#EVOLVE

It's finally here! The first of my new 'Evolve' series. I'll write more soon but the press release below spells it out pretty clearly. Hope you like the new direction - and the video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3CWc7t-juo

 

Download here:
Beta Recordings store: http://jhnb.me/EVLV01
Apple Music: http://www.smarturl.it/BETA050
Spotify: http://jhnb.me/EVLV1Sptfy
Beatport: http://jhnb.me/EVLVv1bt

Beta Recordings’ 50th release and the beginning of a new chapter for Label owner John B.

Evolve is an exciting new project, musically & conceptually, from John B. A consistent series of new releases, reliably out every month, a new musical direction, the rebranding of the John B Podcast to ‘Evolve Radio’, and a futuristic touring concept & a compilation mix series to come.

Moving away from the traditional cycle of artist albums - long periods of quiet, then sudden push to promote one album, followed by silence again, this will mean a faster cycle from track completion to release, and steadier stream of adventurous, new music, continuously and regularly released – the vibe, awareness & promotion will develop organically as the project progresses.

Fusing the influence of mature, uplifting, progressive electronic music with the power, energy & surgical production values of Neurofunk & big-room Epic Drum & Bass, but still looking back and referencing his roots, John B’s sound is Evolving once more. Think Pryda vs Noisia, Jean Michelle Jarre vs DLR, Vangelis vs Hybris. Huge evolving arpeggios & uplifting yet restrained soundscapes contrasting with the tight drums & unstoppable force of modern electronic Drum & Bass. This is the mission statement.

The first track in this continuing series itself is entitled ‘Evolve’ and features speech & vocals contributed by fans from all over the world. A long, unfolding epic, morphing intro slowly builds into a tight, simple drop cutting straight through to the dancefloor, twists & develops further into a second drop where mangled reece basslines emerge from the depths and take things to the next level. A perfect release to set the bar high & begin an exciting new journey…

May 2015 News | New Studio Mix | Free Track Download | New Video | New Webstore

Lots of cool new stuff going on this week!

After a bit of a break with my podcast we're back with a brand new episode - and a big one at that - 2.5 hours of fresh new Drum & Bass - the Spring 2015 studio mix! Thought this time I should keep the chat to a minimum and do a proper, long, DnB mix representative of all the new stuff around at the moment that I'm into & don't always get to play in my club gigs if the set-times are shorter.

I get a lot of messages from fans of the podcast, and I can tell its something you guys love & were sad that I stopped doing them every week. I will always continue doing as regularly as possible - it was great to be doing them every week last year but it was taking up so much time, everrrrry week, planning what I should play, doing the mix, recording the voiceover stuff, and then all the technical stuff to get it up on itunes, soundcloud, johnbpodcast.com, john-b.com, reposting on Facebook, twitter blah blah blah etc. So the plan now is probably once every few weeks or so for the normal podcasts - and of course whenever I can record my live sets from the clubs I'll get them up on there too!

CLICK HERE to check out all the links, or you can stream it from this soundcloud thing below:

I also took a little break from the podcast at the beginning of the year because I GOT MARRIED!!! Back in February I married Magda, and we were away for our Honeymoon in Miami for the whole of March (and I also did some US tour dates including the week-long Miami WMC as usual) - hopefully a decent enough reason to take a break from doing the podcast every week during that time! ;-)

Now that I'm back - I'm fired up and ready to go in the studio with the next phase of my studio output - when I got back from the honeymoon I pulled apart all my studio stuff, changed all the desks to reduce their height (for some reason when I designed my set up years ago I decided it would be a good idea to have the desks much higher than is comfortable for some reason!) - got some proper Herman Miller chairs that I've always wanted, so I can actually sit there for the hours and hours you need, and rewired everything and got all the random cables that has spewed out of control over the years all tidied up and out of the way. Studio Mac Pro is all upgraded and running smoothly now, just a few more plug-ins and software instruments to upgrade... Here's a quick photo - I'll be recording a proper behind-the-scenes video in the next week or so for all you audio geeks!

Also - another free download - this time a new track of mine called "Electricity". I made it back in December just before I played at Soul In Motion, to use as the intro track that night. The original idea was obviously a political one, a dark industrial electro drum & bass hybrid track, with robo-vocoder vocals talking about society, bankers, tax evasion, inequality, corruption etc. With elections coming in the UK this week, more protests in America over police brutality & inequality, ongoing propaganda issues with Russia/USA/Ukraine stuff and talk of big businesses avoiding tax in times of austerity etc I figured it was a good time to put it 'out there' - and to make a serious video to go with it.

I love the venue they use for Soul in Motion - the club is in the basement of a really cool posh hotel and whenever I go there it always strikes me the different types of people there are upstairs vs. downstairs. Even though the vibe in either is totally cool & inclusive you can't help but notice how in the posh hotel bar and expensive restaurant upstairs there's all the rich, London media-types & international businessmen (and their hookers) while downstairs, in the same place there is this super underground other world - existing right in the same building. Obviously its still people that live in london and can afford to go clubbing etc but you do notice a contrast. That's where the 'Upstairs there is bourgeoise, downstairs music energy' line comes from anyway.

So... when Russell Brand was on BBC Question time he made a decent speech about a lot of those issues -  Farage & UKIP using immigrants as scapegoats for the cutbacks/austerity when the real villains are the banks that caused the crash & the big businesses that avoid paying tax, and the politicians that allow it etc. Realised that would be great for the intro for the track & set the tone for what was to come and it worked really well - except I couldn't get in touch with any of his people to get his bit officially cleared & also in the spirit of the track I think free download is more fitting.

So I got my head round Final Cut X and spent a few days last week working on the video, cut up loads of new archive footage, managed to sync up Russell Brand on the BBC show & then figured out how to overlay all the text so it drives home what the lyrics were. Anyway, here's the video, you can download the track from my soundcloud here.

We now have a brand new webstore!

The old webstore was getting pretty out-of-date looking so I moved it over to a new Shopify system. The great thing is now we offer digital downloads bundled with any physical product - so basically if you buy anything on vinyl or CD you get instant access to the music as a download too - AND as well as the usual mp3s you can now buy high definition WAV files. Lots of new merch too and some exciting new shirts and other clothing coming soon!

Check it out at www.beta-store.com

New behind the scenes tour videos!

Hi there folks!

I posted up a couple new videos to www.johnbtv.com and the usual video places from tourdates last year - thought I ought to post them up here too...

Video: John B @ PVV Ideon in Pardubice, Czech Republic 29.05.09

Just been going through all the photo galleries from this event at the end of May, and found a nice video from the night too, thankfully one I didn't have to film and edit myself!! Looking GOOD! Luckily they didn't catch on camera how unbeleivably drunk I ended up - random Czech Vodka + purple energy drink + DJing Adrenaline = Drunky FAIL John B. It only hit me after I finished playing thank God - but still, 8am on the way to the airport the next day wasn't my finest hour!

Photos to follow!

You can check the video out on vimeo here: http://vimeo.com/4926809

Video from Halloween in Heidelburg

Another video off my old camera before I put it up in the loft with the moths and ghosts of old imacs....

This one's from last October when I played in Heidelburg, Germany with Bailey, Fresh and MC Rage. Enjoy...

Talking to the Animals in Budapest Zoo...

I've been trying to clear the backlog of old unedited videos off my old camera before I ditch it on ebay - found this gem today... Footage from my gig in Budapest at Club Diesel back in October 2008, but more importantly the TRIP TO THE ZOO. Strange animal noises aplenty ;-)

I VANT TO DRINK YOUR BLOOD (and put you in a crap hotel)...

Just thought I'd post up a few photos from Romania on Friday seeing as it was a bit of a random trip!

The gig was great, which is the important part, totally rammed, to the point where it was just sooooooo hot in there, my clothes are STILL soaking wet and its Monday! Got to the point though where all my makeup had run into my eyes and I couldn't see properly!

And, well the hotel is worthy of a mention - I really needed a good long sleep after the gig, to the point where we'd changed the flights so I could just pass out till the 5pm flight back to London, but well - the hotel was a bit more like Dracula's Grannie's ghoulish Guesthouse, so I ditched that plan and went straight back on the 8am flight, on no sleep, completely mashed! Filmed the hotel to remember the glorious experience... see below ;-)

Gotta say thanks to all the clubbbers that came out to the gig though, despite the dodgy hotel and no sleep/flight mix-ups it was good to come and play to such a good crowd, and I'm still friends with the organisers! Next time its the Hilton baby! ;-)



And a few photos:


The Radiator, that you couldn't turn off (bear in mind it was about 25 degrees, at night over there)


Luxury seating:


Epic King-size bed:


Quality Electrics:


Excellent local ameneties & services next door:


About to pass out on the flight home, straight after the party:

HD Video: John B @ Pirate Station St. Petersburg 31.01.09

720p HD Tour video of John B's biggest gig ever to 25,000+ ravers at the SKK arena in St. Petersburg for the Pirate Station 'Immortal' Event.

Loads of live footage from his set in the main arena, then the VIP Deluxe arena for his 2nd set. Crazy performances from acrobats and performance artists & sexydancers on-stage. And some bonus footage from the artists' area backstage, and pretty scary video of stilt walkers falling over! (We hope they're ok!)



Much love to all the Russian fans, all the organisers & crew that made the event as amazing and memorable as it was!

To be followed by another video of all the random backstage drunken banter ;-)

Available in Super-Mega HD on vimeo & youtube.

If you want to download the video file for iphone & ipod click here.

If you want to download the BIG 720p video file compatible with most players click here.

You can also download the special John B Pirate Station Podcast if you click here.

AND you can see all the photos from the event if you click here.

HD Video: Backstage @ Pirate Station, St. Petersburg 31.01.09

To watch the video in High Definition on YouTube click here



Randon drunken backstage banter at Pirate Station in St. Petersburg. John B with the camera chatting and rambling with El Hornet of Pendulum, Noisia, Chase & Status, Subfocus. And a piano. No DJs were harmed during the making of this film...

To download this video file for ipod & iphone click here.

To download this video file for apple TV/PS3 etc in full 720p click here.

New Video: Behind the scenes at Creamfields Poland August 2008

Hi folks. Just posted up a new video (although its from an event last summer - got round to editing it in the end!) to all the usual spots... If you're subscribed to the John B Podcast (search in iTunes if you aren't - its ACE!) then you should already have it downloading automatically by now.

If you want to download the iPod friendly version you can use this link:

http://www.johnbtv.com/VideoFiles/JohnB_Creamfields_ipod.mp4

And I've done a higher res one for people with stuff like an Apple TV or if you want to stream it to your xbox 360, PS3 or whatever - link for that is:

http://www.johnbtv.com/VideoFiles/JohnB_Creamfields_appletv.mp4

Its up on Youtube and myspace already, and Vimeo (looks best on there).



Anyway hope you like it...

I bought a spiffing new video camera last week in preparation for last weekend's big gigs, Stuttgart on Friday and the huge Pirate Station in Russia on Saturday - and actually watched all the Final Cut Studio Tutorial videos on my iPhone on the flights - so things should get a lot more professional-looking soon... And hopefully the workflow will be faster too - have been on a great studio roll lately so don't want this stuff to get in the way!

Video from Donoskoy City, Russia!

Yes I HAVE been busy! Need to spend more time in the studio than editing videos right?

Filmed this back in August when I played in Donoskoy City, a cool city about 2-3 hours drive from Moscow. The promoter was a really cool guy, a local Government official, but he had a special nature park place, with a lake and outdoor nightclub all connected in - think they had plans to build a little hotel there too in the future and promote tourism to the area. The idea being people could come and escape from the hustle and bustle of Moscow to see come nice countryside and go fishing etc - but at nighttime it goes all Ibiza, Russian style!

Alas we were VERY unlucky with the weather - one of the biggest thunderstorms I've ever seen (apart from in Texas) decided to come and hassle us, in fact I'm suprised the plane was even allowed to land in Moscow - so what could have been a load of happy Russian ravers dancing to the sounds of John B under the moonlight was more of a mudpit under thunder and lightening and floods... We still had a great time, but it was a shame that the first time they paid to fly out an international DJ the weather scuppered it :-( I'll be back next year though and they promised me it will be sunny then... ;-)

Big thanks to all the guys that helped out, and for the BLINSKI ETLITCHNA!!!!

Oh, and see the vid through till the end - you get a nice bit of a VJ video for my remix of Glamour for Better at the end...

Starscape 2008 Video!

Just posted up a new tour video - from my gig at the Starscape 2008 festival in Baltimore, USA back in June... Its up on youtube (click here) and is currently uploading to my myspace and facebook as we speak - I'll also have it on the podcast feed shortly too. Fabulous. I bet my internet providor loves me right now...