Archive for August 2015 - Page 7

If you love the sound of the early days of The Replacements and feel like a vinyl record is the only way to hear the legendarily unruly rock group, a new four-album set has your name written on it: The Twin/Tone Years. The set includes the band’s first four records: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981), the...

It’s always good to look back at your work when you hit a milestone, but Fodera does it with style. They recently completed a special Flame Koa Monarch 4 Elite that they’ve dubbed Fodera #4,000, and it’s a beauty. “Our Monarch design was our very first bass design and the second instrument that we ever built was a Monarch Bass...

Although I sometimes use a 1-2-3-4 fingering technique below the half point of the string (12th fret, if we had frets), I often find a thumb position fingering to be more efficient, easier on the hand and, most importantly, more accurate. Of course, many bass players first learn thumb position starting at the half point of the string (G harmonic...

Andrés Rotmistrovsky and Miki Santamaria are two of our favorite bassists to feature here. So it was super exciting to see a video of the two of them playing together. The setting is the Lorita Basses workshop in Barcelona, Spain, where Andrés and Miki were trying out their signature basses. The tune is Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” (Andrés performed a...

Experimental/avant-garde bassist, producer, and composer Bill Laswell has released back-to-back albums as part of his M.O.D. Technologies’ Incunabula Digital Series. One album, On Brion Gysin, features the spoken word work of the late poet, photographer and filmmaker Ira Cohen, incorporated into Laswell’s music, in tribute to the work of the late artist and writer Gysin, who pioneered the cut-up writing...

Here is your weekly dose of the best in bass. AKA the top 10 most read stories/most watched videos of the week on No Treble. Thanks as always for reading, watching, commenting and sharing. 1. Geddy Lee’s R40 Tour Gear Rundown Prepare to geek out. Our friend Christopher Buttner got a special tour of Geddy Lee‘s gear during the Tampa,...

After introducing the model last year, Ibanez is now offering the Terra Firma model in 5- and 6-string models with maple fretboards. The single-cut BTB model is part of the company’s experimental “Bass Workshop” series and has several features typically found on boutique basses. Its neck-through design includes a five-piece maple and bubinga neck with ash body wings topped by...

Here’s your daily dose of old school cool: Bachman-Turner Overdrive performing “Not Fragile” live in 1974. Fred Turner lays down one of the most simple yet effective bass lines on his black Rickenbacker to kick the band into high gear.

Nearly two years after their first release, bassist MonoNeon and producer Kriswontwo have teamed up again as Weon to release Neon the Won. The experimental duo fuse stellar bass playing with ear bending soundscapes to create an album that transcends genre. This time around they invited several guest musicians, including David “Fuze” Fiuczynski, Jerome Flood, Lance Lucas, Amber Baker, and...

Here’s something different: Bohemian Guitars has introduced the Boho Bass, a hollow body electric bass constructed with an upcycled oil can. Each body has a removable back as well as an internal wood frame for increased amplification and structural integrity. The Boho Bass features a 30-inch scale with easy access to the upper register on its maple neck and rosewood...

Here’s a beautifully creative clip of What A Day, a bass and vocal duo made up of Jonathan Joly and Leah Gracie. The band describes their project as a “musical trip through the entrails of the bureaucratic world” of the music industry. “Closet” features an interesting bass line that evokes imagery of the passing of a work day with a...

The late, great jazz bassist Charlie Haden and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba have long been known for the work they did together. Although Haden died in July 2014, there’s still music to be hear from the pair via the album Tokyo Adagio, which captures the best of their 2005 performances at Blue Note Tokyo. The sound is classic. Just listen to...