The evolution of Brad Jones continues.
The Bend native and longtime local music scenester played in the Mountain View High School jazz band as a teen and found success in the popular local band Floor-Ride before disappearing from the radar for a while, at least publicly.
A few years ago, though, Jones reemerged at the Bendistillery Martini Bar — now called the Madhappy Lounge — playing solo gigs and multi-tasking his way through a mix of hip-hop, electronica, new-wave pop and whatever else tickled his ivories. He hopscotched from project to project, collaborating with local DJ Defekt, joining the rootsy collective The Mostest, jamming with a band called Your Birthday and releasing his first solo album of neon party anthems, “No Strings.”
All the while, Jones committed himself to his studio and his craft, producing instrumental tracks for a variety of films, advertisements and out-of-town MCs.
On Thursday, Jones will unveil his newest nom de whomp, Keez, with a show at Madhappy to celebrate the release of his new CD. Most of it is posted at www.soundcloud.com/brad-jones-music, and it showcases the man’s recent forays into the darker, beat-heavy depths of dance music: glitch, house, breakbeat, dubstep, and so on.
After Thursday’s show, Jones is off to play gigs in Seattle and Australia, he said. Australia!
What comes after Australia? Who knows? Total world domination, probably.
— Ben Salmon