Archive for 2014 - Page 77

Adam Stevens always impresses us with his solo bass arrangements. Here he is with one of his latest – a live bass loop version of Little Dragon’s “Twice”.

Music lovers all over were heartbroken last year at the dissolution of Mars Volta. The group, which in the end was anchored by bassist Juan Alderete, split after a dispute between founders Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala. Now, the duo has apparently made amends to form a new band called Antemasque. The quartet is rounded out by drummer Dave Elitch...

You know we love these top 10 lists. Sometimes they’re even better, when one of the items is another top 10 list. And that’s what happened this week. Check out the most watched videos and most read stories on No Treble for the week of April 6-12, 2014. Thanks for reading, watching, commenting and sharing. 1. Jim Bennett: “Thrift Shop”...

Shredneck, a company that specializes in practice and travel instruments, has introduced the Z-Series of travel basses. At a total body length of 36.25″, the Z-Series bass is approximately 5/8ths the size of a standard bass guitar. The instrument’s 2-piece nato body is loaded with a PJ pickup configuration with volume and tone controls. The maple neck is topped with...

Bass and voice duets can be so powerful. Here’s a gorgeous song by the Mexican duo Boisse, comprised of bassist Hector Baños and vocalist Majo Saenz performing “Flor.”

Or Lubianiker shared this video of his group Steroid Puppets’ new video for the song “Muddy Bright.” “[It’s a] very bass heavy tune of course, like all tunes should be,” he explained. And we agree. Starting out with some ambience, the song develops into a huge groove before morphing through various styles. The pocket is held down by Lubianiker and...

The Mac is back — and that’s the full, classic version of Fleetwood Mac — and it’s going to tour North America this fall. The “On With the Show” tour begins Sept. 30 in Minneapolis at the Target Center. Keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter Christine McVie will tour with the band for the first time in 16 years, and her ex-husband, bassist John McVie,...

Over the past year, I’ve dug deep into the nether-regions of my brain, week after week, to figure out all of those things I wish I knew. Lucky for me, the crazy turmoil that is life as a professional musician has been inspiration enough. My goal in writing this series was to highlight those things I’ve learned the hard way…...

Aimee Mann and Ted Leo stopped by NPR for their Tiny Desk concert series in February, performing four tunes. NPR’s Bob Boilen said the members of duo “are often at opposite ends of the volume knob. But what started as separate sets during a mutual tour, then a few walk-ons during Leo’s solo set, is now an adventure in collaboration...

George Mraz, the Czech native and master of jazz acoustic bass, has joined up with pianist David Hazeltine and drummer Jason Brown to create the George Mraz/David Hazeltine Trio album, . The record features the players’ interpretations of classics like Rogers & Hart’s “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” and Cole Porter’s “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” alongside Mraz’s...

Murray Kuun is a South African luthier who admits he came to the profession relatively late in life, but his passion is in creating fresh designs. “I am not keen on making copies of instruments that have been copied ad nauseam,” he shared. “All my instruments are original designs.” His first bass model is the Elemental, a neck-thru bass with...

Up for a review is the Ibanez SRF700 Portamento, a 4-string fretless from the company’s new Bass Workshop series. The bass is fitted with some nice features for a bass under a thousand bucks, namely piezo pickups imbedded in the bridge and integrated with Bartolini active pickups. The bonus here is that the piezos actually sound great and not harsh....