MonoNeon Envisions John Cage on Soul Train
Ever thought about what it would have been like if avant-garde composer John Cage had performed on the funkiest show on TV back in the 1970s?
Well bassist/experimental composer Dywane “MonoNeon” Thomas Jr. has. And he, with the help of microtonal guitarist and composer, Michael Vick, has created a 5-track EP called, appropriately enough, John Cage on Soul Train.
MonoNeon, a left-handed bassist known for playing a right-handed instrument upside-down, was inspired after seeing Cage perform “Water Walk” on a vintage TV show. He and Vick composed the piece at a distance, using digital communication to create a piece of funky nostalgia for something that never was. MonoNeon plays a variety of basses on the EP, including a bowed double bass, fretless bass, and quarter-tone fretted bass (No Treble’s Bass of the Week for May 8, 2014).
But if Cage had taken a ride on the Soul Train, the result just might have been something like “Cage Train”:
John Cage on Soul Train is available for digital download on Bandcamp.
John Cage on Soul Train Track List:
- Hello! Is It Me U’re Lookin’ Fuh?
- Soul Spoof 13
- Freeak Her In Quarter Tones feat. Donny Corn
- Cage Train
- Scramble Board (Put It All Together, Say It!)
