Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Rock Freekbass releasing free album today
Posted by Danielle Look on Tue, May 24, 2011 at 8:00 AM
- Jason Faulk
Freekbass is one of many Ohio natives brought up in the ever-flourishing funk-mecca known as Cincinnati. Unbeknownst to many, the city has cultivated a long-standing reputation for producing great music and musicians- due in large part to fellow Cincy native and funk pioneer Bootsy Collins.
Freekbass (who cites Larry Graham, Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, Parliament and Bootsy as early inspiration), has been playing bass guitar since early childhood. With his band (consisting of guitar pro T Sly, drummer Chip Wilson, and DJ Tobotius), The Freek has released four full-length albums including the most-recent “Junkyard Waltz” which features guest appearances by Phish bassist Mike Gordon, guitarist Buckethead, keyboard wizard from P-Funk/Talking Heads Bernie Worrell, and is produced by aforementioned funk legend Bootsy Collins.
Today, Freekbass will release a new full-length album, Concentrate, available online for free download. Special appearances on the album include DJ Spooky, Adam Deitch (Pretty Lights/Lettuce), Steve Molitz (Particle/Headtronics/Phil & Friends), Tobotius (Animal Crackers,Science Faxtion), and more.
Concentrate is a noteworthy release for Freekbass, as he continues to challenge himself to expand horizons and work outside of the proverbial box. Indeed, the first single "Grinder" finds The Freek’s music sounding more electo-tinged than ever, but still doused in his signature funktacular basswork. Concentrate will also follow an increasingly common trend in today’s music industry: the free album download.
All this, just before Freekbass hits the road, making appearances at bars and clubs, as well as summer music festivals. And he’s not traveling alone, either. In a previous interview with The Freek, he told me he likes juggling multiples projects at one time because “it helps to keep what I am doing musically fresh”.
This Saturday, he’ll be performing at The Mousetrap with the rest of his band- the perfect pre-party to your race day shenanigans that will surely ensue the following day. He’ll also be at the upcoming Stable Studios Music Festival on June 16th, performing as part of The Headtronics (featuring Freekbass, Steve Molitz (of Particle, Phil & friends), Fareed Haque (of Garaj Mahal) and Gregg Fundis). He’s also billed for Shamy Bash at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park in Parkman, Ohio the weekend of July 28th, performing as Freekbot with DJ Tobotius; Buckethead will headline Shamy Bash.
Stream the new album below and, if you like it, cop it for free from the Freekbass website.
Danielle covers local music for NUVO.net and IndyMojo.com.
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