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Bassnectar
DNA LOUNGE WAS transformed into a Candyland game for the Nov. 18 Scorpio Party, which seemed a little like a mixed metaphor to me. But whatever. The downstairs dance floor was ringed in giant lollipops and neon orange slices, harking back to the candy raver days of old. The DJ before Bassnectar – a new moniker for the popular DJ from Berkeley whom most of us know by his given name of Lorin Ashton, or DJ Lorin – was rocking hard breaks, which seemed a little premature for a premidnight crowd that was still trying to settle into a party that would go until 10 a.m. So I headed upstairs, past Hard Candy Cavern and up Licorice Lane to the Gingerbread House – which indeed looked like a gingerbread house, with candy trim covering brown paper walls that went all the way up to the high ceiling. But it sounded more like the second dance floor that it was: DJ Brother was nicely rocking a beautiful crowd with downtempo dub beats. As midnight passed, Brother began to slowly pick up the tempo and get the crowd warmed up and moving. It sounded great, and I was beginning to find my groove, but soon the dance floor started to thin out, which could only mean one thing. I walked back into the main room, and sure enough, Bassnectar had taken to the table, his long, dark hair flipping through the air, his arms clad in black leather wristbands twisting and punctuating the beats and changes of the music he knew all too well. After all, Bassnectar tours the country almost nonstop, doing as many as 150 shows each year. His energy is always infectious, and his bass-heavy breakbeats started to fill the dance floor, as well as a big stage behind the DJ booth, which had been empty when he started and filled with dancers by the end of his first song. On a video screen behind the dancers, VJ CaroLuna alternated short clips of The Wizard of Oz with an old-school Hansel and Gretel film, psychedelically morphing images in and out. A nice touch. The neon candy decor definitely said rave, but that was tempered by the DNA Lounge's clubber-cum-burner aesthetic and by some fun touches, like a cotton candy machine and a chocolate waterfall for dipping strawberries, pretzels, or what-have-you. And yes, I saw a couple what-have-yous being dipped. Bassnectar was dancing as hard as anyone on the floor, spinning knobs and pushing buttons with a flourish. He's strictly an electronic music DJ, leaving the decks' two turntables sitting idle. But the crowd – particularly the women clad in sexy corsets, lacy negligees, or strategically torn shirts – didn't seem to require vinyl purity. They had clearly come to dance and party until well into the next day. Since his breakthrough set at Arena during the 2000 Burning Man, Bassnectar has been the king of burner breakbeats, while that style has been ascendant in San Francisco nightlife. And I consistently hear people talking about how his Diverse Systems of the Throb and Motions of Mutation discs (self-released, 2004 and 2003) are among their favorites, music that will always make their hearts soar and asses bob no matter what their mood. But Bassnectar doesn't want to be just a DJ. In fact, he doesn't even want to be Lorin anymore, having officially switched over completely to his longtime alternative pseudonym with his new full-length, Mesmerizing the Ultra (self-released). He intends to go from party DJ to serious musician, a transition that doesn't always move a room, and, in fact, I wasn't terribly animated for much of the night. But then, toward the end of an almost two-hour set, he got me. The dance floor was full but not packed as he layered a few tracks over one another, beat-matching them in a way that's one of his great strengths as a DJ. My body slipped into the groove, and my mind drifted into a place where there was just this music, tracks moving toward and away from each other, colliding in crescendos of body-rockin' bass, bouncing the crowd in unison as big, dumb grins grabbed my face and others'. Uh-huh, yeah, that's why I came: that moment of connection, of musical resonance, of bliss, when nothing else matters. Bassnectar releases are available at www.bassnectar.net. He performs at the Sea of Dreams party Dec. 30 and 31, SF Concourse Exhibition Center, SF. www.anonsalon.com/seaofdreams06/index.html. By Steven T. Jones |
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