PART C> PROJECTS PLANNED BUT NOT YET DEVELOPED
Some of the other things coming in 2008 don't yet have titles or release dates, and some might only be ideas or proposals at this point. That's how a record label work -- it's a sort of assembly line, and the stuff at the end of the line, near the front door of the factory, is almost finished and looks recognizably like a final product. Those are the projects in the "part A" posting up at the top.
The stuff earlier on the assembly line may have major parts missing (like a CD with no cover image or no title, or an undetermined track listing). That's the "part B" posting, projects that aren't quite ready or complete but most of the way there.
Way back toward the beginning of the assembly line, you have pieces and parts, and before that, just sketches and ideas. That's what I'll talk about here. Almost all of these things will be worked-on during 2008, many will be released this year, but some will not be finished until 2009 or even later.
MORE VIRIDIAN SUN
First, I mentioned in "part B" regarding the new Viridian Sun album, that VS recorded a full album's worth of material in 2001-2002 or so, and it just ended up never being finished all the way. It had nothing to do with the quality being poor, or lack of interest in the project by the duo. It was more about people being busy, and delays happening, and procrastination, and when you leave something up on the shelf for long enough, you forget about it and work on other things. The good news is, there's another Viridian Sun album that can be polished up out of these materials with relatively little effort, and once these new 2007-2008 tracks are released as a CD, there is a very good chance that this "missing" Viridian Sun album will be released one way or another.... maybe on Hypnos Secret Sounds, maybe as a regular Hypnos album.
M. GRIFFIN AND _____
Second, I personally am planning to undertake two separate collaborations with well-known artists, both of whom have released multiple CDs on the Hypnos label previously. I won't announce these or talk about them too much (they're totally separate projects) until they have moved forward a little bit, and not a note or a sound has been recorded in either case. I know from past experience that sometimes (like the newest Viridian Sun efforts), the decision to collaborate results in a nearly-complete album almost immediately, whereas other times the decision to collaborate can stretch out into planning, and tenative efforts, and a bit of give and take and various false starts... and before you know it, a year is gone and there's not much that looks or sounds like an "album" in sight. So, that's why I'm not talking about these yet, not because I lack faith in the abilities or the artistry of both of my friends and collaborators, but because I don't want to add pressure to the process until there's something more substantial to support it.
BINARY EXPLORER SERIES
Very soon after getting underway the Binary compilation Nevertime (see above, part B), we plan to launch a new series called Binary Explorer Series. Simply put, Binary Explorer Series is to Binary, as Hypnos Secret Sounds is to Hypnos. We feel that the HSS imprint has been a great success, has exposed many new artists to Hypnos listeners, and vice versa, allowing us to change the threshold at which we consider something for release on our label. Binary Explorer Series is intended to do the same thing, to give us a running start toward the regular and frequent releasing of electronica and minimal techno and IDM and rhythmic electronic experimentation... starting where the Nevertime compilation left off and running off in a few new directions, quickly. We'll very possibly be releasing full-length or EP-length discs by a participants in the Nevertime comp, as well as possibly taking on BES releases by people who never took part in the compilation. After the first 3-6 months we'll shift the emphasis more toward Binary "proper" and slightly away from Binary Explorer Series, but this sub-label will be a good way for us to quickly define what we're trying to do by releasing several recordings in a fairly short time.
BINARY AKA HYPNOS/BINARY
We're very much interested in beginning to strengthen and diversify the Binary sub-label starting this year. Here at Hypnos HQ, we're every bit as interested in rhythmic & experimental electronic, as we are in ambient & atmospheric sounds. We'd love to start using Binary (and the just-mentioned Binary Explorer Series sub-label) to explore those forms. Our goal is that eventually, within a year or two, Binary should be at a level of standing and emphasis equal to Hypnos itself... maybe at some point we'll even create an entirely separate but equal web site for the Binary label. For now, we'll start out with the compilation, and we'll make major efforts to associate Binary with the right kind of artists so we can release an ever-greater number of interesting and worthwhile recordings.
NEW ONLINE STORE
The Hypnos Online Store has been a very successful and long-lived internet store, and we have no intention of shutting it down until we have something better to offer. For at least the next year, The Hypnos Online Store will go on exactly as it is now (except with an ever-expanding selection of music to offer). Some time during 2008, though, we will roll out a new internet music store that will exist in parallel to the Hypnos store, and probably eventually be its replacement. The new music site will offer downloads of digital music files, in addition to CD sales, and will represent a wider range of genres, and a deeper stock, than the Hypnos store does now. Right now, the Hypnos store has available something like 500-600 titles, almost entirely focused on the ambient, atmospheric and minimalist genres. Eventually we would like to broaden out to carry even more sounds, primarily to better serve our existing customers (because we know most of you listen to other styles of music) but also to be able to reach potential new customers. The goal is to list over 1,000 recordings between the two stores (there will be much overlap at first) by the end of the year, and 2,500 different titles by the end of 2009. At some point, carrying all this different, diverse music, the imprint of the "Hypnos" name on the store becomes misleading or irrelevant -- if we're selling psy-trance or glitch or minimal modern classical, what does the ambient label Hypnos have to do with that? And if people come to the Hypnos store to find things that are similar to Hypnos, would they feel misled if the store with the Hypnos name on it, starts selling music that has less and less to do with the Hypnos sound? We have already purchased the internet domain where this store will be located (it will not be a label web site with a store added on, but a domain entirely dedicated to the online store, the way amazon.com is entirely about amazon's store and nothing else) and will announce the domain and put a placeholder/announcement once we have finalized the logo.
There are more items to be added, but this has been a lot of typing today, and this should be more than enough "2008 plans" for now. Thanks for reading, if you've made it this far!
