Bassnectar

Wikipedia:

Lorin Ashton, better known by the stage name Bassnectar, is a freeform electronic music and dubstep artist, DJ, and producer based in San Francisco, California. He is best known for his live performances, light shows, and community engagement.

Musical Style and Influences

Bassnectar was originally influenced by heavy metal and grunge groups such as Metallica, Megadeth, and Nirvana, bringing these influences with him into his own musical career. He has also stated via Facebook that early IDM and Ambient artists, such as Orbital, also played a major influence in his style; the chords from Orbital's 1991 hit "Halcyon" can be clearly heard in his track entitled "Empathy," off his most recent album, Vava Voom. He has been creating genre-bending music since the 1990s, using a variety of programs such as Vision/OpCode, Reason, and Ableton Live. Bassnectar describes his music as amorphous and ever-changing, which is reflected in the distinct sounds and personalities of his numerous albums, EPs, and podcasts. He has collaborated with and remixed a host of artists and producers, including Lupe Fiasco, Ellie Goulding, Gogol Bordello, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Datsik, ill.Gates, Mimi Page, and Jantsen, among others. Bassnectar’s most recent releases are Cozza Frenzy (2009), Timestretch (2010), Wildstyle (2010), Divergent Spectrum (2011), and Vava Voom (2012).

Tours and Live Performances

Bassnectar is distinguished by his live performances and light-shows, and has been touring constantly since 2009 as well as performing regularly at music festivals worldwide. His spring 2011 tour sold out every show and was followed by the 2011-2012 Divergent Spectrum tour. His performance on New Year's Eve 2011 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN sold out to 10,000 fans. The upcoming VaVa Voom tour is scheduled to begin in April 2012 alongside the release of the new album. Bassnectar also performs regularly at a variety of music festivals, including Electric Forest, Camp Bisco, Wakarusa, Lollapalooza, Coachella, and Electric Daisy Carnival. Bassnectar has confirmed that he will return to Electric Forest and Forecastle Festival in the summer of 2012. Bassnectar has also announced his return to the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO on June 2, 2012, which sold out 10,000 tickets so quickly that a second show has been added for June 1, 2012.

Bassnectar has coordinated a number of large regional events in addition to his tour performances. In October 2010, Bassnectar announced the line-up for his first headlining perennial festival, called "Bass Center," which took place at the First Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. The event, which sold out, also featured circus performers and musical collaborators. Among the opening acts were Brother Ali, Emancipator, Nosaj Thing, That 1 Guy, and Dan Deacon. At the end of 2010, Bassnectar announced additional winter tour dates including the initial lineup for the upcoming second Bass Center Festival to be held at the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, NC on February 19, 2011. The event sold out weeks before and filled the venue’s capacity with approximately 8,000 attendees. Opening acts included The Glitch Mob, Ana Sia, and Filastine. Since then, the Bass Center legacy has continued, with Bass Center III in San Francisco, CA on September 17, 2011 and Bass Center IV in Washington, DC on September 24, 2011. Bass Center V is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia, PA on April 20, 2012 and Bass Center VI in Seattle, WA on May 12, 2012.

On August 13, 2011, Bassnectar launched the inaugural Bass Island event, the first of a trilogy, which was held at Governor's Island in New York City. The event was attended by 10,000 people and included performances from Lupe Fiasco, DJ Z-Trip, Prefuse 73, and Virtual Boy. On February 29, 2012, Bassnectar announced via Twitter that the next Bass Island to take place in 2012 will be at a new location, the details of which have not yet been revealed.

Community and Causes

Bassnectar is an active proponent of creativity, discussion, thoughtfulness, communication, health, education, safety, interaction, and critical thinking, and has fostered a community through his online discussion forum based around these principles. Bassnectar has openly advocated for causes such as free press and true media, net neutrality, ending corporate personhood, public knowledge, and the non-profit organization Conscious Alliance. In 2011, Bassnectar donated $1 from every ticket sold on his tour to charity via the "Dollar Per Basshead" campaign, amounting to $250,000 distributed across three charities -- Alternet, Free Press Organization, and Reach Out non-profit -- which were voted upon by fans. The Bassnectar movement has thus resulted in a community of like-minded fans who refer to themselves as "Bass Heads" and travel frequently to attend Bassnectar events, similar to the Deadhead community centered around jam band The Grateful Dead. To recognize this community, Bassnectar shows always feature a short break to take a "family photo," in which the artist faces the rear of the stage and the photo is taken with the entire crowd behind him.

To promote the principles of interaction, creativity, and engagement that the Bassnectar community upholds, Bassnectar has launched the AmBASSador Program, which accepts applications from devoted fans to serve as volunteers at Bass Centers and other regional events as well as individual shows on tour. AmBASSadors are responsible for welcoming the crowd prior to the event, keeping audience members hydrated and happy throughout the show, and organizing projects that will engage fans in creative ways. A Bassnectar event may have anywhere from five to forty AmBASSadors on duty, depending on the scale of the event.