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>> Bassnectar’s low-end lines
speak of high ideals

VARIABLE SPEEDS: Lorin Ashton

by JACK OATMON

There must be something in the water down there. Not unlike other historical phenomena associated with Berkeley, California, from Food Not Bombs and the battle for People’s Park to Aaron Cometbus, Lookout! Records and innumerable other quirky cultural exports, San Francisco resident Lorin Ashton is an unabashed lefty stargazer bent on the reformulation of his nation. As such, our conversation rapidly tilted toward the connection he sees between his music as Bassnectar and his personal political outlook.

“Radical liberal activism is the name of the game,” states Ashton rather bluntly. “The music is not only a reflection of my own political beliefs, which are very strong, but it’s also the vessel for those beliefs. It’s simultaneously the reflection of them and the amplification of them.”

Ashton cites the contrast between humankind’s beastly ways and its intellectual enlightenment as the main source of inspiration for his eclectic, psychedelic, and at times schmaltzy mix of breakbeats, drum & bass, world grooves and more.

“Our civilization is extremely out of touch with the dichotomy between our mammalian drives and our more recently acquired sense of empathy and compassion. The clash between those two drives is really the core of what I’m focused on.”

He says the current political straits of the States do not discourage him from his ideals. “The dark times that we’re facing right now, the catastrophes and atrocities that go down just make me frustrated. And the frustration elicits a sense of renewed dedication to resisting that which I see to be wrong.”

Well intentioned but not naïve, Ashton sees his production as an expression of his ideas if not an actual force for change, hence the title of his most recent album, Underground Communication.

“By no means am I claiming that my music is some groundbreaking expression of revolutionary energy that’ll save the world,” he explains, “because sometimes I just wanna fucking go crazy and make people freak out. At other times, it comes from a very emotional and raw, vulnerable state within me. I’m really concerned with making a dope party as much as I am with bathing people in frequencies and making them feel vulnerable and getting them to interact with each other—making the whole room pop.”

The desire to interact artistically with other people is also responsible for the appearance of collaborators on virtually every track he releases as Bassnectar. The result is a refreshingly variable clash between hip hop, hippy jam sounds and corny rave anthems, with a large cast of guest MCs and as many turns of tempo.

“I love beats and rhythms at any speed, and I’m bored of thinking about genres in relationship to speed. At least in terms of electronic music, you’ve got trance and techno, and that’s at 130 to 140 beats per minute, house is at 120 or 130. Hip hop or trip hop are at 80 or 90. And drum & bass is at 160 or 180, and now you’ve got dubstep and that’s only at 70. Fuck that. I’ve been a drummer since I was 12, and I just enjoy rhythms. I wanna explore all speeds and play songs at all different tempos and combine them in different ways. Sometimes that can be seamless or sometimes jarring, but I always keep a really quivering, wobbling bass line.”

With guests at les Saints tonight,
Thursday, April 17, 9 p.m., $15