Music Mondays: because life’s better with a soundtrack.

The other day, Sean McCabe hipped me to Bill Laurance. He’s an original member of Snarky Puppy (If you haven’t seen this yet, watch it now) and he carries the torch into his so work with aplomb.

I was watching the video for Laurance’s latest title track, Swift, when I nearly fell out of my chair. It was something I’d never seen before and, frankly, should have expected to come around at some point. It looked like a keyboard but clearly wasn’t.

It’s called the Seaboard by a company called Roli. It’s essentially an input device. And, while it appears to have fairly limited onboard controls, the keyboard itself has a range of variables that make for some of the most expressive playing imaginable on a keyboard. Pitch wheels be damned!

Check out Cory Henry (himself a Snarky Puppy) using the Seaboard at the NAMM show to take away my job as a bass player.

For an input device, the Seaboard is pretty spendy. The 37-key version weighs in at $1,999 with a full 88 at a punny $8,888.

I’ll be interested to see where the pricepoint is in a year and if this becomes adapted outside the neo-soul, urban jazz world. For now, I’ll take it as it comes.