Much like your average, garden variety polar bear enthusiast, So Sus is delving into the uncharted waters of 2017. White capping many of us with the launch of the the new collective, Crystals. The newly formed collective has it’s eye’s set on the horizon and have already emerged with an introductory video announcing their launch to Vancouver and beyond, whilst announcing the first compilation due out on the 23rd of this month, entitled, Crystals Vol. 1. We caught up with the Founder, So Sus, to gain some insight into what’s been brewing from the Crystals corner.
Play through the Crystals Vol. 1 Minimix while you get your familiar getting on.
What was the main incentive to start this new collective? Is there a gap in the Vancouver scene that needs filling?
Actually the desire was more created by what I saw online rather than IRL in Vancouver. A few months ago I started a weekly feedback sessions were I would use the first hour of my weekly studio sessions at Feel & Think Studios in Downtown Vancouver to listen to listen to people’s tracks with great sound system in a treated room. I got a good response from this and started to see some really amazing artists who I wanted to push but in my opinion a repost and follow can only go so far. So I decided to go further and get a crew together of some guys whose sound I really liked.
From the outside the collective is obviously focused on putting out music but for the guys involved there’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes such as feedback on music, release strategies, sharing contacts and obviously dank memes. Really there’s some guys I came across that I want to see succeed so the collective is a way to try pool resources and also it’s great to feel part of something and not just be a guy in your mom’s basement making weird noises.
Did you know all of the members before deciding to run with the idea, or was the idea of a new collective something that attracted the other members?
I knew about half the crew the member from either running into them at shows or just somehow linking up on online spaces such as reddit and soundcloud and having a mutual appreciation for each other’s music.
Who are the current members and where do they hail from?
So there are 11 of us in Crystals So Sus , Angst, Someone Someone and Moxsa all from Vancouver the everyone else is pretty spread across the world with Banora from Croatia , Elex from Ukraine, Ewoke from Germany Favien is our token Australian , Outset and Shwirl are from the good ol’ USA and Troupe is From England.
How long has this project been in the making?
I had the idea for a little while but really started working towards this about 5 months ago. That’s when I came up with the name for the collective and once it had a name became a thing to me.
Have you even helmed a project like this before? You are currently member of a couple really good outlets.
A while back I did head up a collective but I was in my last year of University and most of the member were in University so and it was really hard to keep up with it and school. But I had a small label from LA involved with it that which is was cool cause essentially I made it into a free release sub label for them. But It did also feel at time that I was restricted in what I could do with it since the label was a house music label but I started being interested in trap and other things than four to the floor beats at that time. So I had to make a tough decision to kinda leave it and focus on my solo project as it stylistically it started to change whole lot.
Yeah I’m also part of Sola which is headed by Enshway, Myrne and Awoltalk. Shout out the squaaaaa *Mexican Airhorns*
Is there an avenue that remains untapped as far as collectives go? A clear lane that no one’s been inning yet. You don’t have to spoil er’ if so.
I think a lot of collective are into a sound (think like Soulection) and that’s not what we are about, it’s more about being sonically interesting. At the core with Crystals the aim is to showcase really unknown talents. For example Elex one of our members is seriously one of the craziest producers I have come across but I think he has less than 200 followers on soundcloud, which based on the quality of his music is almost crazy to me. So The collective is meant primarily for guys like him and outlet to push good music no matter who is making it. From what I see a lot of collectives are looking for someone who is already hot or on the come up. At crystals we see potential and wanna grow with people and grow a family.
With all the platforms competing with one another, are you looking to a few that fans and followers can focus on for the majority of Crystals news?
Really the best place to hear about what we are about what we are up to is on Facebook and Twitter but obviously the most important thing is the tunes we drop on Soundcloud. In addition there will be other things such as sample pack sand we hope to also get into some live shows in Vancouver.
How is the focus of releases going to be spent? Is the collective looking towards singles, or more EP / larger project releases?
We plan on releasing larger compilations quarterly. There may be some single sprinkled here and there. But the focus will be the quarterly compilations.
What are the plans for the new year? Crystals has already kicked things off with a nice intro video.
We Plan to drop our first compilation for free on 23 January on soundcloud. It features tracks from all members of the collective. It will be nice to finally share some sounds to describe what we are all about. Also I should mention that anyone is free to submit songs for consideration on future compilations. Lots of work went into that video glad you enjoyed it.
Crystals – Facebook | Soundcloud
So Sus – Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud | Twitter
