Headbanging Bass Genius Lorin Ashton better known to one and all through his onstage moniker Bassnectar, has redefined all audio limits and stretched the answer to the humble query of ‘how much Bass is good enough?’ Dubstep’s most brightest and undoubtedly boldest exponents always searches for the rougher abrasive sound that is sure to leave you terrified and inspired at the same time! Often fusing Death metal elements into his Electronica terrain, the California based pioneer is on the cusp of his tenth album release, ‘Noise vs Beauty‘, which takes his love for indie rock, alternative metal and his all encompassing Bass driven sound and attempts a synergy between them in an-all-exclusive Bassnectar-esque style! He recently sat down with Music magazine Rolling Stones to discuss his album and the conversation inadvertently turned towards other DJs and other criticism that Lorin laid out towards the EDM fraternity!
When asked about his album and its influences, Lorin spoke about his love for Bass music and how he finds its roots in Death Metal. ‘Noise vs Beauty‘ was all about reaching a new depth of that sound and trying to create a message through the music.
Well, you know, every time I master the record it takes months to do it and I’m comparing all this new music to my previous music and making sure that its as loud and heavy or heavier … and consistently getting heavier and heavier. I remember when I was really into death metal saying, “What are my kids going to listen to? There’s nothing heavier than this.” And then, you know, bass music comes out and, obviously, it’s way heavier than death metal. I was 16 when I was thinking that, I’m 36 now and I’m not really trying to be the loudest or the hardest or the heaviest.
I do like going deep and that’s what Noise vs Beauty is about. It’s like, you’re asking about the noise, but the beauty is a huge aspect of it. It’s almost like if music is the message, noise is the vessel that carries the message. The two can really fuse together, they can oppose, because noise can be hectic and annoying and screechy, haunting, frightening. Beauty can be calming, loving, ethereal, enchanting, inspiring, but the two can come together in these combinations that are worth theming a record over.??
Speaking about other DJs and the genre in general, Bassnectar had a few remarks on how ‘faceless’ the music used to be, as compared to a few artists in his genre that still prefer to have it all about the music.
I wish it was more faceless because the problem now is that you have acts that are mass-marketed from Europe, with guys who are like… it’s like the boy bands. You’re hiring these good looking, popular, confident guys to fake like they’re producing something by standing in front of a CD player with their arms up and all the teenagers think it’s legit, so they’re allowing it to continue.
When quizzed on other Big Room DJs, Bassnectar went all out and lashed against the familiar sounding artists whose antics are now synonymous with their onstage persona. He quickly emphasized the importance of being original and credited Kaskade as being one of the few artists who deserve all the respect that he’s been garnering.
There are big name DJs right now who buy their own Facebook followers and manufacture their profiles and don’t write their music, have other people write their music for them and then don’t play their music live, but stand there during prerecorded sets while they run around onstage and congratulate themselves. There are impostors in every genre. There are bad artists in every genre. EDM is so easy to critique because most of the biggest and most successful artists are the phoniest.
Then there’s all the credibility that exists, all the underground artists who are truly gifted and Mozarts. A guy like Kaskade is so fucking smart and so deep and so real that I can’t necessarily critique EDM because there’s a guy like Kaskade who totally deserves everything he’s ever gotten. It’s the phonies and that mass marketed dynamic of culture that I’m revolted by, whether it’s EDM or pop music or fashion or whatever.
Known to speak out his mind, Lorin Ashton wasn’t going to be the one to simmer down on his comments. And while we got a few excerpts from his interview, you can head over to the Rolling Stone Website here to check out the entire interview!
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