I Played Bass on a Bunch of Tracks on Brother Ali’s New Record

I got a great text a couple months ago from my guy Joe Mabbott. Joe Mabbott is one of the great producers and engineers in the Minnesota scene and in my reckoning the best mix engineer I’ve ever collaborated with. He runs The Hideaway Studios. But he’s also truly a super great friend of mine. If he texts me it’s usually to play racquetball or to play the card game Deuces with our friends Rachel and DeVon. But recently I got the text to play bass for some new recordings for Brother Ali. What an honor.

I’ve known Ali since I guess 1998? I remember him calling my parents house when I was in high school before I had a cell phone. I think it was before anyone had cell phones really. And I’ve had the honor of playing bass on a lot of his big records. It’s been a special relationship for me and I hope for him, ANT and BK-One too, but probably about nine years ago I thought that relationship had come to an end. No real stress but a lot of the Rhymesayers artists had started using a musician named G Koop for most of their live musician needs. All good. But I wasn’t getting the calls. Life goes on.
So it was an unexpected text that I was glad to get. I got to head over to Joe Mabbott’s studio The Hideaway. This is a space where some of the most magical moments of my life have happened. Recorded A Tiger Dancing and the Heiruspecs 2008 Self-titled album there. Played bass for Eyedea and Abilities there. Hung out with Stage One for the first time there. Spent a lot of time just partying there. So to be back there playing with old friends was great. That night it was just Ant and Joe. Ali lives in Turkey and is mainly just coming back for shows at this point. Anywho. I think the songs turned out really well and I believe the chemistry between Ant and Ali is undeniable. Here are the tunes I played on all lined up for you to check out and enjoy.