Early life

Thomas was raised in a musical family, the son of a bass guitarist. He began playing bass at the age of four years, independent of formal lessons (self-taught). When he was about 11 or 12 years old, he performed with Bar-Kays, playing bass guitar.

Education

During his brief stay at Berklee College of Music he shared the stage with David Fiuczynski. After his departure from Berklee in 2010, Thomas went to Los Angeles to perform with Fiuczynski and Alex Bailey (drummer) at the Musicians Institute and The Baked Potato.

Professional background

Playing style

While Thomas is right-handed, he plays left-handed on an upside down right-handed bass guitar, which allows him to use heavy string bending on the upper strings. Thomas' slapping style/technique is unique because he is executing everything upside-down, while traditionally using the thumb for slaps and fingers for pops. He also uses fingers and palm-muting to create what can be described as a warm, muffled timbre, as well as for maximum control of the length or sustain of notes. In a free/improvisational setting, listeners may hear the use of Indian melodic inflections and ornaments in Thomas' playing, including the use of gamakas. Another trademark is his use of randomness and mistakes in performance, taking unintentional ideas made in error, and spontaneously turning them into useable or intentional material.

Thomas' overall playing style on bass can be described as "funky with unusual characteristics". Marcus Miller, among others, has praised his unique playing style. His musical background is heavily influenced by Southern soul, blues and funk. In a Bass Player magazine interview, Miller mentioned Thomas as one of several "young bad cats" he has met on the scene.

In 2009, Thomas was featured on the GospelChops Bass Sessionz Vol.1 project with Andrew Gouche, Hadrien Feraud, Damian Erskine, Janek Gwizdala, Anthony Nembhard, and Robert "Bubby" Lewis.

In 2010, Thomas played bass on the Libra Scale album by Grammy Award-winning artist Ne-Yo, and the album Directions by Forest Won with Georgia Anne Muldrow. Thomas was featured in the article, "Bass to the Future", in issue 52 of the UK Bass Guitar magazine.

In 2012, Thomas joined David Fiuczynski and Planet Microjam. Also in 2012, he released his solo avant-garde album, Down-to-Earth Art as MonoNeon.

MonoNeon's YouTube bass cover videos of Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone Theme and the theme song to the Martin Lawrence Show were featured on NoTreble.

In early 2013, Thomas released an album called Southern Visionary under the pseudonym MonoNeon. This album features several microtonal musicians. He also released an album entitled Uncle Curtis Answered The Lobster Telephone.

MonoNeon performed with 2010 Grammy nominee Sheri Jones-Moffett during the Recording Academy Chapter 40th Anniversary Celebration at Levitt Shell.

MonoNeon teamed up with producer Kriswontwo to release an EP called, WEON.

July 2014, MonoNeon made his debut performance as the bassist for Screaming Headless Torsos at Jalisco Jazz Festival in Mexico.

July 7, 2018, MonoNeon played a show with Joe Russo (musician) and Eric Krasno billed as (nO*sO*nO*). While the three musicians have played together on many occasions in various other supergroup formations, this marked the first performance as a dedicated trio under this moniker. For most of the two-set performance, surprise guest keyboardist Peter Levin (Gregg Allman Band) played on several numbers. Relying heavily on improvisation, (nO*sO*nO*) dug deep into the funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock catalogs. Covers of Jimi Hendrix?s ?Manic Depression?, The Beatles? ?Get Back?, Billy Cobham?s ?Stratus?, and John Scofield?s ?Hottentot?, appeared throughout the free-flowing jams and captivated the audience with their supersonic chemistry.

For the 65th Grammys MonoNeon has been Grammy nominated for his work on Cory Henry's album, "Operation Funk" (Best Progressive R&B Album nomination). MonoNeon is one of the writers, guitarist and bassist on the songs "Ecstasy" and "The Line".

Experimental works

Thomas' experimental approach has been compared to the 20th century composer John Cage . The idea of conceptual art plays a role in his musical compositions, as reflected in his early 2011 recordings. Thomas began developing an idea of bass accompanying improvisations with an AM/FM radio. The improvisations/compositions are based on radio art, some of which can be heard on his album entitled Introspection of PolyNeon. The "Polyneon" concept is something Thomas created through introspection and when he stopped thinking about the goal of becoming or being a great musician.

Thomas is notable for his "readymade bass", inspired by his love for Dadaism and other avant garde art movements. The primary characteristics of the "readymade bass" is the ordinary sock covering the entire headstock and the name "Polyneon" on the body of his bass. The use of colorful duct tape and other mundane items upon his basses has become a defining visual style for Thomas.

MonoNeon was featured in the January/February 2013 issue of Dig! Magazine, a Winnipeg jazz magazine.

MonoNeon's microtonal works and art manifesto were mentioned on The Rest Is Noise, a website by Alex Ross, a music critic who regularly writes for The New Yorker.

One of MonoNeon's bass cover videos performing KNOWER's arrangement/medley of Lady Gaga songs was voted Top 10 most watched video on NoTreble (March 2014).

A microtonal bass built for MonoNeon by Tim Cloonan of CallowHill Guitars was featured on NoTreble as Bass of the Week. The bass is built to play quarter tones.

In 2021 MonoNeon teamed up with Davy Nathan and released "Supermane", a full length album featuring 8 tracks. The track "Done with the B-S", a duet with MonoNeon and Ledisi was featured in Rolling Stone magazine. The album was produced, written and recorded in Nathan's studio in Los Angeles. They describe the album as a step outside of the vocal comfort zone of MonoNeon.

Working with Prince

In 2015 MonoNeon began playing bass with Prince and his protégé, Judith Hill. Some of the live shows have been at Paisley Park.

On 11 January 2016, Tidal released the track Ruff Enuff by MonoNeon, only four and a half days after its initial recording. The instrumental track features Prince as producer and on keyboards. The following day, the track was replaced with a vocal version with lead vocals on vocoder by Adrian Crutchfield.

The linernotes provided with the track state:

You may recognize Kirk A Johnson on drums, Mono Neon on bass and Adrian Crutchfield on sax and electric woodwinds as the house band 4 Prince’s Paisley Park After Dark Jam Sessions. Well, that’s not all they do. 4 the past week they’ve been cutting basic trax 4 their as yet untitled debut album. With Prince producing and handling the keyboard & guitar duties, the set promises 2 b picking up right where Judith Hill’s BACK IN TIME left off. These brothas murder the funk! Normally they wouldn’t let a track out until it’s finished, but this one had 2 go! It was ruining everybody’s good loox. If U think U can resist the funk, check out the key change of Mono’s bass solo at near 4 o'clockmark.

When Prince wasn't playing his solo piano shows, he was breaking in a new band at Paisley Park with MonoNeon as his new bassist.

Discography

Solo albums

• "Polyneon" (2010)
• "Introspection of PolyNeon" (2011)
• "Noise Catharsis" (2011)
• "Johnnie Taylor and John Cage" (2011)
• "The Kitschy EP" (2011)
• "MonoNeon" (2012)
• "Ming Neon" (2012)
• "Down-to-Earth Art" (2012)
• "Southern Visionary" (2013)
• "Uncle Curtis Answered The Lobster Telephone" (2013)
• "John Cage on Soul Train" (2014)
• "MonoNeon Plays Speech" (2015)
• "Selfie Quickie" (2015)
• "Selfie Quickie 2wooo" (2017)
• "Welcome 2 Whateva The Fyuck" (2017)
• A Place Called Fantasy (2017)
• "I Don't Care Today (Angels & Demons in Lo-Fi)" (2018)
• "My Feelings Be Peeling" (2019)
• "Living The Best And Worst Life At The Same Damn Time!" (2019)
• "Toxic Wasteland 2 The Hills" (2020)
• "Banana Peel on Capitol Hill" (2021)
• "Gospel According to the Little Green Man - EP" (2021)
• "Supermane" (2021)
• "Basquiat & Skittles Album" (2021)
• "Put on Earth for You " (2022)

With Ne-Yo

• "Libra Scale" (2010)

Bass on "Making A Movie"

With Georgia Anne Muldrow

• "Ms. One" (2014)

With Prince

• "RUFF ENUFF" single (2016)

With WEON

• "WEON" (2013)
• "Neon the Won" (2015)

With Mac Miller

• Circles (2020)

MonoNeon played bass on the song, "Complicated"

With Nas

• King's Disease

Bass on "All Bad" and credited as 'MnoNeon' for additional producer

References

Alfa Mist is a British musician, producer, song-writer and MC based in Newham, London. He released his first solo EP Nocturne in 2015. He also runs a music label called Sekito. His music mixes hip-hop and club tropes with jazz improvisation. He collaborated with several musicians, including Jordan Rakei, Yussef Dayes and Tom Misch.

In 2021 he released an album titled Bring Backs on the American independent music label Anti-. He also performed at the 2021 We Out Here Festival and was one of the MOBO Awards 2021 nominees.

Early life

Alfa Mist was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in Newham, London. He went to Langdon Academy and Newham Sixth Form College. He originally wanted to become a professional footballer, but his mother wanted him to complete two years at college first. Alfa took three A-levels plus a BTEC in music composition. He began creating music at the age of 15. As a teenage hip-hop producer, his interest in sampling led him to discovering jazz and eventually teaching himself how to play piano, after watching his music tutor perform John Legend’s "Ordinary People".

Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 - 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He did not find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognition. Drake signed to Island Records when he was 20 years old and a student at the University of Cambridge. He released his debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. He recorded two more albums?Bryter Layter (1971) and Pink Moon (1972). Neither sold more than 5,000 copies on initial release. His reluctance to perform live, or be interviewed, contributed to his lack of commercial success. There is no known video footage of the adult Drake; he was only ever captured in still photographs and in home footage from his childhood.

In 1966 Drake enrolled at a tutorial college in Five Ways, Birmingham, where he won a scholarship to study at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He delayed attendance to spend six months at the University of Aix-Marseille, France, beginning in February 1967, where he began to practise guitar in earnest. To earn money, he would busk with friends in the town centre. Drake began to smoke cannabis, and he travelled with friends to Morocco; according to travelling companion Richard Charkin, "that was where you got the best pot". He most likely began using LSD while in Aix, and lyrics written during this period?in particular for "Clothes of Sand"?suggest an interest in hallucinogens.

Automatic City « Hum Drum »

Automatic City ne rêve que de blues légendaire, de black musique intrépide et de psychédélique renversant. Mais de façon bien originale.

C’est un truc de dingue. Avec ce troisième album, Automatic City arrive à faire groover les boîtes à rythme. Bon, il faut dire, que la tendance générale de l’opus ne s’apparente pas – non plus – à l’univers électro. On est entre gens de bonne compagnie : blues, psychédélique et black music. Le tout effectivement saupoudré d’une ambiance… Machine. La fameuse « Hum Drum » inventée (au sens littéral, cette machine n’existe pas) pour la pochette de l’album et imaginée par les deux acolytes de Automatic City : Eric Duperray et Emmanuel Mercier. Le même Eric Duperray qui apparaît  certaines fois sur scène et sur disque sous le nom de Mr Day. Bon sang ne saurait mentir ! Une fois de plus, il réussit à nous étonner avec des créations et des reprises aussi étonnantes qu’inventives. Pour l’occasion, trois créations et cinq morceaux qui ne ressemblent vraiment pas aux versions originales :  celles de Mamie Perry, une BO de Roy Budd, Lonnie Smith et à un hymne de Curtis Mayfield. Sans oublier cette reprise sans guitare de « Downbound train ». Un titre de Chuck Berry sans guitare, il faut oser ! Au final, ce disque est aussi original qu’irrésistible. Un nouveau crossover. La question demeure : ont-ils perdus leur âme ?

Son of a pastor from Ipanema, João Selva is an exponent artist of Brazilian Tropicália, well known to all those listening to the new sounds of Brazil.

Joao is palying this Satyursday 8 July at the ZikZac festival in Aix !!!!!!!