Last post of the year and many surprises to share! New World Beyond album: Mindshell, first teaser for the new Jabun album, One Small Step four year anniversary, BTTB featured in a video games video + more!

It's the last blog post of the year, and it's coming a little earlier than usual since I'll be heading back to Sussex tomorrow for the Christmas break! What a year it's been at JabunAudio and to end things, I have some awesome things to share and reflect on for the final post of 2016. Let's get to it!

Firstly this week, and this has been something which has been in the works for a long time, I'm so pleased to present on behalf of Vlad from World Beyond, the new World Beyond soundtrack album: Mindshell! I've been working with Vlad since our first collaboration "Mountains of Gold" in early 2013, and I must say, this guy is not only talented and hard working, but also just a fantastic guy to hang around and make music with! The album itself combines all the usual things I've come to expect from World Beyond: cinematic and orchestral elements with electronic and heavy rock elements in a seamless and epic way, and at over an hour long with 21 spectacular tracks, I'd say it's one heck of an achievement! In terms of my involvement with the album, I'm playing guitar on track 13 "The Rescue" and helped Vlad with the testing and finalisation of the audio in the past few weeks, acting as his second set of ears so to speak. It's great to be part of such a project! A huge well done to Vlad for all his hard work putting this together (go catch up on that sleep my friend) and if you'd like to read more about the album, I encourage you to visit this post on the World Beyond website. Without further wait, here's Mindshell (available on Bandcamp)!

Next this week and the other main surprise, as promised for before this year was out, I present to you today the first teaser for the new (and debut) Jabun album! Initially I'd hoped to have this all finished and out by the end of the year, but circumstance and work has delayed things and I figured it's much better to take my time to make it sound its best. I will not however leave you hanging and waiting for at least a taste of what's to come! There's still a fair bit of composition work to do on the album as well as production, but it's certainly coming along and I'm aiming to have it all finished by Spring 2017. Still need to think of a name too! Anyway, without further wait (as you'll have to wait a little longer to hear the full thing anyway), I present to you a taste of whats to come from Jabun in 2017! Hope you enjoy it:

Also if you're wondering, the video is a compilation of demos from the album featuring the tracks: Dreaming Pt. 1, Morning, Distance, Anxiety, Palindrome, Home, and Dreaming Pt. 3. A few more tracks are to be added to that list, as well as some which are already done but just aren't in the teaser! Keep your eyes on this blog for more updates and I'm looking forward to working more on the album in the new year!

Next this week, some Better Than The Book news! It's not often I get to look back and celebrate a big milestone for a project, but would you believe that 4 years ago this week, BTTB put out its first release, the One Small Step EP! So much stuff has happened since then, not only for BTTB but also for me and JabunAudio as a business. Heck JabunAudio didn't even EXIST back then! Since the One Small Step EP, Better Than The Book has cut its very first CDs (and yes there are still a few available), recorded its first cover song, cut it's first vinyl (none to give away I'm afraid), had songs performed live by another band, made its debut full length album Two Years On, had its first typography video, beeninterviewed in blogs and been even played on international radio! It's crazy to think what can happen in 4 years, and it's nice to look upon the thing which started it all. I certainly was a younger producer back then and had very little idea what I was doing, but One Small Step will always hold a huge place in my heart. Happy fourth anniversary, and I look forward to taking the project even further in the years to come! If you've yet to hear the One Small Step EP, then what are you waiting for? Check it out on bandcamp below, and I hope you enjoy it!

And lastly this week for things to share, more stuff from Better Than The Book! Earlier this week I received a message from Eric Conroy on Newgrounds asking whether he'd be able to use Make Your Mark (from the Two Years On album) in a video, and naturally I said "sure thing"! This morning he sent over a link to the video and I must say it is simply wonderful! Featuring clips from a whole plethora of well loved games, the music fits the video so well and so I just had to share it on the blog this week! Big props to Eric for putting this together and really glad you liked the music. Feel free to check the video below and visit the full post on Facebook here:

And I guess that means I can can add being featured in a(n animated) video to the list of BTTB achievements too! I'd love to see more of these with Better Than The Book playing in the background!

And that's it for this week and this year (no post next week)! It's been a crazy one but there's still a little left to go, so I'll reflect on 2016's achievements in the first post of 2017. It'll likely be a short one as I wouldn't have even had a full week back in the studio, but I'll also use it talk about my plans for 2017 and other stuff like that (hint: Jabun album in case it wasn't obvious and BTTB will be back too!) Until then, thank you for all your support during 2016 and years past and I hope you enjoy the new album, the new album teaser, the old EP and the new video! Happy Holidays and best wishes for the winter break and thank you as always for supporting JabunAudio and all of my projects. Take care and see you in the new year!