Dwayne Thomas Jr. is the colorful offspring of Prince, Funkadelic, the Bristol trip-hop scene, composer John Cage and many more. He was Prince’s last bassist and has also collaborated with George Clinton, Nas and Mavis Staples, among others. Under the alias MonoNeon, the Grammy-winning musician creates funkadelic-infused tracks chock-full of samples, atonal sounds and polyphonic distorted vocals that seem to bubble up from underwater. MonoNeon does everything just a little bit differently. As a right-hander, he plays an upside-down bass guitar with his left hand, allowing him to bend the thick, low strings to their best advantage. His latest mini-album, Jelly Belly Dirty Somebody (2023), is once again full of otherworldly surprising compositions. Some will find them hypnotic, others simply weird. “Existential funk,” is how Rolling Stone put it. Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea was clearer: “The greatest f***ing electric bass player.”
