Friday lunchtime I saw the Fabric line up for the Scratch Perverts Beatdown on Friday night. One name stood out above all others... BASSNECTAR! What the fuck was he doing in London? Why did no-one tell me? Why did I not tell me? I can't remember the last time he was here, I just know that I have a 2006 promo my housemate gave me from a Freq Nasty night she can't remember if he played at. And that's been it for years...
DJ Vadim - Maximum ft La Methode (Bassnectar & ill.Gates Remix) by Bassnectar
After getting the news I went straight to Lorin's tour blog to find out:
"Hello Bass Heads!
"I remember years ago, the thought of playing a show in Europe felt like a Pilgrimage. When my agent started sending me to places like Arkansas on a Teusday and Tennessee on a Wednesday, I threw a fit. In my mind electronic music belonged in international meccas of prestige like London, Paris, Tokyo, New York. Not random spots in middle America where nobody even listens to electronic music.
"But after a lot of international touring in 2002 and 2003 I had lost interest in an unlimited scope of travel, and I wanted to focus on building a deeper, more fanatic network locally. I began gravitating towards the idea of bringing the music to places where it did not exist previously, and kind of forging a path for bass music here in the states.
"This was after the rave scene of the 1990′s had dissolved (or been extinguished) and I never expected to find such open arms scattered in essentially every American town I visited. So now after over 10 years of hardcore touring stateside, the number of bass heads is larger and more intense than I ever would have imagined. The shows are beyond a ‘rave’ and something more like an experience, and I am utterly stunned and grateful to continue taking this space ship deeper and deeper into the unkown.
"But we figured, why not go back to Europe… I haven’t played in London since a night with Freq Nasty back in 2004 (or 2003?) since the schedule over here got so jam-packed.
"This is exciting for several reasons; in part because it is a chance to explore fresh ears, and to delve much deeper into both the CLASSICs in my record box, and the baaaaangers that i have been rinsing over here. But also some of the shows over there are a whole different ball game… tiny-ass little rooms like I used to play regularly on stateside tours years and years ago.
"While I do not mind the huge venues and huge stages over here, I do miss the impeccable freakishness of a low ceiling and a room, a bat-shit crazy crowd bouncing off the walls, and the feeling of borderline panic as the room appears to burst at the seams."
He certainly got what he wanted at Fabric. By the time I managed to get in Bassnectar's set had just started and Room 1 was packed to the max and bouncing to the ceiling. As we fought to the bar the tunes were on the lighter side of things, switching between glitch-hop and mid tempo breaks or d'n'b and a wicked reggae vocal tune I didn't recognise. As the set developed, so did the bottom end, and by the time we'd squeezed our way into the centre of the room he was dropping dubstep-eque bass slabs from Wildstyle, Cozza Frenzy and Timecode.
Bassnectar - Bass Head by Bassnectar
The crowd, the majority of whom like me had never seen (or in a lot of cases heard) this before, were mad for it. To see Lorin on the decks is an experience in itself. He's an animal, bouncing around with his straight long hair hanging down over his face and the occasional shouts on the mic of 'London lemme see you go wild!". Technically he really uses the tempo controls to full effect, with beats of different styles mashing into each other seamlessly and getting through tunes at a pretty epic pace - his own brand of omni-tempo maximalism in full effect!
It was when Lorin dropped the remix of Metallica's Seek and Destroy that the place really went nuts though. The dancefloor exploded into a full on mosh pit frenzy with the raw testosterone force of the metal / dubstep combo awakening some kinda primal urge in the club's under 25 male population. Personally I've never much enjoyed moshing in clubs, I used to go to metal and punk gigs for that, but the craziness kicking off was testament to the energy in the room. I didn't even mind the split lip.
The mosh-bass frenzy continued for another 20 odd minutes before spitting us back out into the realms of more danceable downtempo broken beats and bubbling squelchy bass from Cozza Frenzy and Underground Communication. With no Andy C in sight Lorin got to drop one more old classic before shaking as many hands as possible and disappearing to leave many wondering exactly what just happened.
DOWNLOAD:
Bassnectar - Magical World feat. Nelly Furtado (FREE DOWNLOAD) by Bassnectar
The tour played Birmingham last night, but if you're lucky enough to live anywhere near Sheffield, Manchester, Cardiff or Dublin there's still time to catch him in the UK.
NOV 16: @ TUESDAY CLUB in SHEFFIELD, UK
Alongside Sub Focus!
I play @ 12:00
NOV 17: @ RETRO BAR BASEMENT in MANCHESTER, UK
NOV 18: @ IFOR BACH in CARDIFF, UK
NOV 19: @ CRAWDADDY in DUBLIN, IR
Lorin - if you read this, please come back again soon and bring more stateside bassheads!
DOWNLOAD:
The Pixies - Where is my Mind (Bassnectar Remix) (Click through for DL)Bassnectar - Boombox (Bassnectar & ill.gates remix) (Right click save as for DL)
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