Last week, veteran Cincinnati musician Freekbass released the single (and subsequent music video for) “Fre3KroNomoKon,” the Funk singer/songwriter/bassist’s follow-up to last year’s “Steppin’ Outta Line." The new track was premiered via Relix and the video debuted on Bass Player Magazine’s website. (Freekbass was also recently featured on the cover of online publication Bass Musician Magazine, which rolled out its three-part video interview series with the bass superhero around Christmastime.)
Besides introducing Freekbass’ cute, furry pal Fre3kro in the video (the little dude was recently seen at Taft Theatre hanging out with Umphrey's McGee and even has his own Instagram account), the Hip Hop-tinged “Fre3KroNomoKon” is also the first music to come out of Freekbass’ new partnership with Color Red, a Colorado studio/collective/label launched last year by Welsh musician Eddie Roberts, guitarist for Funk/Soul bands The New Mastersounds and Matador! Soul Sounds. Color Red releases new music and remixes weekly from a variety of Funk, Soul, Jazz and Fusion acts (though the company self-identifies as “genre-fluid”), including several unique collaborations. Color Red has also released vinyl singles and last year put out the latest full-length album (also available on vinyl) from Denver Funk band Analog Son.
Color Red has announced it will be releasing the next full-length from Freekbass in May. The album will be the musician's first since 2015's Cincinnati, which was issued via Ropeadope Records.
The slapping, roof-raising Funkadelic vibe of the “Fre3KroNomoKon” single was crafted with recent Freekbass collaborators Lonnie “Meganut” Marshall, singer Sammi Garett (of Brooklyn’s Turkuaz), drummer Rico Lewis and producer Itaal Shur, the Grammy-winning songwriter/musician/engineer who was a member of Cincinnati Alternative/New Wave band Sleep Theatre in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Late keyboardist Joel “Razor Sharp” Johnson is also on the track; Sky White, the current keyboardist with Freekbass’s Bump Assembly band makes an appearance in the video, which was directed by Angie Wilson. (White has been working on more recent material for the forthcoming album.)
As if new music and live shows with his primary project weren’t enough, Freekbass is also gearing up for a few concerts with the all-star Headtronics band. In 2010, he co-founded and began touring with the dynamic improvisational group alongside noted turntablist DJ Logic and keyboardist Steve Molitz (from Particle and Phil Lesh & Friends).
For the project’s upcoming dates in St. Louis, Pennsylvania and Brooklyn, N.Y., Headtronics will show off its new quartet look, having added Richard Fortus, former Guns ’N’ Roses guitarist and Richard Butler collaborator, to the fold. (Get more Headtronics info here.)
Visit fre3kbass.com for the latest Freekbass updates.
