Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 332

MonoNeon kicked the new year off right by releasing a fresh album called “Toxic Wasteland 2 The Hills.” The eight-song collection continues the bassist’s unreal sense of groove and melody. It also has a loose theme of self-care.

Grateful Dead founder Phil Lesh will be celebrating his 80th birthday this year. The Lockn’ Festival has already announced they’ll be honoring him in June, but now Lesh himself has unveiled a string of dates leading up to his birthday.

The Free Nationals have gained notoriety as Anderson .Paak’s live band, but now they’ve struck out with an album of their own. Anchored by Kelsey Gonzalez, the album includes .Paak, the late Mac Miller, Daniel Caeser, Kali Uchis, and more.

Ananashead Effects has announced the Main Fuzz, a pedal based on the vintage Fuzz Face circuit. It’s available in three versions: silicon, germanium, or a hybrid of the two.

Each year, the Winter NAMM Show brings the top industry talent to Anaheim, California. That includes bassists, who all flock to the Bass Bash. This year the event returns on January 16th and 17th with one of its best lineups yet.

TC Electronic has added two new versions of their time-based effects. The Flashback 2 Mini Delay and Hall of Fame 2 Mini Reverb each feature their TonePrint technology that allows for beaming in different tone types from your smartphone.

Deep Purple has released “Live in Rome 2013,” which captures the group during their “Now What?!” tour. The recording captures the band performing songs from their then-new record as well as their catalog of hits.

Sam Smith and his band Decently Dangerous have released their debut album, “Falling With Style.” The quartet, which includes Andrew Jordan, Joe Spinelli, and Bryan Ponton, is bass-heavy with Smith taking melodies and using a vocoder to perform vocals.

At the end of each year, we take a look back at all the best it had to offer. We also take a moment to remember all the bassists who left us. Each one of them helped to shape the musical world, from pop to jazz to black metal. They may be gone, but their music will always live on.

Hartke is expanding its range of bass amplifiers with the new LX Series including two models: the LX5500 and the LX8500. The amps, rated 500 watts and 800 watts, combine Class D power sections with a tube-driven preamp and Hartke’s tone stack EQ.

Elijah Nelson of Seattle death metal band Black Breath has passed away of undisclosed causes. He was 40 years old.

Opeth bassist Martin Mendez has announced that he has a new band called White Stones, and that band will be unleashing a new album called “Kuarahy” in 2020.