A look at Professor Penguin's forthcoming debut album Planes

Professor Penguin is the creation of singer songwriter Jonny Abraham. Initially started as a college project, Professor Penguin has grown to a nine piece band with a substantial following. After receiving widespread radio support and praise from Brian Eno for their single “Pilot”, the group are set to release their debut album Planes on 9^th April.

Planes immerses you into Abraham's unique sound world. It is an interesting mix of guitar orientated songs with added ingredients of strings, brass and ambience. Stir and simmer gently et voilà! The result is a collection of delicate songs with a dream-like quality.

Various themes run throughout the album, uniting the songs. Before even hearing the album, the eye is drawn to the fact that the title of each track begins with the letter “P”. No doubt this is Jon's sense of humour, keeping to the alliteration of the band name. Musically, there are recurring spacious brass themes, arresting string arrangements and smooth, rounded backing vocal “ah”s.

Song writing, gigging, killing people, and world domination: An insight into the world of JOS.

2012 promises to be an exciting year for London based singer-songwriter John O'Shea. After years of performing as a solo artist he has bough together guitarist Rosie Botterill, laid back bassist Chris Pinkston and down-to-earth drummer Anna Thomas to form a four piece rock outfit named JOS, giving his songs a new lease of life. After a few months of rehearsing in 2011 John O'Shea and the newly assembled band were ready to hit the gig circuit with their first gig at The Water Rats in January 2012. Playing songs which John wrote 10 years ago and has not yet heard performed, it was a momentous and emotional night. He recalls “When I came home I must have gone to bed about 12:30 and I just stared at the wall until about 4 o'clock in the morning. It blew my brain”. I join them at their third gig at the Dublin Castle to see how it's all settling in.

As I arrive Camden's Dublin Castle, slightly late courtesy of the London Underground engineering works, I am met by exuberant guitarist Rosie who fills me in on the current situation. The band were supposed to have sound checked by now but due to the unexpected disappearance of the headlining act the running order for the evening has become confused and sound checking has over run. Musing that a life in rock 'n' roll is never uneventful, I follow her through the bar and into the venue to be greeted by the sight of glum looking musicians, bored of waiting around. JOS have changed their slot to first as Anna and John are both ill, John with a bad throat. Being the first band to play means being the last to sound check so I sit with Rosie and watch a band who clearly want to be Iron Maiden perform their sound check. Most entertaining. As they finish and the next band begin to set up, I suggest to Rosie that we make use of the surplus time and go somewhere quieter to talk. She agrees, poses the idea to the rest of the band and in no time we're headed to the bar next door, buying drinks and gathering around a table to chew the fat on the topics of song writing, internet marketing and the music industry in general.

Useful websites for composers

For all of you composers out there, if you haven't yet stumbled across Composition Today then its well worth a look. It features up to date listings of jobs and composing competitions and opportunities as well as having a very useful sound bank. You do have to be a member to access the jobs and composition opportunities but the fee is reasonable, £20 per year. The sound bank though is free.

In the sound bank section you can hear samples of every orchestral instrument as well as some playing techniques and a wide range of percussion. A very useful source while composing, particularly for new composers who aren't sure what various techniques sound like. If for some reason you can't access samples of the playing techniques from the sound bank page, then a search in the search bar on the left hand side of the page usually brings them up.

While I'm at it, another useful link is the Audio Geek Zine's sample of a bowed cymbal, a must for any horror/suspense score. Click here to hear the bowed cymbal.

For anyone interested in the more techy/electronic side of music, Audio Geek Zine might be useful to you.

Happy composing everyone!

• www.compositiontoday.com/
• http://audiogeekzine.com/

Vinyl sales hit 6 year high - Could MP3s be responsible?

MP3s - they allow us easy access to music via downloads, the effortless sharing of music with our friends and the ability to listen to music on the go. It can honestly be said that they have revolutionised the music experience. The MP3 can take responsibility for the drop in album sales and music shop figures due to downloads but can the recent increase in vinyl record sales also be caused by the MP3? It may sound like backwards reasoning that the modern music medium is behind the reinstated popularity of the old, but it has to be said, MP3s really are not that good.

It is common knowledge that the MP3 has a low quality sound format. In order to make the files portable and easy to send the tracks are greatly compressed, which results in the change of aspects of the sound. Essentially this means that the rising and falling sound waves one would find from a vinyl record have been straightened out to more closely resemble a horizontal line, making everything an equal, and loud, volume. This results in the loss of depth and clarity in the music with no low end frequencies, creating a trebly sounding track. While this sounds fine on the low quality ear buds used by most to listen to their ipods, it gives a very dis-satisfying experience of music through good quality speakers.

Vintage Trouble - The Bomb Shelter Sessions

Left to right: Nalle Colt, Ty Taylor, Richard Danielson, Rick Barrio Dill

New comers Vintage Trouble have been causing quite a stir on the music scene. Nominated as best new band by Classic Rock magazine and having supported rock legends Bon Jovi, Brian May and Thin Lizzy on recent tours, The Bomb Shelter Sessions shows why they are a hard band to ignore.

As the band name suggests, this record has a vintage feel to it. Harkening back to the musical style and ethos of the 1960s, the debut album from the Californian four piece features catchy, singable songs with a strong soul and blues vibe.

The first track, “Blues Hand Me Down”, blares through the speakers with an energetic blues riff. This simple bit of good old fashioned blues rock will have you wanting to get up and dance while listening to front man Ty Taylor's light-hearted lyrics about how the blues was passed down to him “Papa was a blues man gave me the blues hand me down/In alligator shoes man gave me the blues hand me down”.

Vintage Trouble play the Electric Ballroom - An exhilarating performance

Sadly its not often that I get to attend gigs, but when I do they are always the most entertaining, inspiring and amazing few hours that I will have had for a few months. This evening was no exception. Not only did my headlining band completely blow me away, but the support act, Kill It Kid, were something special too. Its not often that happens for me.

I have spent this cold wintery evening in Camden's Electric Ballroom, keeping warm by singing, clapping and dancing along to the blues, soul and rock n roll of Vintage Trouble. If you haven't come across them before then you're missing out! They originate from California and play energetic good old-fashioned rock n roll with a bluesy soul feel. Their live performances are amazing, giving me the urge to share with everyone my experience tonight.

Freddie Mercury - Lover of Life, Singer of Songs

5 September 1946 - 24 November 1991

As many of you may or may not know, it is 20 years ago today since Freddie Mercury sadly passed away. With Freddie being such an influential and important figure in music, and with a career spanning three decades, I felt it wouldn't be right to let the day pass un-noted.