i am very excited to announce that dubb's first album rhythm and poetry (rap) is out. dubb is none other than harry baker who crafts words that are fun, poignant and high energy. the album is 9 tracks mixed by jon birch, the godfather (well his godfather!). the beats are provided by the human beatbox tyte who if you haven't come across is brilliant. it's available to download from proost for only 4.99. it includes be yourself and the legendary superman shoes which you may have heard before. you can have a listen to samples of the album in the media player (right window on proost). i am of course totally biased but it is a wonderful debut.

our other release this month is espresso scriptures from ben norton, a collection of short reflections on scriptures. here's what i wrote for the foreword…

Ben’s a surprise! When you meet him you think he can’t be a vicar in the Church of England. He doesn’t seem the type with his tattoos and piercings and spiky hair of whatever colour it happens to be that week. But then you find out he is one of these new pioneer ministers who get to create something from nothing, to share the Christian faith with people who aren’t in church. The church has realised that business as usual works for insiders but there are whole groups of people for whom church is like another planet, a different world. And it is going to take some different people to go on an adventure of the imagination to connect the Christian story with their stories in a way that makes sense. So Ben hangs out chatting to people, sharing the faith whether at school gates in the pub, on youtube online or out surfing gently growing a spiritual community or two that doesn’t require visiting another planet called church.

Espresso scriptures has naturally emerged out of that – framing the scriptures as a daily short reflection that is sent via e-mail to people who are interested in spiritual things. They are straightforward, direct and creative – perfect for the morning to get you going for the day. It’s Proost’s first bible reading book I guess though it doesn’t quite feel like a set of bible study notes in that sense. It’s also Ben’s first book, the first of many we are sure.

So make yourself an espresso, rip out a page and digest it as you go. We’re delighted Ben brought it to us as an idea and now the idea has legs.