The best laid plans...

Two gifts Sarah got me for Xmas 2022. She knows me so well.

Despite not making any resolutions (because experience shows that one is setting oneself up to fail - but that probably says more about me than NY resolutions 😉), I find this time of year is a good time to take stock. So here are some musings on some of the things on my mind in terms of stuff I may aim for in 2023.

I'm not short of ideas. What I do seem to be short of is time - and I suspect I'm not alone in this. So I'm trying to be reasonable in what I can do this year - while still moving things forward for the project that is 'gribbles' (though even that may be up for review - see later 🤔)

Looking back over the last year, there are two standout things for me:

• The enthusiasm folk greeted my home-made CDs with for the EP releases I did them for.
• Having Digressions released on Werra Foxma through their SubClub

There's been plenty of other things that have been great - the indie electronica community continues to be supportive and fun to be part of, Levitation @ Whitby was a blast (again), I'm still writing tunes (phew!), folk still occasionally approach me for collaborations - it's all good. I've certainly enough on to keep me amused & busy - and given this needs to exist in the time I have alongside what I need to do to live, then that's fine by me.

But those two things are what spring to mind when I think of things I've done that have worked - and that I've enjoyed. So, I'm going to build my targets for this year around more of the same.

4 EP Releases in 2023

I'm going to aim to do 4 EP releases - roughly one a quarter. These will be accompanied by a physical homemade CD release like the Australia EP and Past Pastures Past - though I might aim to do a limited run of 20 CDs rather than 10. 😬

I'm also looking into using the income from these home-brew CDs to put together a more traditional release for the new EPs (and maybe some of my previous if I can make it work). It still won't be a huge run for each, but it'd be nice to get some other physical copies out there for other folk who may like them. That said, as I've been looking at options, there's possibly some nice things I could do there too, Over and above just popping some CDs on BandCamp. I should perhaps try to reign that part of my brain in a bit and just have some standard merch - it'd be good to see how well that was received. I can save my big ideas for other special releases... 😉

Anyway - I've already a list of a few 'themes' I can use for my EP releases - and a clutch of demos to feed into the first, due in March. Ish. I'm timing it so that there will be a December release because I fancy a winter/Xmas themed release. We'll see...

I think there's a probably a chance this my slip to 3 releases - but 4 is my target...

Get one long form project started

Image by M. Maggs from Pixabay

I've a load of notes for a bunch of things that could each turn into a wider project - essentially I think we're talking albums that may or may not have other media/ideas to go alongside it. I've spoken elsewhere about the Lincolnshire dialect poetry recordings I found last year - definitely want to do something with them. Then there's the folklore stuff - again Lincs based. And to continue ploughing that furrow, I've notes on things I could do for an album about the town where I grew up - either focusing on my childhood, and/or veering into some hauntology influenced pieces. And there's others...

I need to pick a lane and get cracking. I'm not fussed about finishing in 2023, but I need to get some pieces on the table. Knowing me, I suspect I'll get a couple on the go and see how things pan out.

More label interest

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Probably linked to the goal above, but it'd be nice to get someone interested in releasing some more of my stuff. I'm eternally grateful to Werra Foxma for taking a punt on Digressions last year. I really don't mind self-releasing - but the feedback I've had this year from folk whose opinion I respect makes me think I could perhaps get someone interested in investing in some of my stuff...and I'd adore a vinyl release - but then what artist wouldn't...

Not sure where to start with this one, but it'll be fun finding out.

Develop the brand

This is a little blurry at the moment - it's a mix of creating some (hopefully) funky stuff to go alongside the music (the home-brew CDs are part of that, but also a bit more blogging - maybe some streaming), but also thinking about how I approach things. Even down to the name - I've been a little uncomfortable with 'gribbles' for a while. It's started to sound to me like something you'd call a pet hamster. "Oooh. Look at Mr. Gribbles running on his wheel. Look at his little legs go!"
Though it's been a nickname I've had for a long time, so it is a part of me. But everyone else's names sound so much better. At least less infantile. 😉

I kind of like what some other artists have done where they use their real name, but add a pseudonym for the project. So ' Graham Thorpe recording as gribbles'. I can then change as the project demands. I quite like the conceit of making all the names start with 'g' though - so I can keep the .g logo regardless - and even play around with it.

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Focussing on the above also means I can mentally put all the other ideas on the back burner - it'll get them out of the way and hopefully help me crack on.

And that's a key point too - I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. I've got to be able to achieve this in the time I have - and keep it fun to do. There'll be other stuff happening (such as the EMA projects, hopefully a couple of collabs (not least of which doing something with quiddity, maybe) and the usual random stuff that comes up.

Now I've written it down, it looks a lot! But the cool thing about making plans is that you can change them. Which is entirely different to breaking a resolution...

.g
2/1/23

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Posted from my blog with Exxp : https://www.gribbles.co.uk/index.php/2023/01/02/the-best-laid-plans/

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