly) caught up since my return. I expected that people would heed the "There's nobody home until 7/14" messages and not place orders until I returned, but a bit stack of orders accumulated during my absence. Almost all of those went out Saturday and today (Monday), and the last few will go tomorrow.

Several new items have just been received and will be added to the Hypnos Online Store tomorrow..... so check back soon!

In the mean time, I've added several new reviews (one for Humidity, one for The Surreal Sanctuary, one for Outfolding and three or four for our latest release, James Johnson's Entering Twilight.

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2000.07.07 The absence mentioned in the most recent news update begins now! Orders placed at the Hypnos Online Store after last night will not be processed & shipped until Friday July 14, but feel free to go ahead and order anyway, if you like.

Also, today I added some new reviews (including the first review of James Johnson's Entering Twilight) to the full-to-bursting Hypnos Reviews section.

See you in a week!

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2000.07.04 Hypnos World HQ will be vacant between Saturday July 08 and Thursday July 13 -- I'll be in Montreal for most of a week. The Hypnos Online Store will still be "open" and functional, and any orders placed during my absence will be safe and secure until my return -- but if you place an order during this time, it won't be processed until at least Friday July 14. Likewise, email will not be answered during this period as I will probably be unable to access the hypnos.com mail server, at least with any regularity.

If you wish for your order to be shipped prior to my departure, it would be a good idea to get your orders in by Wednesday, July 05, though it's possible that some orders placed early Thursday will go out Friday before I leave.

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2000.07.03 Several new reviews of Hypnos CDs have been added to the Reviews page this past week. In particular, you'll see new reviews for Saul Stokes Outfolding, Vidna Obmana The Surreal Sanctuary, and Jeff Pearce To the Shores of Heaven.

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2000.06.30 Somehow, we never made available any sample RealAudio clips from the May 2000 Hypnos release, Saul Stokes Outfolding. They're done now, so those of you who have been waiting to hear sample clips before purchasing should proceed to the Hypnos Audio page. Sorry for the delay!

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2000.06.29 Echoes (a nationally syndicated radio show) has scheduled their Jeff Pearce "Living Room Concert" feature for Friday, July 14 (on most stations - July 16th or 23rd on others). Here is their announcement:

A LIVING ROOM CONCERT WITH JEFF PEARCE
Jeff Pearce has been entrancing listeners with his textural, ambient guitar orchestrations since his debut album, TENDERNESS & FATALITY (Windchime). Although he often sounds like multiple guitar players and a synthesizer, Jeff makes all of his music on one electric guitar in played in real time with no overdubs. Through a sophisticated system of looping and sound processing, he transforms himself into an ambient orchestra. Jeff Pearce comes to the Echoes studio to play music live, including pieces from his latest album, TO THE SHORES OF HEAVEN (Hypnos).

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2000.06.28 Just a quick bit of clarification regarding the last update (06.26) to this page -- a few of you weren't sure what I meant by "Martina Verhoeven's music" and emailed to ask about Circles and Artifacts. I should clarify that there is no music by Martina Verhoeven on the disc -- she's a photographer, and her photography comprises the majority of the multimedia content on this disc. Of course, this is a music web site, and the Hypnos Online Store is a music store, so those of you seeing the CD-rom listed under a certain person's name could understandably make the mistake of thinking that she contributed to the music. If you prefer, think of this as the latest music CD by Vidna Obmana and Steve Roach, which also happens to contain some optional multimedia content.

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2000.06.26 As mentioned last Friday, James Johnson's Entering Twilight has been added to the Hypnos Online Store -- of course, many of you have already been over there to purchase it.

In case you needed further incentive, we've just received a shipment from Belgium which includes Martina Verhoeven's Circles and Artifacts. Maybe you're thinking, "Hmmmm, I'm not really familiar with Martina Verhoeven's music, so what's the big deal?" The big deal is that this is a multimedia cd-rom project, featuring photography by Martina Verhoeven (whose photography adorns many Vidna Obmana CDs, including his Hypnos releases Landscape in Obscurity and The Surreal Sanctuary as well as several other recent titles). Circles and Artifacts also includes poetry by Linda Kohanov.

Probably the main item of interest for Hypnos customers, though, is the 60+ minutes of music by Vidna Obmana and Steve Roach. Whether you want to enjoy the full multimedia experience on your PC, or just plug the disc into an ordinary CD player and listen to the music, this is a unique and beautiful project. Also, it's the first release on Vidna Obmana's own label, The Contemporary Harmonic. The price of Circles and Artifacts is $16.99.

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2000.06.23 OK -- James Johnson's Entering Twilight is now ready to go. The CDs turned out great, and while the press release hasn't even been written yet, I'm about to go over to the Hypnos Online Store and add it to the database so all you ambient-hungry listeners can order this weekend.

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2000.06.22 The latest Hypnos release, James Johnson's Entering Twilight will be available for purchase tomorrow. Actually, it would be ready now, but the stealthy Hypnosmobile is in the shop today, so I won't be able to pick up the CDs and ready them for a breathlessly eager public until tomorrow.

Audio clips are now available on the Hypnos Audio page, and some time tomorrow you'll be able to find the CD on the Hypnos Online Store for $11.99.

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2000.06.21 The nationally syndicated radio show Echoes, hosted by John Diliberto, recently recorded a "Living Room Concert" with Hypnos artist Jeff Pearce. Jeff will be demonstrating his unique working method, talking a bit about the creation of his Hypnos album To the Shores of Heaven, and of course playing some great music.

In advance of the airing of that "Living Room Concert," Echoes is doing a shorter "artist feature" on Pearce, which will consist of a brief interview and some music. Here's the Echoes announcement regarding the show:

Coming up on Echoes Thursday 6/22/00 (Saturday 6/24 and Sunday July 9 on some stations)

The Living Room Concert will air later...

JEFF PEARCE LOOKS TO THE SKIES
Jeff Pearce has been entrancing listeners with his minimalist textural ambient guitar orchestrations since his debut album, TENDERNESS & FATALITY (Windchime). His collaborations include work with Jon Jenkins, Kevin Keller and Vidna Obmana. Although he often sounds like multiple guitar players and synthesizer, Jeff makes all of his music on one electric guitar. Through a sophisticated system of looping and sound processing, however, he transforms himself into an ambient orchestra. Jeff Pearce comes to the Echoes studio to discuss the sonic architecture behind his music and latest album, TO THE SHORES OF HEAVEN (Hypnos).

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2000.06.19 Added the most recent release from 12k records, the Tetsu Inoue & Taylor Deupree collaboration Active/Freeze to the Hypnos Online Store. This is experimental digitalism of a very rigorous and uncompromising nature. Challenging and wonderful, but not for listeners seeking soft & mellow soundscapes.

Also added the latest from Larry Kucharz, the almost techno-like (hence the title) Techno Unit 30 under his alias Audiochrome. I say almost techno-like because this is really more restrained and experimental than what would usually be described as "techno," but it's an almost entirely rhythmic exercise, and a huge departure from Kucharz's previous work.... possibly my favorite thing he's ever done.

Lastly, a couple of Hic Sunt Leones favorites, both involving HSL founder & main artist Alio Die, were restored to the catalog: Alio Die's solo Password for Ethneogenic Experience, and by his collaborative project 5000 Spirits, A Tapestry for Sorcerers. Usually these wonderful Hic Sunt Leones titles sell out almost as quickly as we get them, so move fast if you want these! Also, a new HSL title (well, it's an older one really but it's new to Hypnos) by onetime Alio Die collaborator, Ora. The album is entitled Rosea.

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2000.06.16 Oops! Many of the additions to the Hypnos Online Store mentioned in yesterday's update, didn't actually get added to the store's database until this afternoon. Apologies to anyone who wasted time looking for CDs that weren't really there.... but they're in there now.

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2000.06.15 (second update) Even more additions to the Hypnos Online Store.... The biggest addition would be the creation of a Fax Label category, with 25 assorted titles. We'll probably bring in more titles after we gauge interest in this stuff.

Also, the following assorted titles were added:

Aube - 108
Aube - Dazzle Reflexion
Aube - Flare
Aube - Triad Thread
Biosphere - Cirque
Maeror Tri - Language of Flames and Sound
Maeror Tri - Meditamentum II
Maeror Tri - Venenum
Daniel Menche - Vent
Rapoon - :D-LEM:
Rapoon - Rapoon vs. Kinder Atom

Most of these titles are in the "Miscellaneous Artists A-L" and "Miscellaneous Artists M-Z" categories, but remember you can always do a search by artist name, title, or keyword. The Hypnos Online Store now has almost 400 titles, about three times what the store started with, so that search feature can be a handy way to navigate when you're not sure what label released a certain CD.

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2000.06.15 A bit of information about an upcoming Vidna Obmana concert here in Portland, Oregon:

Portland, USA
Vidna Obmana
a Saturn Spell presentation of this one-time exclusive West Coast concert. Sponsored by Soleilmoon Recording and Ozone Records Thursday November the 9th 2000
The Old Church, Portland, Oregon (on the corner of SW 11th and Clay St.), doors open at 7.30pm
Tickets are $15 before / $20 the day of the show. General Admission.
Tickets will be available in-store at Ozone Records and the New Renaissance Bookstore , the www.dreamsinexile.com website or by sending a check/money order to Saturn Spell Music PO Box 1244 Portland, Oregon 97207

Any of you West Coast-type fans of ambient stuff, I hope you'll make an effort to get to Portland for this rare and wonderful event! Please note: Hypnos does not have tickets available for sale -- this listing is for informational purposes only. Please contact the Dreams In Exile web site for ticket info, or to go the fabulous Ozone Records store on West Burnside (across from Powell's Books).

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2000.06.14 More additions and changes to the Hypnos Online Store, as mentioned a few days ago.

There are still more titles to add, but here's a list of the most recent additions. These are available in the Soleilmoon and Staalplaat label sections, which had formerly been combined, but have now been split into their own categories:

Randy Greif - Alice in Wonderland (5CD)
Lustmord - Paradise Disowned
Lustmord - The Monstrous Soul
Daniel Menche - Static Burn
Muslimgauze - Abu Nidal / Coup d'Etat
Muslimgauze - Arab Quarter (2CD)
Muslimgauze - Baghdad
Muslimgauze - Mazar-I-Sharif
Muslimgauze - Remixs
Muslimgauze - Sufiq (CDEP)
Nocturnal Emissions - Duty Experiment
Nocturnal Emissions - Glossalalia
Nocturnal Emissions - Mouths of Babes
Nocturnal Emissions - The World is My Womb
Robin Storey & Nigel Ayers - Perfidious Albion
Various Artists - Absolute
Various Artists - Between Sun and Moon
Jonathan Coleclough - Windlass
Rapoon - What Do You Suppose?
Muslimgauze - Speaking with Hamas
Muslimgauze - Betrayal
Muslimgauze - Hamas Arc
Deutsch Nepal - Erosion
Deutsch Nepal - Tolerance

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2000.06.13 Added a couple of noteworthy titles to the Hypnos Online Store -- these two CDs are by a New Zealand artist named Kip Mazuy, released on his own Bliss Music label. You'll find them in the "Miscellaneous M-Z" category in the Online Store, and the titles are Beautiful Sound and Elements of Ecstasy. Those of you looking for peaceful ambience that incorporates restrained piano, will find these very rewarding. Somewhat influence by the early work of Harold Budd, Kip Mazuy does a fine job of creating very listenable atmospheres suitable for sleep, meditation or reading.

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2000.06.11 Have added several titles to the Hypnos Online Store.... too many to list here. Will also be adding some new Soleilmoon and Staalplaat label titles tomorrow.

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2000.06.02 His was the first CD released on Hypnos (Washed in Mercury back in 1997), and now, Saul Stokes is the first artist to release his third CD on Hypnos. Released today is Outfolding, a daring and mature step beyond his most recent album, Zo Pilots.

The primary sound sources on all Saul Stokes recordings are several vintage-style analog modular synthesizers built by Stokes himself. But don't mistake this to mean Stokes is working in a retro or "classic E-music" style, because this is definitely not the case. Perhaps no artist in the ambient/experimental music scene possesses a sound as distinctive and fresh. Those who have seen Saul's much-acclaimed live performances in Philadelphia during the past year can attest to his challenging and dynamic sound. It's world music for the mid-21st century, way ahead of its time.

Outfolding is $11.99 and it's available now at the Hypnos Online Store.

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2000.06.01 A Produce is familiar to many of you for his recent Hypnos collaboration Altara, with M Griffin (the person who is typing this), as well as his excellent previous releases such as Land of a Thousand Trances, White Sands, Inscape and Landscape, and Reflect Like a Mirror, Respond Like an Echo, on his own Trance Port label.

The next A Produce album, Smile on the Void, has been in progress for some time now and is planned for release later in 2000. We are pleased to announce that A Produce and Hypnos have agreed that Smile on the Void will be released on Hypnos. This will be the first non-Trance Port solo release by A Produce, and his first new solo material since Inscape and Landscape in 1996.

The first half of Smile on the Void is complete, and I had a chance to preview it this week. Let me tell you, this is fantastic stuff! The title track may already be my favorite A Produce track ever. Expect a combination of subdued-yet-exotic musicality, with the most restrained and hypnotic ambient textures and pulsing loops. Definitely worth the long wait...

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2000.05.30 There's no mistaking the fact that most fans of the kind of music we sell get terribly excited every time there's a new CD from Steve Roach, and the same goes for Vidna Obmana. It's even better when one of their collaborative CDs is released. So I'm sure this will start a stampede, but.... we now have copies of Live Archive by Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana, released on the Groove Unlimited label and imported by Hypnos from The Netherlands. We only have 8 copies right now, and our shipments from NL only happen every couple of months, so rush on over to the Hypnos Online Store now. The price is $14.99.

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2000.05.23 Here's one I know many of you are interested in: the latest from Steve Roach, released on his Timeroom Editions label. It's Steve Roach & Jorge Reyes and the title is Vine, Bark and Spore. This is truly one of the most magical things to come out of the Timeroom yet, and on first impression I'd say this is my favorite since Magnificent Void. Vine, Bark and Spore has a strong ethnic/ritual angle, with chanting and didgeridoo and percussion. It's also one of the finest efforts yet heard in that subgenre, ranking with the best of O Yuki Conjugate. Available now and ready for immediate shipment, at a price of $14.99, from the Hypnos Online Store.

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2000.05.19 Here's a little extra taster of the upcoming (06-2000 release) CD from James Johnson, Entering Twilight.... here's a RealAudio clip that gives a good sense of the feel of the piece. It's available in 28k and 56k versions. Give either or both a try, depending on the speed of your connection, but they're different bit-rate versions of the same selection.

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2000.05.18 The next Hypnos Recordings release, Saul Stokes's Outfolding, is due in the next week or so. We'll post announcements all over the internet when that one's ready. Interest in Saul's work is at an all-time high, which is sorta funny since he hasn't had an official release in almost two years.... but many listeners have heard Saul's live performances at Philadelphia's Gathering series of concerts, or they picked up his limited edition "wood box" CDR of selected live performance recordings. Saul's work is more rhythmic and dynamic than much of what Hypnos releases, but we have no doubt that Outfolding will appeal to a great number of you.

Folowing that will be the first Hypnos release by James Johnson, Entering Twilight, as announced earlier this month. Entering Twilight is a single long track, about 66 minutes long, in a sparse, almost subliminal style. Fans of Johnson's previous works Surrender and Unity know the beautiful, glimmering restraint with which he expresses himself, but this one is even more minimal.... like floating in a thick fog with vague chiming chords drifting toward you through the haze. You can take a peek at the cover artwork here.

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2000.05.17 Added the 3rd Green House Records CD to the Hypnos Online Store. The first solo release by Exuviae, Echoes in the Emptiness, is Green House's first CD of the new year, following a couple of very strong 1999 releases (the various artists compilation Convergent Evolution and the Vir Unis solo debut The Drift Inside. The Vir Unis CD was one of my personal favorites of the last year, and unexpectedly one of our best selling non-Hypnos-label titles of the past several months. And this Exuviae debut is every bit as good! It's not quite as deep & dark as The Drift Inside, and the only real common element is the label that released it, but should appeal to many of the same fans -- people who like open, abstract ambient.

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2000.05.17 Updated the "May Recommended Titles" on the front page of the Hypnos Online Store. Of course, all these items were available as of a couple days ago, but the front page draws special attention to these items, and all of them deserve it.

Our highly-compensated marketing analysts tell us that the great majority of you order stuff off the front page almost exclusively..... OK, the truth is we don't have highly-compensated marketing analysts. At any rate, there are some new featured titles up there. Go take a look!

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2000.05.15 Following a busy week in which I neglected to post news updates were posted here, I have uploaded a bunch of new stuff to the Hypnos Online Store.

First, the much-requested Eurock label albums by Dweller at the Threshold and Dave Fulton. These include the DAT albums No Boundary Condition and Generation/Transmission/Illumination, and the first solo album by DAT founder Dave Fulton, Hard Particles. As if the music alone weren't enough reason to pick these up, these latter two CDs feature super-swell artwork and design by yours truly.... my only non-Hypnos design work aside from Jeff Pearce's Vestiges.

Also added 3 slightly edgier, experimental/industrial/noise releases (of course they have an atmospheric/ambient feel or they wouldn't be offered here) from the excellent Crowd Control label. Crowd Control is still grouped with Hic Sunt Leones as a category in the Online Store, because at first the only Crowd Control titles offered here were (Hic Sunt Leones owner) Alio Die and his various projects (with Antonio Testa, and as a member of 5000 Spirits). But Crowd Control continues to release interesting & strange stuff so we're giving a few of those a try. Take a look at these new titles from Inanna, Necrophorus, and Tertium Non Data if you're in the mood for something with a bit more grit to it.

Added 2 Mychael Danna/Tim Clement titles to the Mirage section. Even though these aren't technically Mirage label releases, all remaining stock of these CDs is now held by Mirage, so it's the next best thing, no matter what label originally issued them. These titles, Summerland and Another Sun, should appeal to the hordes of you who have been purchasing their Best of Danna & Clement overview album this year.

Lastly, added 8 titles from the Release label, varying from experimental noise to strange song-oriented atmospherics. Perhaps of greatest interest is the 3CD compilation Release Your Mind v.2 which features contributions from Vidna Obmana, Lull, Trial of the Bow, TUU, Yen Pox, Mandible Chatter, Subarachnoid Space, James Plotkin, O Yuki Conjugage, Solarus, Hybrids, Illusion of Safety, Brume, Kapotte Muziek, Haters, Masonna, and lots more. All kinds of stuff here, and at an excellent price for a triple CD, this should appeal to those of you who like to use compilations as a safe way to investigate unfamiliar artists.

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2000.05.10 You can find an interesting feature on Robert Rich, including a brief interview, and a review of his 2nd Hypnos release Humidity on the space.com web site.

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2000.05.03 Just realized that RealAudio sample clips for Vidna Obmana's The Surreal Sanctuary had never been added to the Hypnos Audio page, so I added those today. There's one clip for each of the seven tracks.

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2000.05.02 The schedule of upcoming releases on the Hypnos label has been slightly modified. First of all, my own much-delayed Fabrications will be pushed back a bit more. One of the problems with running your own label is that the "business" of designing and manufacturing and selling CDs of other people's music often leaves little time for creating one's OWN music. So Fabrications is still on the way, but it won't be the next Hypnos release after Saul Stokes's Outfolding.

Hypnos is pleased to announce that we will be releasing Entering Twilight, the first Hypnos release by James Johnson. Entering Twilight is a very minimal, restrained ambience, the kind of thing so many of our listeners keep asking for again and again! Like previous Hypnos releases Altara (A Produce & M Griffin) or Landscape in Obscurity (Vidna Obmana) or Sonic Continuum (Modell/Mantra), this one is intended for low-volume listening, and works great on repeat mode, as a background for sleep or meditation or reading. It has a sound & feel reminiscent of my personal favorite of Brian Eno's releases, Neroli, without being at all derivative.

We think James Johnson is one of the important new talents our genre, and are pleased to have the opportunity to help spead his work to a wider audience. James originally contributed a track to the Hypnos compilation Weightless, Effortless, and has recently been releasing his solo material on his own Zero Music label.

Expect to see Entering Twilight in June 2000.

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2000.05.01 Several of you have expressed an interest in obtaining a poster of the cover artwork for Jeff Pearce's To the Shores of Heaven. While we've frequently received requests to do posters of various different CD cover artwork, the response to Shores has been so positive that we'll probably make it our first effort in this direction.

(Well, this isn't exactly true, since we do have a 14" mini- poster for Robert Rich's HUMIDITY, which is actually folded-up into the CD booklet included in the package).

Anyway, stay tuned for details on the availability of the poster for To the Shores of Heaven.

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2000.04.28 Slight modifiation to the Hypnos Online Store.... I updated the "March Recommended Titles" section on the front page to include some new stuff, and renamed it "April Recommended Titles," just in time for May.

Interestingly, at least 75% of the orders through the Hypnos Online Store comes from items on that front page only. I don't know whether that's because that's where all the "hot" new titles are on display, or because half the visitors to the store don't realize that you can actually buy hundreds of other titles by clicking on the category list, at left, or doing a "search" by artist, title, or keyword.

At any rate, new featured titles include Loren Nerell's Venerable Dark Cloud on Amplexus, Labradford's E Luxo So on Kranky, Jon Jenkins's Flow (which features Hypnos artist Jeff Pearce) on Spotted Peccary, Centrozoon's Blast on the DiN label.

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2000.04.26 Finally, another batch of additions to the Hypnos Online Store:

SECTION    ARTIST                          TITLE
--------   ----------------------------    --------------------------
Amplexus   Loren Nerell                    THE VENERABLE DARK CLOUD
Amplexus   Aube                            RICOCHETENTRANCE
Amplexus   Oophoi & Klaus Wiese            WOUIVRE
Soleilmoon Daniel Menche                   SCREAMING CARESS
Soleilmoon Various Artists Compilation     DEEP NET (2cd)
Soleilmoon Rapoon                          WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE?
Misc A-L   Jonathan Coleclough             WINDLASS
Misc A-L   Jonathan Coleclough/Andrew Chalk SUMAC
Misc M-Z   Mika Vainio                     KAJO

Also, I upgraded the version of the shopping cart software that runs the Hypnos Online Store, and it seems to be a bit faster. If you notice any problems with it, please email mgriffin@hypnos.com.

In the next day or two I'll be adding a selection of titles from the Ad Astra label, by such artists as Twine, Horchata, and Eleven Shadows.

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2000.04.25 Those of you in the New York City area (or those inclined to fly long distances when instructed to do so by the Hypnos News page) might want to check out a nifty modern dance event which will feature material by Hypnos artist Saul Stokes. Here are some of the details:

"Thick Streets," a track from Saul Stokes upcoming album OUTFOLDING, will
be one of several choreographed dance pieces that dancer Aleta Hayes will be
performing at Hudson Church (Washington Square South) on May 8th, 8pm in New
York City.  For more information you can email Saul directly at
stokes@hypnos.com

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2000.04.24 A few additions to the Hypnos Online Store... not everything is done yet, but the 6 titles on Ian Boddy's DiN label have been entered:

DiN 01  Ian Boddy                     BOX OF SECRETS
DiN 02  Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter     DISTANT RITUALS
DiN 03  Protagonos                    STRANGE GEOGRAPHIE
DiN 04  Dub Automica                  AUTONOMIC
DiN 05  Ian Boddy & Chris Carter      CAGED
DiN 06  Centrozoon                    BLAST

These titles, imported from the UK, are priced at $13.99. Boddy is better known for his somewhat uptempo, European-flavored, sequencer-driven electronic music, but the material on DiN is slow, exploratory and abstract... not too far from Hypnos territory! All six titles on this label are highly recommended, and all fans of this style of music should be pleased to see another label actively supporting and promoting the genre.

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2000.04.20 Still haven't made the long-intended additions to the Hypnos Online Store, though I still expect it will happen later this week.

To continue the news related to the 04.11.2000 update (Hypnos titles reviewed in high-profile places), it appears that Jeff Pearce's To the Shores of Heaven will receive a review in Alternative Press magazine. Pearce's album also appears at #1 on the Echoes Radio monthly chart. For those of you not familiar with Echoes, it is the nationally- syndicated show that appears on most NPR affiliates, so this is great exposure not only for Pearce specifically, but Hypnos in general.

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2000.04.19 Hypnos has made a tenative agreement with Alio Die (Italian musician, sound alchemist, and collaborator with such familiar names as Robert Rich and Vidna Obmana) to release his Sola Translatio II project, which is a collaboration between Alio Die and another Italian artist, Opium.

The II may prompt some of you to ask, "What about the first one?" and the fact is, the first Sola Translatio project will be released on the Italian label Eidos soon. Sola Translatio is actually the name of the project, not the album, so it will probably be given an actual album title prior to release. More news on this soon!

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2000.04.18 Many of you are especially eager to find out about upcoming Hypnos releases -- what they'll be, when they're coming, what they'll look like, and all kinds of other details.

The latest is this: the next Hypnos release will be the third Saul Stokes album, Outfolding, which should be ready in 3-4 weeks. Following that will Fabrications by yours truly (Hypnos founder Mike Griffin for those of you who don't know).

In fact, a first glimpse of the cover art for Fabrications can be seen here.

I believe the cover of Outfolding has been previewed on this page before, but those of you who missed it can look here.

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2000.04.17 Going through yet another stretch of infrequent updates to this news page.... sorry about that. Tax returns are a lot of fun to put together, and I was trying to savor the experience, and make it last!

There will be some new items added to the Hypnos Online Store in the next couple of days, including the latest from Loren Nerell on the Amplexus label, 6 CDs Ian Boddy's DiN label, out of the UK, and some more Soleilmoon/Staalplaat stuff.

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2000.04.11 It's been a good week for Hypnos reviews in high-profile magazines. First, Richard Bone's Ether Dome received a brief but very positive review in Keyboard magazine. Then, we heard from John Diliberto (Echoes syndicated radio show host) that he would be reviewing Jeff Pearce's To the Shores of Heaven in Billboard. A quick look at the Billboard web site, hoping to see the Pearce review, revealed a slightly earlier (and previously unknown to us) Diliberto review of a different Hypnos release, Robert Rich's Humidity.

Add to this the extraordinary praise being lavished up on To the Shores of Heaven on the Space Music internet mailing list, and it's been a good week for Hypnos with the critics. The Hypnos reviews/press page will be updated later today to reflect all these kind words.

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2000.04.07 About a week or so back, I mentioned that Robert Rich's out-of-print classic Trances/Drones was down to just four copies left on the Hypnos Online Store. All are gone, there ain't no more! I think it might still be available directly from Robert at www.amoeba.com.

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2000.04.06 Of course many of you who listen to Hypnos label releases, and who purchase the materials of other labels on our Online Store, are primarily interested in ambient and space music. But many of us are also interested in other types of sounds, different flavors and atmospheres. If you're one of those who's interested in utterly uncompromising digital experimentalism, you need to check out the output of the 12k label, and their compilations are a great way to get a sense of what they're all about. The problem is, 12k releases each CD in strictly limited editions of 500 copies, so if you didn't catch their fascinating compilation .aiff last year, it's gone forever!

Their second compilation, 12k1008 (which is both the catalog number and the title) was released at the beginning of this year, and features works of experimental microsound by such artists as Taylor Deupree (who also happens to own 12k), Kim Cascone (also known as the former owner of Silent, and the main guy behind Heavenly Music Corporation and PGR), Shuttle358 (who previously released the excellent optimal.lp on 12k), Tetsu Inoue, and others.

We just obtained 10 copies of this for sale through the Hypnos Online Store, but guess what? It's already out of print! 12k doesn't have any more, so after these 10 are gone, that's it -- we can't re-order.

Again, I should emphasize that 12k1008, like most of the other releases on 12k, will not appeal to someone looking for smooth deep-space ambient -- the sound is resolutely digital, at times brittle and disjointed, at times almost inaudibly quiet, or high or low in frequency. But those with adventurous ears may find this fascinating.

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2000.04.06 Arrangements have been finalized for Jeff Pearce's appearance at "The Gathering" in Philadelphia, arranged by Chuck VanZyl of Star's End Radio. The details are as follows:

Saturday, June 10th, 2000 at 8:00pm
The Cathedral, 38th & Ludlow in Philadelphia
Admission: $20.00; $10 w/student ID
Web site: www.thegatherings.org
plus STAR'S END live radio concert on 06.11.00 broadcast

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2000.04.05 First off, a quick reminder about the new fax & voice mail numbers for Hypnos. The old numbers (fax 503-439-8797 and phone/voice mail 503-381-5850) are still getting the occasional ring, and though I want to cancel those lines as soon as possible, I don't want to cancel them until people stop calling them. So please update your records if you have not already -- the new Hypnos fax/voice mail number is:

503-213-6006

The best way to contact Hypnos remains email (mgriffin@hypnos.com).

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2000.04.04 Just a reminder that the "introductory price" of $22.99 on Robert Rich's 3-CD release Humidity is about to be.... no longer introductory. Order right away on the Hypnos Online Store. if you want to receive that price, as it will be raised to $24.99 later this week.

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2000.04.03 All those "new" Hearts of Space releases (as noted in the most recent news update) have been added to the Hypnos Online Store. So they're all available for purchase, though full descriptions and cover graphics are not yet available for every one of the recently-added titles.

Ready to be added soon, Stephanie Sante's Into Light, a very nice debut in a slightly lighter, upbeat and more musical style. Check out her web site at santemusic.com.

Also, a couple of recently-unavailable Hic Sunt Leones label titles will be added today as well: 5000 Spirits A Tapestry for Sorcerers and and Alio Die's solo Password for Ethneogenic Experience, plus a title that's available from Hypnos for the first-time, Alio Die & Ora's The Door of Possibilities.

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2000.03.30 Getting ready to add a bunch of previously "missing" Hearts of Space releases (plus one, Light Fantastic, which had been unavailable for a while) to the Hypnos Online Store, including:

Roach, Steve	          Light Fantastic
Rich, Robert	          Gaudi
Rich, Robert	          Propagation
Rich, Robert	          Rainforest
Roach, Steve + others	  Forgotten Gods
Roach, Steve + others	  Kiva
Stearns, Michael	  Sacred Site
Stearns, Michael	  Encounter
Stearns, Michael	  Lost World
Stearns, Michael	  Singing Stones
TUU	                  Mesh

They'll all be $14.99, and should be available this evening, so take a run on over there and fill your shopping cart to the rim!

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2000.03.28 Sorry about the infrequent updates here this past 2 weeks. Usually I'll update here if there's anything going on, so no news usually means.... no news. But recently, things have been so busy that when there's really something going on, there might not be an update here for several days.

Currently, Hypnos is working on a number of different deals, re-arrangements, schemes, ventures and partnerships. These may include new ways of selling Hypnos CDs to our adoring public (new and/or additional retail distribution), and new involvement with other labels, possibly to include creation of a Hypnos sub-label, and/or partnering with another outside label in various capacities.

Unfortunately none of this stuff has developed yet to the point where it can be discussed in detail, but let's just say that there should be some interesting announcements here over the course of the next few months. And of course, in the mean time we'll continue to bring you the best ambient music in the world.

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2000.03.27 Those of you who read the various relevant mailing lists on the internet -- in particular the "Space Music" list and the "Ambient Music" list -- will have seen lots of discussion of Hypnos releases in recent weeks. Mostly this has been centered around our "hot" new titles by Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana, and Jeff Pearce, but the most recent discussion was about Saul Stokes and his 1998 album Zo Pilots.

1998 was sort of "the old days" in the Hypnos timeline, so many of your missed out on that one, as well as Saul's debut Washed in Mercury. But the recent Stokes performance at the Gathering concert in Philadelphia, plus the release of his "live/limited" CDR project last month, on top of the pending release of his Outfolding (due next month), as well as the new, discounted prices on his first two albums on the online store, have added up to a little bit of Stokes buzz, much-deserved. To read some of comments by Ambient-list contributors on the subject of Zo Pilots, check the Hypnos Reviews/Press page.

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2000.03.23 Just completed an interview with French ambient music magazine VIA, and posted the English version to the Hypnos Reviews/Press page. Scroll down a bit, below all the reviews of individual CDs, and you'll see the archive of interviews & features.

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2000.03.21 This evening, added a dozen or so new titles to the Hypnos Online Store.

First, four new Robert Carty titles. One of them not brand new, but new here, is Skyhearts, an early album (not CDR, like most Carty releases, but a manufactured CD) featuring nature sounds collaged with Native American-tinged flute and other sounds. The other three are: The Living, which incorporates gentle, slow-moving rhythms into Carty's lush atmospheres; Microspirals, which has a deep, haunting sound reminiscent of one of Carty's best-ever releases, Darklight; and lastly, Plateaus of Ether, Carty's journey into high-altitude Tibetan-influenced trance and meditation atmospheres. Very nice.

The final additions were on the Release label, which now has its own section on the online store. Titles added included two by Lull (the dark ambient classics Moments and Continue -- if you like minimal, deep ambient, you should definitely give these a listen); the Rapoon album Fires of the Border Lands (which had previously been listed in the Miscellaneous M-Z section, before we had enough other Release titles to justify their own section); two Subarachnoid Space albums, Endless Renovation and Almost Invisible; and albums by Trial of the Bow, Ornamentation, and Rites of Passage.

Next, added the Oophoi album Three Lights at the End of the World on the Hic Sunt Leones label (which is managed by recording artist and Robert Rich collaborator Alio Die, in Italy). Three Lights at the End of the World has actually been back in stock for weeks now, but I just forgot to add it into the inventory with the rest of the re-stocks. Jeepers!

Also, reduced the price on a few items. First, to promote the upcoming 3rd Saul Stokes album on Hypnos, Outfolding (to be released in April), we've reduced the first two Stokes CDs on Hypnos to just $9.99. The titles in question are Washed in Mercury (1997) and Zo Pilots (1998). This price is valid only until the release of Outfolding. Also reduced, the first (self-titled) Synthetic Block album -- it's now $9.99 for a limited time. Check out the new section on the Hypnos Online Store, "Bargains (Under $10)," which is pretty much like it sounds.

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2000.03.18 Only 4 copies left of Robert Rich's minimal ambient classic Trances/Drones on the Hypnos Online Store. This item is out of print, and will not be available for backorder after these are gone! It has been said that Robert might reissue Trances/Drones at some point on another label, but this release on the Extreme label out of Australia is the original, and who knows.... maybe it'll be out of print forever!

Check out the new section on the Hypnos Online Store, "Limited Editions and Out-of-Print items," where you'll find Trances/Drones and other items that just cry out for you to snap them up before they're gone forever!

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2000.03.15 Made a few inventory additions to the Hypnos Online Store. Many of you who have recently enjoyed Robert Rich's Humidity have asked about other Robert Rich CDs in the "dark ambient" style. Of course, we've always listed Stalker, his collaboration with Lustmord, and the first Rich CD on Hypnos, Inner Landscapes, as well as Rich's early classic, the 2CD Trances/Drones.

Now, another choice is available here: Below Zero, a collection of non-album, unreleased, and compilation tracks. The overall feel is quite experimental and creepy. This is a very underrated Rich album, one of his best. This was released on the now-defunct Side Effects label, which was curated by Rich's one-time collaborator, B. Lustmord.

Other additions include Lull's Journey Through Underworlds (in the Miscellaneous A-L section), and Rapoon's The Fires of the Borderlands (in the Miscellaneous M-Z section).

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2000.03.14 Added a few recent reviews (particularly for Humidity and The Surreal Sanctuary, but also for some older titles) to the Hypnos Reviews page. Find out what other people are saying, in case you're looking for something to convince you to buy, buy, buy Hypnos!

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2000.03.13 Between Robert Rich's Humidity, vidnaObmana's The Surreal Sanctuary, and most recently Jeff Pearce's To the Shores of Heaven, there's been a lot of activity here. The 9th and the 12th of this month have been the two busiest days ever, not just in terms of orders coming in through the Hypnos Online Store, but also in terms of web site visits. On March 9th alone, we had over 5,500 page hits on the hypnos.com web domain. Of course, that doesn't mean 5,500 unique viewers, because it counts every web page and graphic and audio clip that anybody accessed. But it still means a lot of people are passing through...

Today, added Immersion by Laocoön to the Hypnos Online Store. This is a great CD, one I've been listening to and enjoying for quite a while, and finally had a chance to make it available here. There are audio clips available at the web site for Parnassus Nump Records, Laocoön's own label. Immersion by Laocoön is available for $12.99.

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2000.03.11 Never let it be said that we don't give the people what they want. Now available on the Hypnos Online Store, Jeff Pearce's latest work, To the Shores of Heaven, from Hypnos Recordings.

Those who have heard previous Jeff Pearce masterworks such as Vestiges, Daylight Slowly and The Hidden Rift may find it hard to believe that on his latest album, Pearce has taken a quantum leap. Still working entirely with processed electric guitar, and still fusing a delicately expressive musicality with a lustrous trademark smoothness unsurpassed in ambient music, Pearce has refined his art to yet a greater clarity. Deep and yet radiant with light, melancholy yet optimistic, achingly sad yet eurphoric, To the Shores of Heaven unquestionably earns Pearce a spot among the great names of ambient & atmospheric music.

RealAudio clips from To the Shores of Heaven are available now at the Hypnos Audio page.

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2000.03.10 Though we won't be making available Jeff Pearce's new album To the Shores of Heaven on the Hypnos Online Store until early next week, you can already get a glimpse of what it will be like.

RealAudio clips are availble now at the Hypnos Audio page, and you can see the cover image here.

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2000.03.08 Hypnos has a new fax & voice mail number, effective immediately: (503) 213-6006. If you call this number with a fax machine, it'll receive your fax, and if you call it with a phone, it'll take your voice mail message. Imagine that!

The old numbers are still connected, but will be phased out soon, so please note the new number. As an ever-increasing percentage of our orders come in online -- very nearly 100% already -- we find correspondingly less need for separate fax and phone lines.

The best way to contact Hypnos remains email: mgriffin@hypnos.com

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2000.03.08 The latest from Hypnos, The Surreal Sanctuary by vidnaObmana, has been every bit as much in demand as expected. Hypnos World HQ is still reeling under an onslaught of paper & electronic messages, orders, requests for review copies from reviewers we've never heard of before, requests for airplay copies from DJs we've never heard of before, etc., etc.

And interest in Robert Rich's Humidity continues to be very high as well. Reviews have started to flow in, which we always transcribe onto the Hypnos Reviews page. Those of you who aren't convinced that you want something until you hear endorsements from impartial persons, this page is for you!

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2000.03.02 OK, come and get it!

As promised earlier today, The Surreal Sanctuary by vidnaObmana has been added to the Hypnos Online Store. Even before I finished adding the text description to the database, the first order had already popped in, so I can see that I'm in for another onslaught like when Humidity first came out. This one is $11.99.

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2000.03.02 It's been a busy week, doing all the invisible, behind-the-scenes stuff that keeps a label and a mail order company going. You know, inventorying and ordering CDs, paying the bills, mailing out orders, counting my riches, listening to amazing unreleased music that nobody else gets to hear. That kind of stuff.

One other thing we've hoped would come about this week is the release of the first vidnaObmana release under his new, exclusive relationship with Hypnos. The Surreal Sanctuary is vidnaObmana's first new solo album since the excellent Crossing the Trail, and represents a bold venture into an artistic maturity and grasp even beyond what he has previously displayed.

Later today, The Surreal Sanctuary will be added to the Hypnos Online Store and available for purchase (in both the Hypnos and Vidna Obman sections) for $11.99.

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2000.02.29 A week or two back, I announced the addition of a couple of Patrick O'Hearn titles to the Hypnos Online Store. I referred to the titles (Metaphor and Trust, by the way), as being on the "defunct" Deep Cave label. I've been informed that Deep Cave isn't exactly dead.... deep hibernation is more like it. Because the web site formerly at www.deepcave.com was no longer up, I assumed the label was finito, but in fact, the possibility of a re-awakening exists. Still nothing definite.

In the mean time, I hope you'll check out the very fine Metaphor and Trust albums. It's just a shame that O'Hearn's releases on Private Music are unavailable. Now THAT label is defunct!

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2000.02.24 Reinforcements are here!

As reported in the 02.14 update, the great increase in orders spurred by the release of Robert Rich's Humidity had caused many other non-Hypnos titles to sell out here at the Hypnos Online Store. Many of you ordered items which we would normally have in stock at all times, only to find your orders delayed by 3-5 business days due to these shortages.

The good news is that just about everything that was backordered has been re-stocked. Today at the post office I was greeted by one of those big, rolling canvas carts filled with boxes and boxes of incoming CDs from the likes of Steve Roach, Kevin Keller, Green House Records (whose Vir Unis release The Drift Inside has surprisingly-yet-deservingly sold like mad), Ruben Garcia, and Robert Carty.

Next week's pending release on Hypnos of vidnaObmana's The Surreal Sanctuary (his first major new solo release since Crossing the Trail) is likely to keep the heat on our intrepid Order Fulfillment Staff (that's me), so we're going to keep higher inventory levels of all this stuff on hand so these "our cupboards are bare" CD shortages don't occur again. To those of you who have waited longer than usual for your coveted Hypnos CDs, we appreciate your patience!

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2000.02.23 Speaking of Saul Stokes, we have a bit more information about his upcoming 3rd album for Hypnos entitled Outfolding. First of all, here's a track listing:

01 Where Are We?
02 Greys
03 Somewhere Current
04 The Far Edge of Suburban Station
05 Below
06 Cloud Shaping
07 Conundrum
08 Quiet Antenna
09 Thick Streets

Next, take a look at the cover design here -- it incorporates a digital graphic created by the multi-talented Stokes himself.

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2000.02.22 A few days ago we posted the news that Hypnos artist Saul Stokes has been confirmed as taking part in a performance at "The Gathering" in Philadelphia, on March 4th of this year.

Another Hypnos artist, Vidna Obmana, has also confirmed just this week that he will perform at a Gathering event, this time on November 4, 2000.

And what's more, the April 8th Gathering will feature Robert Rich, who's also a Hypnos artist.... sort of. Well, we share him with a couple of other labels, most notably Hearts of Space.

If that weren't enough, the September 23rd Gathering will feature Dweller at the Threshold. While Dweller isn't a Hypnos artist, the group resides here in Portland (home of Hypnos HQ), and Hypnos honcho Griffin (who types these very updates, and frequently refers to himself in the third person) designed their last CD package, as well as the package for the more recent solo album by Dweller member Dave Fulton. Fulton and Griffin are currently recording together (in fact, the third recording session will be tonight) on a project expected to be released on Hypnos later in 2000. For more info on Dweller at the Threshold, or Dave Fulton's wonderful Hard Particles release, check out the Eurock web site.

So needless to say, we're very pleased with the selection of performers at Philadelphia's Gathering series this year. I'm sure we all wish our own cities had wonderful resources like Chuck VanZyl's Star's End radio show, and his Gathering performance series. If you're considering a trip to Philly for one of these shows, take a look at the Gatherings page for more information. Stokes, Rich, Vidna Obmana, and Hypnos artists Jeff Greinke and Jeff Pearce, have all performed at previous Gatherings.

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2000.02.21 Today added 3 new titles to the Hypnos Online Store. Now available, the Saul Stokes limited edition Live CDR announced yesterday. Price is $18.99.

Also, added 2 Patrick O'Hearn titles on his own now-defunct Deep Cave label, Metaphor and Trust. Both O'Hearn discs are $12.99.

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2000.02.18 Hypnos artist Saul Stokes (whose third album Outfolding will be released on Hypnos this spring) has recently been announced as part of an upcoming "Gathering" performance (part of the concert series formerly known as Star's End Gatherings) put on by Chuck VanZyl of Star's End radio on WXPN, Philadelphia. The other performer at that gathering will be Vir Unis, recent collaborator with Ma Ja Le and Steve Roach (separately), and whose first solo release The Drift Inside is available from the Hypnos Online Store.

Next week, we will make available a limited-edition release of Saul Stokes live recordings. This is not a Hypnos Recordings release, but a limited CDR (only 100 will be produced) in a hand-made wooden box designed and built by Stokes himself. You can see a few images that give you an idea what to expect here. This special release will be $18.99 and will be available only through Hypnos, and directly from Saul Stokes at his own live performances. Don't forget to visit Saul's own fancy web site at www.saulstokes.com.

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2000.02.17 Added descriptions & graphics for the Robert Carty CDs that are available on the Hypnos Online Store. Most of these are actually CDRs, but Carty himself designed each one, and they're pretty well-produced considering their "one at a time" origin. Also, we'll be adding a few more recent Carty titles soon, including Microspirals, Plateaus of Ether and The Living, all $11.99.

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2000.02.16 Today's update to the Hypnos Online Store includes a couple of hot new titles.

First, the latest Vidna Obmana collaboration (and the last one we'll see prior to his major new solo release, The Surreal Sanctuary) with organist Willem Tanke, Variations for Organ, Keyboard and Processors. This was released on Sweden's Multimood label and is $14.99.

Next we have a live, limited edition CDR release in special packaging. It's Ma Ja Le & James Johnson Live Under a Harvest Moon. This one includes several photos along with the CD, packaged inside a special fabric bag. Very fine music, perhaps the best work yet by any of the artists involved. If this is the sort of thing they can do live, we should certainly be on the lookout for upcoming studio projects! Due to the special packaging and extremely limited edition (only 150 available, and Hypnos has only a fraction of those), this is $18.99.

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2000.02.14 Finally caught up on sending out orders for Humidity, our biggest hit ever, it seems. The big surge in orders relating to Humidity has resulted in a few other non-Hypnos titles being temporarily sold out. In particular, vidnaObmana/Alio Die's Echo Passage and vidnaObmana/Jan Marmenout's Spirits have both sold in unexpectedly large quantities, and there will be a brief delay (less than a week) on orders that include one or both of those.

Also added five titles from the Spotted Peccary label to the Hypnos Online Store, including titles by Deborah Martin, Jon Jenkins, Mark Rownd, David Helpling, and John Flomer.

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2000.02.05 Wow! Yesterday, after the announcement that Robert Rich's Humidity was available, the quantity of orders that flooded into the Hypnos Online Store was overwhelming. In case you missed it, it's not too late to bop on over there and get yourself a copy for the introductory price of $22.99.

Or, if you're still not convinced, there are now RealAudio format sample Audio clips available for all 19 tracks (on 3 CDs) of Humidity. Also, we just added another 30 or so other clips from Zo Pilots and Washed in Mercury by Saul Stokes, and Perihelion and Solar Noise by Viridian Sun. Finally, every Hypnos release has RealAudio sample clips for every track.

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2000.02.04 Now available, Robert Rich's 3-CD live set, Humidity. Many of you have been waiting for this one, so go ahead and visit the Hypnos Online Store to order a copy (or several) for the introductory price of $22.99.

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2000.02.03 Added to the Hypnos Online Store four CDs which had been unavailable for a while.

Many of you had been asking "What happened to your Hic Sunt Leones section?" Almost all the CDs had run out, and we had been unable to obtain more for an extended period of time. Now we're getting most of the titles back in, including some high-demand titles like Alio Die's The Hidden Spring and Vidna Obmana's Revealed by Composed Nature. The other two were Alio Die & Antonio Testa's Healing Herb's Spirits and 5000 Spirits Mesmeric Revelation We also hope to obtain some of the newer titles released on this excellent Italian label, which is run by Alio Die himself.

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2000.02.02 Just received a firm release date for Robert Rich's Humidity 3-CD set of live recordings.... it'll be ready Friday the 4th. We'll be offering it initially at $22.99, but this will go up to $24.99 in a month or so.

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2000.02.01 Just added two CDs to the Hypnos Online Store, one new item and one that had been removed for a while due to unavailability.

First, Mychael Danna & Tim Clement's Best of Danna & Clement, on Canada's Mirage label has just been released. Also, Kevin Keller's Pendulum has been made available again by the Lektronic Soundscapes label after being very briefly out of print.

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2000.02.01 Hypnos Recordings is moving at quite a pace in 2000. Having already issued David Tollefson's Near and Far, and with Robert Rich's 3-CD Humidity just a few days away, we're also ready to go with the next two: vidnaObmana's The Surreal Sanctuary and Jeff Pearce's To the Shores of Heaven.

While we don't have full information ready on these, you can take a look at the covers here:
The Surreal Sanctuary
To the Shores of Heaven

Expect to see The Surreal Sanctuary around February 25, and To the Shores of Heaven in mid March.

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2000.01.30 Here is a track listing for Jeff Pearce's To the Shores of Heaven, technically his first new solo work since Vestiges in 1998 (considering that Daylight Slowly was a collection of older pieces, and True Stories a collaboration with vidnaObmana):

01. A Fading
02. Sudden Light
03. From Cliffs of Departure
04. The Emergence
05. Rain as a Metaphor
06. Beyond and Within
07. Veil of Lake Snow
08. Angels of the Ocean Calm
09. Doubt on Dark Waters
10. To the Shores of Heaven
11. Reunions

As always with Pearce, the work is entirely based on electric guitars as sound sources, but listeners familiar with Pearce's previous works will find an expanded sonic palette on display here. While To the Shores of Heaven retains the emotionally direct quality of his previous works, Pearce really challenges the sonic potential of the guitar.

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2000.01.30 Just received word that two tracks from Altara by A Produce & M Griffin were featured on the most recent Hearts of Space radio show. Usually we don't make a big to-do about getting played on the radio (not because we don't like it, but because we figure the average visitor to this news page probably doesn't care if one of our CDs was played on a local public radio station in the middle of nowhere), but considering that HOS is syndicated on 300+ stations around the country, this is a pretty good thing.

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2000.01.29 Added just two new titles to the Hypnos Online Store, but they're important ones. First, vidnaObmana & Jan Marmenout's first collaboration Spirits is one that many of your have been asking for. It's finally here and it's $13.99.

The second one is Richard Bone's Distillations, a collection of tracks from the early, out of print CDs originall released on his own Quirkworks label. This collection is on Boston's Halcyon Recordings label, and it's just $11.99

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2000.01.27 Continuing with yesterday's mission, added another 24 RealAudio clips to the Hypnos Audio page.

Today's new clips were from the albums Lost Terrain by Jeff Greinke, and New Eyes on the Universe by David Tollefson, whose latest, Near and Far was released this month.

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2000.01.26 Added 25 or so new RealAudio clips to the Hypnos Audio page. Several 1997-99 releases had only one or two sample clips available, and since several of your have told us that you like to hear more clips from each CD, I'm in the process of adding clips for EVERY track on EVERY CD. It will take a while to get everything caught up, but in the future, we'll make available sample clips from every track on every new CD.

The clips added today were for the Sudden Dark, Daylight Slowly and Sonic Continuum albums, by M. Griffin, Jeff Pearce, and Modell/Mantra, respectively.

The usual disclaimer applies -- these clips are low-fidelity, intended only to give you an idea of the general thrust of each track. The actual CDs are painstakingly mastered to give you the best possible sound, so if the RealAudio clips sound interesting, you can be sure the CD sounds a zillion times better. Also, the sample clips are between one and three minutes in length, usually representing the first part of the track.

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2000.01.25 The upcoming first collaboration between Richard Bone and Kit Watkins, tentatively to be released on Hypnos later in 2000, now has a title: The Moon Pool.

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2000.01.24 Here is a track listing for vidnaObmana's The Surreal Sanctuary, our first release under his new, exclusive partnership with Hypnos:

01. Infinity
02. Lamentation
03. The first coil
04. The profound isolates
05. Jewel of the underground
06. The fragmented dome
07. Flame

We are extremely excited about this release, not just because vidnaObmana's work is always great, but because this is a really special piece of work from him. In the same way that his work showed maturation and progression with The River of Appearance and Crossing the Trail, so in this case has he taken another great leap forward.

In case you lost track, during the first three months of 2000 Hypnos will release:

David Tollefson - Near and Far (already available)
Robert Rich - Humidity - Three Concerts (coming early Feb)
Vidna Obmana - The Surreal Sanctuary (coming late Feb)
Jeff Pearce - To the Shores of Heaven (coming in March)

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2000.01.23 Here is a track listing for Robert Rich's Humidity, a 3-CD set which will be available in the first few days of February 2000:

Humidity tracks include:

Disc 1 / April 2, 1998 / Stanford, CA

1. Lost Caverns of Caryatis
2. Bioelectric Plasma
3. Demilitarized Zone
4. Synergistic Perceptions
5. Ceramic Tincture
6. Submission to Pele
7. Humidity Toward the Troposphere

Disc 2 / May 9, 1998 / Venice, CA

1. Beyond Part 1
2. Beyond Part 2
3. Beyond Part 3
4. Beyond Part 4
5. Beyond Part 5
6. Beyond Part 6

Disc 3 / May 10, 1998 / Pasadena, CA

1. Steel Harmonics
2. Nada
3. Cloud Relapse
4. Nightsky Reprise
5. Hidden Refuge
6. In a Miasma of Malarial Delusions

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2000.01.21 Just received confirmation that Hypnos artist Saul Stokes, now located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be performing at an upcoming Star's End Gathering, organized by Chuck VanZyl of Star's End Radio.

This is great timing, as Saul's third album for Hypnos, to be entitled Outfolding, is almost complete and should be released in April 2000.

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2000.01.20 Yesterday's server issues, which made the hypnos.com web domain completely unavailable for most of the day, seem to have been resolved. I apologize for the inconvenience.

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2000.01.19 There have been intermittent outages on the server behind the Hypnos Online Store, which don't seem to have affected the rest of the hypnos.com site. These problems should be temporary. If you're able to access the store, that means everything is fixed! Until then, I apologize if you are unable to gain access.

I wonder, are all web hosting companies flaky and unreliable, or just all those I've come across?

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2000.01.18 Now that Robert Rich's Humidity is in the manufacturing process, work is underway on the next Hypnos Recordings release: vidnaObmana's The Surreal Sanctuary. This one, being a single CD (which is what we're accustomed to doing, unlike the "triple-CD-with-mini-poster" concept of Humidity, which is why that one took longer), should be easy to finish up, and I'd expect to see a mid-February release. If you'd like to sneak a peek at the cover, you may do so here.

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2000.01.13 Uploaded some RealAudio sample clips from David Tollefson's new release, Near and Far, so if you're having a hard time believing that an "all-guitar" album can be sonically rich and varied, run on over to the Hypnos Audio page and give a little listen. The quality of RealAudio is not CD-like, of course, but the clips are 1:30 to 2:30 in length, and cover all 8 tracks on the CD (which are actually about 5 minutes to about 11:30, so you'll have to buy the CD to hear how these pieces end).

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2000.01.12 Updated the Hypnos Releases page to include Robert Rich's Humidity. While this is not actually available yet (should be ready at the very end of January, or very beginning of February), you can take a look at this page to see the CD cover and a track listing for each of the three discs.

This has been perhaps the most highly anticipated release yet for Hypnos, and will include not only the three CDs, but a "mini-poster" about 14 inches square (folded down to CD booklet size), with the cover art on one side and the liner notes on the reverse. The mini posters will also be available for purchase flat at a low price, for those of you who may want to display Brad Cole's amazing cover image.

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2000.01.11 To clarify an item posted to this page on 2000.01.09 regarding out of date web browser software.... in order to access any secure server (not just the Hypnos Online Store) at anything approaching a normal speed, you should be using Netscape 4.7 or Internet Explorer 5.0.

Earlier versions of these programs have expired security features, and while your transactions on secure sites may in fact be secure, you'll get lots of error/warning messages that are not the fault of the site you're browsing, and access time to secure pages may be extremely slow.

As an example, I just processed a 1 CD "test" order on the Hypnos Online Store using Netscape 4.0, and after two attempts that timed-out after a few minutes, I finally got an order to go through (but it also took several minutes). Just after that, I processed an identical "test" order using Internet Explorer 5.0 and it took only a few seconds to go through.

I also tried accessing the Dun & Bradstreet web site's secure areas with this old version of Netscape and was unable to connect even after a dozen attempts in a 30 minute period!

The above comments shouldn't be misconstrued as an endorsement of Internet Explorer versus Netscape, as the most recent version 4.7 of Netscape also has updated security features. The problem is with the 4.0 and earlier versions of both programs.

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2000.01.11 Added descriptions for 20 or 25 CDs on the Hypnos Online Store that had previously had "description coming soon" in the description field. This includes some fairly popular stuff, including Jeff Greinke, Larry Kucharz, and The Foundry label, plus a few odds and ends scattered through various categories. If there's a CD you've been wondering about, take another look at the Online Store and you may find a bit more information to satisfy your curiosity.

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2000.01.11 Added 10 new CDs to the Hypnos Online Store, including:

Lustmord's dark ambient classic The Place Where the Black Stars Hang, on the Soleilmoon subsidiary label Side Effects. If you like spooky stuff, your collection absolutely must include this album!

Also, added the latest Larry Kucharz album Digichoral Blue Portraits.

Last but not least, eight titles on the Kranky label, five of them by the ever-fabulous Labradford. One of my favorite albums of recent years is Labradford's E Luxo So, which is a departure of sorts for them, a real treat for listeners who like ambient/atmospheric sounds with a bit of melody and musicianship behind them (think Richard Bone's work, or Tim Story & Dwight Ashley's Drop album).

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2000.01.11 Started a revision of the Hypnos Online Store, in which all thumbnail images of CDs have been reduced in size and changed from jpg to gif format. These thumbnails are the small images you see when an entire category is listed. The larger-sized images of the CD covers that you see when you look at an individual CD's "info" page, will remain the same size.

Also getting ready to add a ton of great new stuff in the next couple of days...

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2000.01.09 Important Notice: If you are trying to access the secure portions of the Hypnos Online Store, and you receive a dialog box indicating that your certificate has expired, you will need to upgrade your web browser to the latest version of Internet Explorer or Netscape. You may upgrade here: Download Netscape

VeriSign offers further information on this issue on their Web site at the following address: http://www.verisign.com/server/cus/rootcert/webmaster.html

Please note that this is not a problem with security on the hypnos.com server, or the Hypnos Online Store, but a failing in less-than-current versions of all browser software. It is not a true "Y2K bug," but it did come into effect on 01-01-2000, because the browser certificates supporting these older browsers all expired on 12-31-1999. The solution is simple (though not necessarily quick, depending on the speed of your modem): download the update to your browser software. Until you use the most current version, you'll have delays and warnings at all secure sites.

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2000.01.06 More lovely praise for the Hypnos label and its CD releases comes from The Raging Consciousness desk, which has named among its 9 best "Meditation/Ambient" CD releases of the year three Hypnos CDs including Richard Bone's The Spectral Ships (actually a 98 release), Modell/Mantra's Sonic Continuum (also 98), and Viridian Sun's Perihelion .

They also named Hypnos the "Best New Label," which is much appreciated. They said: "Consistently strong material with a decidedly dark/ ambient lean, Hypnos has released some of the classiest sonic gems of the year." Very nice!

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2000.01.06 Star's End radio (which, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, is a long-established, massively influential "space music" radio show out of Philadelphia, hosted by Chuck van Zyl) recently offered its "Significant Releases of 1999" list, a sort of yearly Top 50.

This year, Star's End listed five different Hypnos titles as among the 50 most significant of the year, including:

Richard Bone - Etherdome
A Produce/M Griffin - Altara
Robert Rich - Inner Landscapes
Vidna Obmana - Landscape In Obscurity
Viridian Sun - Perihelion

Hey, that means fully 10% of the important electronic/space music released last year came from Hypnos! Also, no other label had as many releases on the list, though there were a few other labels with two or three. It's very nice to be recognized in this way. Things like this make all the hard work worthwhile.

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2000.01.06 There's still hope that Robert Rich's Humidity - Three Concerts (a 3-CD set of live concerts recordings, and the 2nd release on Hypnos/Soundscape) will be ready for January 2000. If not, then it'll be very early in February at least.

If you're interested, you can sneak a peek at the cover artwork here. The package features photography by Brad Cole, who also supplied the photos for Robert Rich & Lustmord's Stalker, which was released on the Fathom label. As these live recordings are from 1998 concerts, and feature a few re-interpretations of material from Stalker, the similar "look" of the package reflects a similar sound content. More information on this hotly anticipated triple release, coming soon.

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2000.01.05 Finally added David Tollefson's Near and Far to the Hypnos Online Store. Also added Steve Roach's Atmospheric Conditions and updated the monthly "Hypnos Recommended Titles" feature on the front page, for January 2000.

The email delays on the hypnos.com server seem to have been fixed, but I have a huge backlog of yesterday's email to wade through.

Also updated the Hypnos Audio page for greater organization, though still no Near and Far tracks yet.

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2000.01.04 A little later than expected, the second solo album by David Tollefson (of Viridian Sun), Near and Far, is now available.

Tollefson's first album, 1997's New Eyes on the Universe, was very well received by listeners who responded to the simple, emotionally resonant musicality daringly mixed with radical sonic experimentalism. All those who enjoyed New Eyes... will find that Tollefson has outdone himself with Near and Far. Viridian Sun's other half, Mike Griffin, mixed and mastered the project as he did the first DT solo album.

Near and Far will be added to the Hypnos Online Store later today, and sample RealAudio clips will be on the Hypnos Audio page this week.

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2000.01.03 Hypnos seems to have survived the much-hyped Y2K catastrophe intact. There appears to be something a bit glitchy with email service on the hypnos.com server, so if you don't get a response to your message in the expected time, go ahead and re-send your message to mgriffin@hypnos.com.

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