It's Bandcamp Friday again!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to October!

It's Bandcamp Friday once again, and in support of musicians impacted by the coronavirus, Bandcamp is once again waiving its revenue share fees on the first Friday of the month from midnight to midnight PDT (that's today)! That means that if you purchase anything from Bandcamp this Friday 2nd of October, the artists you support (including myself) will get more of the sales revenue than usual since Bandcamp doesn't take its cut, and you'll be able to support the music you love more directly than ever on the platform!

If you've been thinking of picking up Better Than The Book's "Hopes and Dreams" or grabbing Jabun's "Daydream" or one of my other tracks or albums, now's the best time to do so! Feel free to check out the Better Than The Book and Jabun Bandcamp pages below and thanks again for supporting my music in any way you can:

Better Than The Book

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Jabun

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/

Nick Standing (< The sillier old stuff)

https://nickstanding.bandcamp.com/

All the best and enjoy the music!

$5+ rewards are out: Jabun's Daydream album (Mp3s, WAVs, Art + a behind the scenes photo) + an exclusive sneak peek at next year's 3rd Jabun album for the $10 patrons!

Hi everyone and hope you've had a great September! It's the final Wednesday of the month which means I've just sent out the $5 and $10 Patreon rewards and this time we've reached the final piece in Jabun's discography (so far), Jabun's 2017 debut full-length album Daydream!

After releasing Distance and Home in 2013 and 2014 respectively (which would be remastered for the Daydream album in 2017), I started formally working on the album which would become Daydream in summer 2016. After the high energy ska punk adventure that was Better Than The Book's Two Years On (released February 2016) and having just moved away from my parents to the seaside town of Herne Bay with Eva, I was ready to explore some experimental and chill vibes as Jabun once again from that makeshift IKEA coffee table studio which I've mentioned in past posts. Shortly before the move I'd bought myself a Yamaha Reface CP mobile keyboard which is basically a truckload of vintage electric pianos and effects in a 3 octave portable package and would be the most valuable player in much of my Jabun music to come! Along with my mpc1000, sm58 microphone and a few synths, I put together a lot of that album throughout the rest of the year, firstly from the floor of our Herne Bay flat, then later from my first purpose organised studio room in Margate. A photo of the Margate beach at sunset would become the cover for the album which was released on May 4th 2017, a heartwarming, chill journey which would be featured in many online zines / blogs, on YouTube music channels, and even a game on Newgrounds (along with some Newgrounds awards)! It's an album I hold close to heart and brings me back to those days living by the sea!

Included in the reward download packages are the full 10 track 43+ minute album (Mp3s and WAVs), album art and alternative album art, and a picture from day 1 of recording, my equipment spread out on the floor after recording track 07 Palindrome! I hope you enjoy Daydream!

Tracklist:

01 Dreaming (Parts I - III)

02 Morning

03 The Grind

04 Distance

05 Daydream

--------

06 Anxiety

07 Palindrome

08 Home

09 Evening

10 Dreaming (Parts IV - VI)

Listen to Daydream on Bandcamp:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/daydream

For the $10+ patrons, you've also got an exclusive sneak peek at next year's 3rd Jabun album to look forward to! Become a $10 patron to access that and many more rewards now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies and much more! With the 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!

$5 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080123

$10 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080119

Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

That's it for this post! With Daydream finally out to the patrons, that's the entire Jabun discography available on Patreon now! As such I'll be taking a short break to finalise things ready to announce Jabun's 2nd album in November, and you can bet that there'll be a tonne of Patreon rewards to celebrate that! Until then, I hope you enjoy all the music and thanks as always for supporting Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects on Patreon! All the best, take care, and I can't wait to show you Jabun's brand new 2nd album next time! Look forward to it!

Better Than The Book future gig updates:

Hi all and hope you're doing well.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, band members being heavily restricted due to local lockdowns (including myself as of Friday), and general concerns with regards public performance at this time, Better Than The Book will no longer be attending the upcoming gig with Sweet Jonny at The Cave in Addlestone (UK) on November 7th. Additionally, we will be postponing booking any further gigs indefinitely until the live music performance industry is up and running safely again.

Apologies for any disappointment, though the safety and comfort of our audience and the members of the BTTB live band are my top priority, and we all hope to be entertaining you again soon with some well needed and upbeat skapunk when the time is right and safe for it. I'll be working hard in the mean time, practicing the tunes and writing/recording some new ones, and I look forward to bringing an even better live show to you as soon as possible! Thanks as always for your support!

All the best, stay safe, and keep on skankin'

Nick / Better Than The Book

Better Than The Book's full Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] bonus album is now streaming and playlisted on YouTube, SoundCloud and Newgrounds!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! After many months of promo for Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] bonus album, we finally arrive to the last post of the series, and today's is just a quick one to say that Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] (Full Album) is now streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds! Check out the streams below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGDy94xGu_E

I've also curated playlists of all the individual tracks from Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] on YouTube, Newgrounds and SoundCloud too, so if you've missed any of the tracks, feel free to listen to them online via the playlists below, or on Spotify:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLblIGQa1OFi6NGA101mVS4jdsOTi55Bjb

Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/playlists/view/2d399b083d2369a5b1f5fbf7a1e8b2cb

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bttb_uk/sets/hopes-and-dreams-instrumentals-album

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4GUCmKQoIk3bNWGiXDGkrp

And if you like what you hear, pick up Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] on bandcamp along with the rest of the BTTB discography:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams-instrumentals

Or grab it along with this month's new exclusive download for Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s Warrior when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1! More rewards coming next Wednesday! Find out more below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080256

That's it for this final promo post for Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals]! I hope you've enjoyed listening to all the music over these past few months and I look forward to bringing you more Better Than The Book as soon as I can! Been back to writing recently, so hopefully I'll have more to report in the skapunk department next year! Until the next post, thanks as always for supporting Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects and take care! All the best!

Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, SoundCloud and Newgrounds!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! Just a quick one today to say that Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, Newgrounds and SoundCloud! That's all the tracks from the Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] bonus album uploaded for streaming online now, but I still have one more thing to share with you next week! Until then, check out Hopes and Dreams [Instrumental] below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQzVnc0yD6I

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bttb_uk/hopes-and-dreams-instrumental

And if you like what you hear, pick up Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] on bandcamp along with the rest of the BTTB discography:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams-instrumentals

Or grab it along with the new exclusive download for Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s Warrior when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! Find out more below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080256

Until next time I hope you have a great September and thanks as always for supporting my projects! Take care and enjoy the new music!

Better Than The Book's You've Got A Lot To Say [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, SoundCloud and Newgrounds!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far. Just a quick one today to say that Better Than The Book's You've Got A Lot to Say [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, Newgrounds and SoundCloud. New tracks from the Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] bonus album will be uploaded each Friday until the end of September (just 2 more weeks to go). Check out You've Got A Lot to Say [Instrumental] below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX-kuYDGtZM

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bttb_uk/youve-got-a-lot-to-say-1

And if you like what you hear, pick up Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] on bandcamp along with the rest of the BTTB discography:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams-instrumentals

Or grab it along with the new exclusive download for Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s Warrior when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! Find out more below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080256

Until next time I hope you have a great September and thanks as always for supporting my projects. Take care and enjoy the new music!

Better Than The Book's GG [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, SoundCloud and Newgrounds + it's Bandcamp Friday!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! Just a quick one today to say that Better Than The Book's GG [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, Newgrounds and SoundCloud! New tracks from the Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] bonus album will be uploaded each Friday until the end of September! Check out GG [Instrumental] below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnD937m_8jM

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bttb_uk/gg-instrumental

And if you like what you hear, pick up Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] on bandcamp along with the rest of the BTTB discography (more about Bandcamp in a moment):

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams-instrumentals

Or grab it along with the new exclusive download for Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s Warrior when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! Find out more below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080256

Back to Bandcamp, in support of musicians impacted by the coronavirus, Bandcamp is waiving its revenue share fees on the first Friday of the month from midnight to midnight PDT (that's today)! That means that if you purchase anything from Bandcamp this Friday 4th of September, the artists you support (including myself) will get more of the sales revenue than usual since Bandcamp doesn't take its cut, and you'll be able to support the music you love more directly than ever on the platform!

If you've been thinking of picking up Better Than The Book's "Hopes and Dreams" or grabbing Jabun's "Daydream" or one of my other tracks or albums, now's the best time to do so! Feel free to check out the Better Than The Book and Jabun Bandcamp pages below and thanks again for supporting my music in any way you can:

Better Than The Book

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Jabun

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/

Nick Standing (< The sillier old stuff)

https://nickstanding.bandcamp.com/ 

And until next time I hope you have a great start to September and thanks as always for supporting my projects! Take care and enjoy the new music!

$1+ rewards are out: Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s Warrior (Kesha METAL Cover) [New Exclusive Download] + a deep dive into the creation of the track for the $10+ patrons!

Hi everyone and hope you’re having a great start to September! It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and today I have an extra special Patreon exclusive track to share with the $1+ patrons from a brand new Jabun side project! Time for some more rewards! 

The name of this new side project is “Jabun [Alternate Reality]” and truth be told, I’m not 100% sure what I want to do with it yet, but I sure am excited to announce it! Jabun [Alternate Reality] came about because there are things I’d like to release under the Jabun name which aren’t the chill or cinematic soundscapes you know me for, but are instead almost the complete opposite: Metal! I’ve been a metal fan and musician since my early teen years and it’s something that’s close to my heart but I certainly don’t feel fits under my usual Jabun or Better Than The Book banners which are more experimental/electronic/chill and ska punk respectively. I have plans to release more metal / metal inspired original music in the future, but to kickstart this project, I’m releasing a cover of Kesha’s “Warrior”, which being a mainstream pop song, gives a nice extra meaning to that “Alternate Reality” metal version I’m excited to release today! 

I’ve had this metal / metalcore cover idea going through my head ever since I first heard Kesha’s Warrior years ago, and after seeing Killswitch Engage with Iron Maiden on August 11th 2018 and completing Better Than The Book’s 2nd full-length album in July 2019, I thought it was finally time to get this thing recorded! With some delays including moving house/studios, illness and more (not to mention this crazy 2020), I’m super happy to finally be able to share this first track as Jabun [Alternate Reality], the new not-so-chill side of Jabun! 

Jabun [Alternate Reality] - Warrior is an exclusive download for my supporters on Patreon only and for the $1 Patrons, you’ve got the download package (Mp3 & artwork) to pick up today! Become a patron for as little as $1 to grab Jabun [Alternate Reality] – Warrior:

$1 rewards (Mp3, Art): https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080255/

$5 rewards (Mp3, WAV, Art): https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080252/   

All original songwriting credits go to Kesha Sebert, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Pebe Sebert and Henry Walter with the original performance recorded by Kesha, and an extra special thanks to Vlad for lending his metal experienced ears during the mixing and mastering process! Couldn’t have sounded this good without your help! 

Arranged, performed and produced by Nick Standing 

Recorded, mixed and mastered at JabunAudio by Nick Standing 

Track artwork by Nick Standing 

For the $10 patrons we’re also taking a deep dive into the creation of Warrior with some WIP demos and a behind the scenes article! Become a $10 patron to access that and many more rewards 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 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 :)  

$10 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080246/ 

Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding   

That's it for this month's rewards! Next time we’ll be back to complete Jabun’s current discography with the 2017 album Daydream, but I’m sure there’ll be tonnes of news to share on Patreon in the mean time! Until the next one, I hope you enjoy the brand new music and thanks as always for supporting Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects! All the best and take care!

Better Than The Book's (The Travelling To See Eva Song) [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, SoundCloud and Newgrounds!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! Just a quick one today to say that Better Than The Book's (The Travelling To See Eva Song) [Instrumental] is now streaming on YouTube, Newgrounds and SoundCloud! New tracks from the Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] bonus album will be uploaded each Friday until the end of September! Check out (The Travelling To See Eva Song) [Instrumental] below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DWAd_it1IQ

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bttb_uk/the-travelling-to-see-eva-1

And if you like what you hear, pick up Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] on bandcamp along with the rest of the BTTB discography:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams-instrumentals

Or grab it when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! Early access rewards for Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s Warrior (Kesha metal cover) are out for the $5+ patrons! Find out more below and grab it before it's released next week:  

https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080253

And until next time I hope you have a great end to August and thanks as always for supporting my projects! Take care and enjoy the new music!

Happy 5 year anniversary to the World Beyond YouTube Channel + a new video to celebrate: "Rewind Machine"!

Hi everyone and some super cool news to share with you today!

Today marks 5 years of the World Beyond YouTube Channel and after a year and half of music videos from the 2018 album "Nobody Asked For This So I Did It" (for which I played a tonne of guitar and bass), we finally reach the last track and video for the project, "Rewind Machine"! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8rbbhkYOVE

In case you don't know, World Beyond is a cinematic music project lead by a good friend of mine Vladimir Kuznetsov and a project I've been a part of since 2013, mostly lending my ears, guitar and bass, but also the occasional other instrument (such as cello) and writing. Find out more about World Beyond in the video description on YouTube!

Rewind Machine is one of my favourite tracks of the album and this video is an amazing conclusion / bonus ending to what has been a fantastic album project to be a part of! You'll see some behind the scenes stills from our recording sessions 2 years ago, some gear showcase and more, and look carefully enough and you might find a hidden download key for the album on Bandcamp too (there's 3 to spot throughout the video so grab them fast before someone else does)! I hope you enjoy Rewind Machine and look forward to working on more tunes with World Beyond soon! Cheer Vlad, here's to 5 years of the channel, and wishing you many more successes with World Beyond in the years to come!