The $5+ Patreon rewards are out: Jabun's "3rd September 1939", BTTB's "Get A Haircut [Radio Edit]" which was featured on BBC Introducing (Patreon exclusive download) + an in depth look into BTTB's "You've Got A Lot To Say" for the $10+ patrons!
Hi everyone and Happy Halloween! Hope you've had a great week so far and have fun plans for tonight if the spooky holidays are your jam. It's been a pretty hectic week here at JabunAudio, mainly sorting out the next set of Patreon rewards as well as filling in an obscene number of spreadsheets for PRS and PPL registrations (and more admin work), but that's all done now which means this afternoon I should be able to get back to setting up the studio, which has made just a little bit of progress over this past week. Thankfully I've found some time to keep inspired on the guitar and other instruments, but I'm hoping to get to a lot more of that soon! Not much apart from that to report this week, other than that the latest set of $5+ Patreon rewards are out! Let's get to that:
Yesterday was the final Wednesday of the month which means another set of Pateron reward posts for the $5 and $10 patrons are out, and this time we're heading into 2013 continuing the Jabun back catalog of music with another remix-contest track: "3rd September 1939"! I'm also sharing a bonus Patreon/Radio exclusive Better Than the Book track this month: the radio edit of "Get A Haircut" which was featured on BBC Introducing! Just a little extra reward but I hope you enjoy it!
Onto this month's Jabun track, "3rd September 1939" was created back in February 2013 for a remix context which if I remember correctly was to promote the release of some sample packs. Unlike last month's track which was an actual remix of a pre-existing song, this time contestants were given royalty-free stems to compose with and my entry was the track below. Back then I was still experimenting with finding my own voice as Jabun and remix contests like this are always fun opportunities to experiment with new styles in a low-pressure "have some fun" environment. I wouldn't say I'm completely happy with this one but there are a tonne of elements I do like and it was a great learning experience back in the day! I hope you get a kick out of it at least, and without further wait, here's "3rd September 1939"!
Onto the bonus Better Than The Book Patreon exclusive download: I have the radio edit of "Get A Haircut" which was featured on BBC introducing earlier this month. It's nothing too exciting in that it's the same as the album version apart from having the word "prick" muted (at the request of the BBC) but as my closest supporters I thought the patrons would appreciate a download of it! Check out the album version of Get A Haircut on Bandcamp:
For the $10+ patrons, I'll be diving deep again into the creation of another track from Better Than The Book's recent "Hopes and Dreams" album, the solemn number on the album "You've Got A Lot To Say" (which you can listen to via the player above too)! Become a $10+ patron to access that article and many more now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter! With the new REWARD ARCHIVE tag it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them!
That's it for this month's rewards and for this blog post too! The $1 Patreon rewards will be out next Wednesday (Mp3s and artwork for the two $5 reward tracks), and it's the beginning of another month too which means more goal setting and reflecting to share! Until then, I hope you have a great Halloween and start to November and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various music projects! Take care!
HUGE NEWS: Better Than The Book makes its BBC Radio debut with "Get A Haircut" on BBC Introducing: The South + some more little updates!
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! I was really sure I was going to have to take a break from the blog this week as nothing note-worthy that I could talk about was happening, but then on Monday I received an email with possibly some of the MOST note-worthy news I've had for a long time! I'm sure you'll have seen by the title of this post, but before we get to that, on top of being busy promoting and sorting things out for that, I've been busy working on a long overdue collaboration which will hopefully be shared in next week's blog! Super fun stuff and it's been great to be making music in a relaxed way while I wait to get the studio back together.
Speaking of which, after many weeks of postage delays, loss and re-ordering, I've finally acquired more materials to get back to setting up the studio so some progress has been made in that department this week too though there's still a long way to go. Not quite sure JabunAudio will be open again by the end of the month as planned, but hopefully it shouldn't be too long afterwards. We'll see how far along things are by the next blog post.
But enough delay, onto the main news for this week!
So yesterday at about 8:22pm on BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey, Better Than The Book made its BBC Radio premier with "Get A Haircut" on BBC Introducing: The South! It was an incredible show last night, and thanks so much to Melita for playing the track and for all the kind words. Some amazing tweets from people too throughout the show which were read on the radio, and that makes 7/10 of the tracks from the Hopes and Dreams album to have been featured on the radio worldwide so far too! That's mind-blowing to me! You can read more about the show via BBC Introducing: The South's Facebook post below:
And for anyone who missed the LIVE broadcast, you can catch the show again on the BBC Sounds App / website for the next month (only 29 days left)! Check it out:
Of course if you want to hear more from Better Than The Book's "Hopes and Dreams" album, check it out on Bandcamp, and in all the usual digital places!
Now the version of "Get A Haircut" which was played was a special radio edit since the word "prick" in the context I used it in, is certainly not BBC radio friendly, but interestingly, this wasn't the only radio edit I was requested and provided to the BBC so hopefully (fingers crossed) BTTB will be making another appearance on BBC Radio soon! We shall see!
And moving from the biggest media group in the UK to a much smaller independent radio station, Tonic Ska Radio is still showing lots of love for Better Than The Book in London! Thanks as always for sharing the music and check out their Facebook post below for more details:
And that about wraps things up for news this week! Hopefully by next week I'll be able to reveal this mystery fun collaboration with you, and who knows, maybe there'll be more BBC news to report, or the studio will be set up too? We shall have to wait and see. In any case I'll be sharing the latest $5+ Patreon reward announcement, and until then I hope you all have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book, JabunAudio and my various projects. Take care!
Some delays in re-opening JabunAudio, fun times away seeing Alice Cooper (and more), a Newgrounds podcast with Cyberdevil + some more small updates!
Hi everyone and hope you've had a great few weeks since the last post! It'll just be a quick one this time as due to problems with postage and not receiving materials, I've not been able to get much more done with regards setting up the studio since last time, so JabunAudio will not be reopening for likely another few weeks. Balancing out the good and the bad though, there have been some exciting things developing this week, so with any luck there'll be some cool things to share soon once things are set in stone.
Onto what I've been up to since the last post, one amazing highlight of my time away was going to see Alice Cooper at the Brighton center again (just like in the BTTB song "Brighton") which was spectacular as usual! It'll have been over 10 years since I last saw him and it's always a fun show. Amazing to see Nita Strauss in the new guitar line-up too (phenomenal player) and the support acts were MC50 and The Stranglers both of which were fantastic too! Overall some good time away, as I'd probably have been just getting frustrated in a half set-up studio over here! Always good to just play some guitar and experiment though while things aren't so busy. Anyways, there's a few cool pieces of news to share this time (hopefully even more to come soon) so let's get onto that!
Firstly this week, check this out! My buddy Cyberdevil (who was featured on Head Above Water from Better Than The Book's Two Years On album) was a guest on the Newgrounds podcast "A Couple Of Crickets" and made a lovely shout-out to our collaborations and Better Than The Book's Meteor Shower too (at 56:55)!
If you've yet to hear Meteor Shower, Head Above Water, Hopes and Dreams and/or the rest of the BTTB discography you can check it out in all the usual places as well as on Bandcamp too:
The episode also earned a Front Page Award on Newgrounds! Neat! Give it a listen to hear more about Cyberdevil, his Newgrounds history and more via the link above and check out CD's awesome Inktober project, a new rap acapella for each day of October as well as his usual Inktober drawings! You can find all those and more on his Newgrounds profile below: Thanks CD!
Lastly for this week, Better Than The Books new album is still very much getting lots of love around the world including on Tonic Ska Radio in London. Thanks Tonic Ska for playing the music and feel free to read more via their Facebook posts below:
That's it for today's news roundup! It's looking to be busier times ahead this coming week and with any luck I should hopefully be further along setting up the studio again by the next blog post too. Until then, I hope you enjoy the podcast and as always thanks for supporting JabunAudio and my various music projects however you can! Hope to have more good news and music to share soon, and take care!
October Patreon rewards are out, Meteor Shower featured on Distilled Endless Summer, a Better Than The Book interview with Love It To Death, another Ska Show to share, setting and reflecting on goals + no blog post next week!
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to October! It's been a super busy few weeks since the last blog post, but I'm happy to say that after a tonne of hard work sorting things, I've just about moved everything into the new studio space! The equipment is unpacked and mostly set up (enough to do some admin work and guitar practice at least) but there's still the matter of sorting the new acoustic treatment and calibration for the room so it'll be a little while yet until JabunAudio is open again for business. My current aim is to have everything ready to open again by the end of the month, though hopefully it'll be sooner than that (the internet connection is sorted at least)! In the mean time, there's a tonne of news to share from the past few weeks so let's get on with that!
First of all this week, yesterday was the first Wednesday of the month which means the rewards post for the $1 patrons were sent out (along with the $5 and $10 rewards the previous week), and this time we're continuing the Jabun back catalog of music with my first ever remix as Jabun: "Nine Fifteen Ft. Jess" by Diamond Eyes!
This track was made for the very first remix competition I took part in back in December 2012 only a few weeks after "Bergamot" was released and a few weeks before Better Than The Book's debut EP One Small Step was released too! It's one I hold close to heart and the first of my more experimental and cinematic / electronic fusion tracks, with eastern elements mixed among western orchestra and synth driven electronics! Become a $1+ patron to download the Mp3 and artwork now, or become a $5+ patron for all that as well as the full quality WAV file and early access to all future rewards, and I hope you enjoy this less chill side of Jabun!
For the $10+ patrons, I'll be diving deep again into the creation of another track from Better Than The Book's recent "Hopes and Dreams" album, the video game nostalgia trip that is "GG"! Become a $10+ patron to access that article and many more now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter! With the new REWARD ARCHIVE tag it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them!
Become a patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
Another Jabun track will be coming for the next set of rewards as we move into 2013's Jabun discography, so keep an ear and eye out for that at the end of the month / beginning of November!
In other news this week, it's been an exciting time in terms of features for Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams album while I've been away, so here's a quick round up of what new and awesome things have been happening!
First of all, "Meteor Shower" was featured on the "Distilled Endless Summer" show on Downtown Radio-Tucson! Thanks so much for playing the music, and that makes 6/10 tracks from the album now to have been featured on the radio around the world so far! Amazing stuff and feel free to read more via DJ Testerman's post below!
Next up, a while back I was interviewed by Love It To Death about the Hopes and Dreams album and BTTB in general, and the interview was finally published a few weeks back! Check it out below for discussions about the origins of BTTB and the project name, the themes and influences in the new album, and the future of BTTB! Enjoy the read and thanks to LITD for having me:
Finally, "Artificial Ignorance" which seems to be a crowd favorite from the album was featured once again on The Ska Show with Beefy on Southern FM! Always a pleasure to be on your show Beefy and thanks as always for sharing the music! You can listen to the show via Beefy's post below and BTTB plays at -33:13 from the end followed straight on by a kind shout-out! Thanks so much!
And check out the full playlist for the show below:
That about wraps things up for the BTTB news this time and if you've yet to check out Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams, you can find it in all the usual places as well as on Bandcamp! Enjoy!
Finally this week, it's the start of another month so as has become tradition, let's look back at last month's goals and see how we did before setting some new ones. Here's what I had for September:
1) Finish the formal Better Than The Book - Hopes and Dreams promotional campaign
2) Get fully moved in to the new place and start getting stuff set up (I don't expect to finish setting up though)
Only 2 goals considering the busy time, and I think they went ok! The Hopes and Dreams promotional campaign concluded smoothly, though despite the the formal campaign ending people are still very much sharing the music which is great! As previously mentioned, I'm fully moved in to the new place now too, though there is still much left to sort before I can get back to routine. With those goals reflected on, let's set some new ones for October:
1) Finish setting up and acoustically treating / calibrating the new studio, and re-open JabunAudio
2) Join PRS for Music and sort registrations
3) Sort the Patreon rewards for the next 2 months and schedule the posts
Goal #1 is highest priority for obvious reasons though as with setting up any studio I imagine it'll take some time and be fairly difficult. #2 is something I've been meaning to do for a few years now, and with all the radio airtime Better Than The Book has received since Hopes and Dreams was released, it finally feels like the right time to sort it all out! #3 is just a smaller goal as I realise things will be very busy this month but something which needs to be done as usual. Since I'll not be able to do much recording and production, it's a very admin heavy set of goals this month, but I sure hope to be back to some more musical ones in November! Wish me luck and if you've any goals too, feel free to share them below so we can keep each other accountable!
That wraps up this post! I'm away for most of this coming week so there'll be no blog post next week but I've no doubt there'll be more exciting news to share in 2 weeks time! Until then, I hope you enjoy all the new music and things to check out and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Better Than The Book and my various projects! See you in another 2 weeks and take care!
Nick Standing; HurpADervish; Jabun!
Keep up to date with all of Nick's projects on a monthly basis right here!