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Gigs Update – London Bass Guitar Show, Moffat Bass Bash, #TORYCORE…

Right, if you’re the kind of person who keeps tabs on my gigs page, you’ll have seen a bit of an update happen… Here’s the next few:

March 7th, 10:30am – London Bass Guitar Show. Aguilar and MXR/Dunlop present… me! Pedals/effects/processing masterclass at this most wonderful of london events – details on the LBGS site. Line-up also features Divinity, Doug Wimbish and Jah Wobble… lots of greatness going on 🙂

March 15th – the Moffat Bass Bash! Yay, Scotland! I don’t get to play up there anywhere nearly enough. It’s 10am-4pm, with me as special guest. All the deets are at www.moffatbassbash.co.uk

April 10/11th – #TORYCORE is back. Two nights of the words of our evil overlords in the appropriately evil setting of some tortuous avant-metal. We’re at Battersea Arts Centre in London, and all the details are on their website.

More gigs coming very soon…

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Creating Spaces Where People Can Respond To Music…

[big gig update blog-post coming later, but this was bubbling in my head so needed writing first… 😉 ]

Right, this was inspired by a couple of brilliant thinker-friends. Partly it was this blog post by Corey Mwamba (an exceptional musician, thinker, doer and advocate for music) about The Family Album, and his audience-focussed rethink of jazz/improvised music programming, and partly by the work of a theatre company called Coney, particularly their co-director Annette Mees, whose thinking on pretty much everything has been of immense value to me over the last while… Their amazing work on new ways of experiencing theatre, of devising experiential work for audiences is truly remarkable (their upcoming show, Early Days (Of A Better Nation) is touring in the run-up to the election, and is unmissable)

Anyway, here’s today’s brain-ramble, on which I welcome your thoughts and input…

…disappearing down a wikipedia wormhole of synonyms for outmoded terminology that appears to have no analog in the useful terminology world, I stumbled on Cymatics – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics

cymatics by evan grant.

And I’m now thinking about how it works as a metaphorical space for thinking about visible human/audience responses to music… Continue reading “Creating Spaces Where People Can Respond To Music…”

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5 Inspirational Bass Recordings with No Drums

Spend more than 5 minutes online talking about bass, and you’ll encounter some variation on the theme of ‘groove is king‘ – the idea that the only things that matter for musicians who play bass are those that relate to the function within a normal band line up is pushed pretty hard in most contexts.

But so many of my favourite bits of creative bass playing (in my own career and from others) happen when the bass is freed up from that idea of a ‘role’ and the musician is free to contribute to the music in whatever way works best for the music. Sometimes that’s still very much within the understanding of what the bass ‘should‘ do (as with Pop Pop here) but other times it breaks away from that.

So here are 5 drummerless albums that feature some absolutely exquisite bass playing in the context of wonderful music! (as always these are in no particular order) ::

 

  • Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard & Steve Swallow – Trios

Steve Swallow has one of the most singular, recognisable voices in the history of the electric bass. This trio is possibly my favourite setting for his playing ever. So much space, and his melody work is astonishing. To hear him with a drummer, have a listen to Bartalk by John Scofield. An incredible trio record with Adam Nussbaum on drums.

 

  • Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell, Dave Holland – Angel Song

One of my desert island discs, everything about this is perfect. It was Bill Frisell that lured me in, but Dave Hollands playing here is exemplary – his tone!!! This has to be one of my favourite recorded bass sounds ever, and his solo on this (the first solo on the opening tune of the album, no less) is just perfect. The feel is beautifully relaxed throughout, particularly in the interplay between Dave and Bill during Bill’s solo. Incredible.

 

  • Duke Ellington And Ray Brown – This One’s For Blanton

Jimmy Blanton changed the way all of us think about about the role of the bass, that much is true. That he died at 23 is mindblowing and deeply tragic. I can’t imagine what he’d have accomplished had he lived. The Ellington band of the 40s that Blanton was a part of is one of the most amazing groups of musicians ever assembled. This One’s For Blanton is a fitting and rich tribute, and who better to take the bass role than one of the true greats who followed on from Blanton’s lead in making the bass such an important instrument in Jazz, Ray Brown.

I can’t embed this video, as it’s blocked on YouTube, but it has to be this track for the unbelievable solo intro, and the incredible elaboration of a standard walking line that Ray goes into – Sophisticated Lady: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZFTDxYV7ss

 

  • Paradoxicon – Gianni Gebbia And Michael Manring

This is a REALLY unusual record. for much of it, the sax is playing a more rhythmic role than the bass, particularly on the opening tune, where Michael is all texture and what groove there is is from Gianni’s sax. Some beautiful writing, and a wonderful space for Michael to explore.

 

  • Rickie Lee Jones – Pop Pop

This kind of breaks the rules, in that 3 of the tunes on the album have percussion on, but the rest of them are so great, and Charlie Haden does drummerless bass playing SO well that I had to include it. I also really wanted a great vocal record in here to show what can happen when you free bass up from the ‘groove’ obsession in a song context. Charlie Haden may well be my favourite drummerless bassist of all, every note he plays is exactly where he wants it to be. The economy of notes is counterbalanced by the obvious care and attention given to every part of every note. Astonishing.

 

Over to you – what are your favourites?

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5 Solo Bassists Who Shaped My Musical World

It’s a truism that most solo bass struggles in ‘pure’ musical terms. It’s so easy to get caught up justifying our ‘right’ to play solo by doing clever acrobatic things that the meaningful deployment of those acrobatics, or the avoidance of them for more musical ends gets lost along the way, and YouTube ends up as a fumbling bass-circus.

For this reason, there are very few solo bassists in my list of musical influences. But those who are there are towering monuments to what’s possible on this amazing instrument of ours, and their influence on my music and musical outlook is massive.

So, in no particular order, here’s 5 solo bassists who shaped my musical world: Continue reading “5 Solo Bassists Who Shaped My Musical World”

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2014 – A Year In Music

2014 has been another fun-packed year of musicking – solo gigs, collaborations, recordings and launching a subscription service to help people keep track of my rather accelerated release schedule 🙂 . In the UK and abroad, so much has been going on. So let’s grab a few highlights, eh?

The year started in traditional fashion, with a trip to California and a run of shows with Daniel Berkman and Artemis. After releasing the 10 album FingerPainting set in 2013, we’ve held off on releasing any of the 14 shows we did this year, but there’s some magic in there, and it’s in the queue for future release (though not all 14 shows of it, I learned my lesson last time 😉 )

I also did a duo show with bassist Steve Uccello while in California, that resulted in a couple of wonderful duets that will see the light of day very soon.

Oh and on the eve of my trip to California, I released What The Mind Thinks The Heart Transmits – my first ‘proper‘ ambient recording, which has proved very popular this year:

Continue reading “2014 – A Year In Music”

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Favourite albums of 2014…

Over the last week or so I’ve read a whole load of different sources talking about the decline in music. Either the music economy has tanked or pop music is dead, or no-one’s buying albums, or only posh people make music…

Well, as an alternative to that, I think I’ve bought more new music this year than any year ever. And SO much of it is fabulous. Here’s my list of favourites from 2014, in absolutely no particular order:

  • Up – Stanley Clarke

I probably wouldn’t have bought this, for the simple reason that I’m buried under amazing new music. But I was sent it to go along with an interview that I did with Stanley for Bass Guitar Magazine (coming soon!) and I’m SO glad I heard it, cos it’s fabulous. Here’s an artist growing older, still learning, still evolving and having a whole lot of fun. It’s a wonderful album.

This one I discovered after meeting White Empress’ fabulous bassist Chela Rhea Harper at the Warwick Open Day in Germany in September. A fantastic extreme metal band, formed by Paul Allender who used to be in Cradle Of Filth. It avoids all the purile shock-tactics-that-appeal-to-12-year-olds bullshit that CoF traded in, and instead contains some incredibly progressive writing, more riffs than most metal bands’ entire careers, and of course some killer bass playing. Love it.

  • Goliath – Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil

I backed this on Kickstarter about 10 years before it came out (or that’s what it felt like) – SO long awaited. Anything Steve Taylor does is hotly anticipated round here, and Goliath delivers on every level. Amazing songwriting, production, lyrics, everything. Love it.

Another artist getting better and better with every album. I wasn’t sure how Rosanne could top The List, but I guess by applying the same level of care and attention to an album of all-original material (as opposed to the all-covers remit of The List) she gets even deeper inside her own work. It’s astonishing, deep, beautiful. A remarkable album.

I’ll buy anything Polar Bear ever do without even hearing it first, such is my trust in Seb Rochford’s taste and judgement. This one has a lot more Leafcutter John on that before, and it’s for the good, if you ask me. They get further from anything people would normally associate with jazz with every release, but perhaps deeper into the experimental progressive tradition of jazz at the same time. Wonderful.

Also a contender for gig of the year, Phronesis are outliers in my listening taste, as I usually like my jazz languid, ambient, mellow, ECM-ish… They play frenetic, complex, heavily written jazz, though tend to avoid walking bass and straight-up swing tunes. Jasper Hoiby is an astonishing bassist and band leader, and I love everything I’ve heard from them.

Comeback of the year? Quite possibly. A brave, stark, amazing record. Neneh’s voice and therefor words are so exposed here, and the two-piece band provide an amazing, beguiling context for her songs. Amazing.

‘Jonatha Brooke makes amazing album’ isn’t really much of a surprise, but writing an amazing musical about your mother’s journey into dementia is something that raises an eyebrow even from Jonatha. How does that work? Buy it and find out. Another collection of amazing songs. Every little thing she does is magic.

The 2nd extreme metal album in my list, and the 2nd one influenced by meeting the bass player at the Warwick Open Day. Nick Schendzielos is the latest in a distinct line of fretless players in extreme metal bands, and has carved out a sonic space for himself in the band that adds SO much to the sound of the band. Complex, heavy as shit, and with a great deal of light and shade. One of my favourite extreme metal albums ever.

Anything by Julie is going to be great, right? Right. In Marco, she’s found the perfect writing partner/foil. They compliment each other brilliantly, and Marco’s fretless alongside Julie’s signature riff ideas works perfectly. Fusion from the future.

  • Now – Gary Husband/Alex Machacek

I had SUCH high hopes for this, and it exceeded even those. Two musicians at the very top of their respective trees worldwide. Piano and elec guitar duets with just the right amount of additional manipulation from Alex. Love this so much.

Dan’s last project, Modular, is one of the greatest things I’ve ever bought on Bandcamp. So this was a must. And it’s great. A lil’ bit Frisell, a lil’ bit Torn, a big bit Phelps. Incredible instrumental guitar writing.

Another contender for metal album of the year – instrumental extreme metal, with a strong streak of classic rock harmony guitar running through it. The first of two great albums this year with Alex Webster on bass…

From the ashes of Little Fish comes Candy Says. Grown up disco pop perfection.

Ben channelling everything that was great about singer/songwriters in the 70s through the lens of the tracks that he sang lead on in Everything But The Girl. At least as good as you’d imagine that to be, possibly better.

About as mature and assured a debut album as you’ll ever hear. Acoustic singer/songwriter with just enough vaudeville/murder ballad/Nick Cave/Tom Waits-iness to give it an edge. Properly beautiful, and not even out yet 🙂

Jonas exploring further the intersection between improvised music, metal and indian music. With utterly stunning results.

  • Mira – Arild Andersen, Paolo Vinaccia, Tommy Smith

Sax, bass, drums. Spacious, exquisitely written and recorded, and by far my favourite Tommy Smith recording ever. Arild as amazing as ever. Includes the theme tune from Alfie. True story.

Lou’s vocals are SO refreshingly devoid of all the hystrionic fauxmotional melisma of every post Aguilera/Whitehouse female singer, it’s like a palette cleanser. Lamb do what Lamb do better than pretty much anyone.

Loud, angry, scary, dark, relentless. Pretty much everything you’d expect.

  • Black Messiah – D’Angelo

Album of the year? Quite possibly. An astonishing, audacious, near-perfect comeback, dropped at a days’ notice in mid December. Questlove and Pino have never sounded so great. Adore this so so much.

The all-acoustic version of this record was already one of my favourite albums of the last 5 years, but was never released. Andrew’s since taken it and added all kinds of other instruments, layers, production, and has lost none of the magic. He keeps making astonishing records. And there are a number of songs here that make me cry. So that’s good.

  • Roam – Trevor Exter

Trevor plays cello and sings. Here he does just those two things to stunning, world-beatingly great effect. Another contender for album of the year.

more amazing jazz that originates from the UK. Bassist Ruth Goller is one of my favourite bass playing musicians on the planet, and is also one of very few musicians whose presence on a recording makes it worth listening to purely due to her being there. A dizzying mix of heavy writing and heavy improv with some stellar guitar playing. And Ruth’s killer bass.

Cannibal Corpse’s only competition ever is their own back catalogue. They’re in a league of one. And this is definitely their best *sounding* record ever, and one of my favourites compositionally too. They just keep getting better. Which after 25 years as a resolutely non-progressive death metal band, is a truly unique and remarkable feat.

Imagine how great an album of two banjo players, one of them also singing, could possibly be, and multiply that. By six.

There you go. Something for everyone 🙂

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Bandcamp and the New EU Vat LAW…

[EDIT – Scratch all that, Bandcamp have rescued musicians! http://blog.bandcamp.com/2014/12/30/eu-digital-vat-changes-and-bandcamp/ ]

Right, finally, a follow-up with some clarification after my last post and all the edits. This may not end up being the last word on the subject – we’re still pushing for an 11th hour change to the law, or at least a year’s delay while people work out how the hell to comply with this. There are an awful lot of businesses that can’t deal with this at all…

Anyway, the important bit for us is Bandcamp’s updated info on tax.

https://bandcamp.com/help/selling

Go read it. All if it. It’s important stuff. Continue reading “Bandcamp and the New EU Vat LAW…”

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Selling Downloads of Your Music In The UK? Read This:

[OK, I was lying about that being the final edit… THIS is the final edit – http://blog.bandcamp.com/2014/12/30/eu-digital-vat-changes-and-bandcamp/ 🙂 ]

[final EDIT: read the follow-up post here, with Bandcamp’s new tax info – http://www.stevelawson.net/2014/12/bandcamp-and-the-new-eu-vat-law/ ]

[another EDIT: Read this by Rachel Andrew: http://rachelandrew.co.uk/archives/2014/11/25/how-small-companies-and-freelancers-can-deal-with-the-vatmoss-eu-vat-changes/  it’s looking more and more like there is no loophole, unless you a) stop selling downloads to people in the EU or b) distribute your ‘downloads’ via physical media. Read on for the historic discussion, my initial understanding, and the comments thread that is helping to make sense of this…]

I’ve been somewhat aware of this for a while now, and couldn’t quite believe that a piece of legislation so utterly insane was actually going through.

The laws around paying VAT (Value Added Tax) and ‘Supplying Digital Services‘ within the EU are changing, as of January 1st 2015, and it may well affect you. Here it is, as I understand it thus far (I asked the Musician’s Union what their position on this is and they say they’re going to be providing info to members in December). If you have more info, please include it in the comments [EDIT: especially if you work in tax law/accounting: For clarity’s sake, I’m NOT a tax expert or lawyer, so my interpretation of the legal situation should be viewed in that light, but I have been dealing with my own tax affairs for 20 years, without the help of an accountant, so am definitely in the ‘experienced amateur’ camp here]

  • WHO DOES THIS AFFECT? Anyone who sells music downloads (or eBooks/videos/any other digital product) off their own website.
  • WHAT DO THE CHANGES MEAN? For a full exploration using software companies as an example, see this brilliant post by Rachel Andrew. [EDIT: and this follow up piece by Rachel about implementation]
    In short, the arrangements around selling digital products to people in the EU are now defined by the country the customer is in rather than you. Meaning you’ll need to be registered for VAT no matter how much you earn, if you sell your music direct from your website. This means you’ll have to charge (and pay) VAT on ALL your work unless you set up a company to sell your digital products that’s distinct from your self employed business as a musician/teacher etc. You’ll also have to file a quarterly VAT return (which is WAY harder than a self assessment form). In short, it’ll ruin your business.
  • IS THERE A LOOPHOLE? YES.

This is the important paragraph on the government’s page describing the new arrangement:

Supplies via internet portals, gateways or marketplaces

If you supply digital services to consumers through an online portal, gateway or marketplace then it’s important to determine whether you’re making the supply to the customer or to the platform operator. Where the platform operator sets the general terms and conditions, authorises payment or delivery, or doesn’t clearly state the name of the supplier on the receipt or invoice issued to the consumer, then they’ll be seen as making the B2C supply even if they’re contractually only an agent.

What this means is that if you sell your music via another service, you’re OK. If you sell it via a ‘hand-rolled’ site (off your own server with your own CMS), you’re screwed. So this means that iTunes, Amazon and crucially Bandcamp sales are all exempt [EDIT: see comments for an exploration of this…] . Those sites are all platforms that “set the general terms and conditions, authorise payment or delivery” .

So, if you sell your music direct from your site, you may want to switch to Bandcamp for your sales, or get your VAT situation in order. The same goes for eBooks (I use Leanpub) and Video (any suggestions, please put them in the comments)

 

You may also want to sign this petition to provide an exemption to this very, very stupid piece of legislation. Cos it’s going to royally mess things up for so many creatives and small businesses.

 

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The Evolution of Sound

‘This is a journey into sound…’ – thus sampled Eric B and Rakim. That’s pretty much the definition of my musical journey thus far. Perhaps because I’ve always been drawn to texture as much as to harmony and melody in music, it was inevitable that I’d end up pursuing an approach to music that put the sonic palette on an equal – or often superior – footing to the notes… The development of my technique was always primarily about tone rather than dexterity. Switching to playing melodies on my fretless bass with the side of my thumb slowed me down a LOT, but gave me the sound I was looking for, so it stuck as my dominant technique. Using the Ebow and the slide, while quirky-looking on stage, result in music that is generally more languid and moved my music further away from the muscular fusion many expected from a solo bassist back in the late 90s.

As a result, my gear choices have also been mostly governed by the possibility to broaden, deepen and enrich that same palette of sounds. To give me a broader base of colours to paint with, a greater range of contrasting textures with which to create the layers in my looped improvisations and compositions. Indeed, the very definition of a ‘composition’ for many of my solo pieces was ‘key plus set sequence of sounds’ – they were improvisations as far as the specific notes were concerned, but the sequence of sounds to be layered was way more consistent.

The 20 year (thus far) journey into that particular set of priorities has lead to a few interesting outcomes – I’ve mostly had wonderful relationships with the companies whose equipment I use, and have been able to have useful practical input into the development of quite a few unique products and product developments over the years. It has also meant – in combination with the platform my journalistic work gives me – that I punch WAY above my weight in terms of the influence I have over other people’s perceptions of music gear. That’s a responsibility I take very seriously, given the potential for someone to invest an awful lot of money in gear at least partially directed by my own choices.

For that reason, I tend to only change my gear when the sound dictates that it be the wisest choice. I’ve avoided paid jobs as ‘the demo guy’ – partly because it’s just not a job I want, but also because they’ve never been offered for the gear I really believe in. I’ve had long standing relationships with a small number of companies that I work with. The one area of my rig that HAS changed the most over the years – and even then only when the music demanded it – is amplification.

It’s also, not coincidentally, one of the areas of music gear development that has changed most in the last 15 years. The advent of super light, efficient, powerful, full spectrum bass cabinets, and REALLY great sounding lightweight power amps was a long time coming, but we’re definitely in that age now.

I’ve always been fascinated by the conversation about amps, and was for a time pre-occupied with the notion of things being ‘flat’ – I wanted uncoloured sound, just my sound back through a loud lightweight amp. With that in mind, I switched to a high-end pro audio PA set up about 7 years ago, leaving ‘bass’ amps behind for a couple of years.

The need for more volume – and the advent of the Markbass combos that I’ve been using for the last few years – brought me back to bass amps, and a sound that was definitely not ‘flat’ but was ‘full range’ and has a tonal imprint I liked.

Freed from the tyranny of spec sheets and response graphs, I was able to explore the notion of ‘good’ sound without the interference of notions of ‘correct’ sound. That was helpful.

If you’ve seen any of the pictures I’ve posted of late of my rig, or seen me live over the last month or so, you’ll see that I’m now using an Aguilar amp set-up… ‘dude, I thought you really dug the Markbass combos??’ said lots of bass players. And I do. They haven’t suddenly stopped sounding good. They’re cool amps that definitely did the job.

So how did the Aguilar thing come about?

Dave and Justin at Aguilar have been friends of mine for over 15 years. we go back to my very first NAMM show in 1999 – they are great friends that I care about a great deal and hang with as much as possible. As a clear testimony to their integrity, neither of them over the years tried to get me to switch amps, but after using an Aguilar house rig at the jam night at this years London Bass Guitar Show, I was interested to find out what they would sound like for my solo stuff – it’s one thing having an amp that sounds great for ‘normal’ bass playing, it’s quite another to be able to handle the huge array of sounds I make, and to deal with all the other instruments that go through any system I use on collaborative gigs (including electronic drums, and vocalists!)

So I arranged to try a rig out – the SL112 cabinets and Tone Hammer 350 heads that I now have. A stereo rig, the same as I’ve had since 2003.

I set them up to A/B them with my existing set-up, and was absolutely blown away. I had NO idea they’d sound the way they did. Clear, full, warm, present… just amazing. Exactly what I was looking for. It was very much a case of not knowing that I wanted to change – I hadn’t really felt unhappy with my other system, but on a straight A/B, the suitability for my music was clearly with the Aguilar rig. I ran iTunes through it, to hear what it was like for full-range playback. Added a very slight EQ in my MOTU Ultralight and found that it sounded richer and clearer than even my (admittedly rather cheap) studio monitors. Like a high end 70s Wharfedale hifi. Properly jaw-dropping stuff.

This experience was confirmed again and again as friends and colleagues and students got to experience the sound. Wide eyes and big smiles were the unanimous reaction.

So I found myself changing amps for the first time in a lot of years. I’ve never been a fan of changing gear for the sake of it, I’ve never tried to deal with frustrations in my playing by getting new toys. It’s only when a clear and obvious choice to move to something that better represents the sound I hear in my head is presented that I’m left having to shift.

I’m deeply grateful to Markbass and Markaudio for the many years of great bass sounds (and am still utterly reliant on their MiniDIST overdrive pedal every single time I play), but if you see me playing shows from now on, you’ll perhaps be able to hear why I made the switch to the greatest sounding bass amp I’ve ever played through.

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Why The Major Labels Love Spotify

Oh yes, another blog post about Spotify. Just what the world needs. I’ll try [edit: and fail] to keep it brief.

There seems to be, at the moment, a massive gulf between the opinion of many artists-still-making-music and the labels that many of them are signed to. The major labels LOVE it. But artists are talking about Spotify as a wholly bad thing for artists – not enough money… ‘free’ music is bad… Rosanne Cash (a woman for whom I have an enormous amount of respect as an artist, writer, thinker and human) called Spotify ‘legalised piracy’. Why the gulf?

Here’s my take – The financial world of the major labels has, for a LONG time, been focused on back catalogue – music that’s already been successful. Reselling something that’s already in the public consciousness is WAY cheaper than marketing new, untested music. Licensing old tracks is also easier, because people know them. And there’s the simple question of scale.

Reality check: for the Majors, the vast majority of the music they will ever release has already been released. Continue reading “Why The Major Labels Love Spotify”

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