Arshak “Quartet Nuance”: Don’t Try This at Home
Be careful: Pianist Arshak Sirunyan and his Quartet Nuance get dangerous on the song “Don’t Try This at Home”, recorded live in Silver Spring, Maryland earlier this year. Bassist Cheikh NDoye kicks the song off with an insane groove that sets the mood for the song. The rest of the band includes drummer Raul Pineda and guitarist John Lee, who...
Bassbaba Sumon Releases “Soul Food (Part 1)”
Bangladeshi bassist Bassbaba Sumon has released the first half of his debut solo bass album, entitled Soul Food (Part 1). The five-song instrumental album features culinary-inspired titles with heavy hitting guests including Felix Pastorius, Robert “Bubby” Lewis, Josh Cohen, Bob Franceschini, J.D. Blair, Mark Don and Erfan Nazezadeh. Utilizing only bass and drums, Soul Food mixes hard rock, world music,...
Bass of the Week: Cunningham Bass & Guitarz RLJ-5 Splendour Jazz Bass
Jamaica-born, Australia-based luthier Dwight Cunningham creates some stunning basses, including this gorgeous RLJ-5 Splendour Jazz Bass. The semi-hollow bass features a myrtle and alder body loaded with a Nordstrand Bigman pickup in the bridge position with a split coil in the neck position. Its seven-piece neck is crafted from Myrtle, Indian Rosewood, Maple and Mahogany. The lined fretless fingerboard is...
Iron Ether Updates Xerograph Deluxe Pedal
Iron Ether Electronics is continuing to redesign their pedals for 2016 with an updated version of the Xerograph Deluxe. The synthesizer-inspired stompbox now includes an expression attenuator knob for setting the sweep, top-mounted jacks, and a second footswitch dedicated to the envelope filter. “[The new] stomp switch activates/deactivates the envelope follower, allowing you to seamlessly move from envelope filter sounds...
Alter Bridge Announce 2017 North American Tour Dates
Alter Bridge will be bringing “The Last Hero” tour back to North America in 2017 after they wrap up their European trek this winter. The band will be starting in Mobile, Alabama on January 21st and working their way between the U.S. and Canada for a solid month. The Last Hero is the band’s fifth studio album. In our recent...
Eastwood Custom Shop Unveils the Classic 5 Bass
Eastwood will be introducing a five-string version of their Classic hollow body bass as part of their crowdfunding platform. The Classic 5 Bass will be built with a bound laminated maple body, maple top, and bound f-holes. Similar to the four-string, the fiver is fitted with a pair of EW-Retro humbuckers controlled with a 3-way switch. Its knobs are set...
Hugo Doyon-Karout: Playthrough of Beyond Creation’s “Neurotical Transmissions”
Hold on tight: Beyond Creation’s Hugo Doyon-Karout sent us this playthrough for Beyond Creation’s “Neurotical Transmissions”, and it’s a killer. The bassist tears through the track on his six-string fretless with blistering tapping lines. Check that right-hand technique, too!
Sting Releases “57th and 9th”, Announces World Tour
Sting has returned with his first rock-oriented album in thirteen years. 57th and 9th came together in an impulsively over a few weeks earlier this year and ranges in topic from Syrian refugees (“Inshallah”) to climate change (“One Fine Day”) to the loss of musical heroes (“50,000”). “There’s a child in all of us that looks at cultural icons and...
Stanley Clarke Brings Tour Back to U.S., Teases New Album
After spending the year in Europe and Asia, Stanley Clarke has announced he will bringing his band back to the U.S. for a tour in December. The bass legend will be joined by Beka Gochiashvili on piano, Cameron Graves on keys, and Michael Mitchell on drums. Clarke’s seven-date run will focus on Florida and Georgia, starting at the Ponte Vedra...
Overload Guitars Introduces the Taurus Bass
Italian custom instrument company Overload Guitars has unveiled a new bass model called the Taurus. The four-stringer is customizable but comes standard with a swamp ash body, flamed bubinga top, and seven-piece maple/bubinga/wenge neck with a resin fingerboard. Its neck has a flat “D”-shape profile with a compound fingerboard radius from 16-inches to 20-inches. It comes loaded with Nordstrand pickups...
Think Free: An Interview with Ben Allison
Ben Allison has had several names for his various bands, but Think Free may be one of the most apropos to his creative style. The bassist/composer crafts adventurous songs that defy simple categorization or labeling. He’s also a free-thinker in terms of forging his career path. After years of working for a record label, he branched out to create his...
Josquin Des Pres Launches Bass Fitness Mobile App
Want to get in shape? Bassist Josquin Des Pres has released a new app called Bass Fitness. Dubbed “The Ultimate Woodshedding App,” the new release is based on his published by Hal Leonard in 1991. “The exercises in Bass Fitness are designed to help increase your speed, improve your dexterity, develop accuracy and promote finger independence for the 4, 5...