Green Apple Festival
Bassnectar - Saturday 04.19.2008
w/ Zion I, Eliot Lipp, Deuce Eclipse
featuring Video installation by Jacobeye, Art and Ambiance by Entheon Village and IAMU
For the last decade, Lorin Ashton has helped develop the North American underground dance music scene. From touring full time as a DJ (an average of 125 shows per year), to his production & remixing under the alias Bassnectar, he has ammassed a dedicated fan base, crossing over from hip hop to electronica to breakbeat to ragga/dub to the jam band scene and the greater Burningman scene.

In 2005, Lorin released the first full length Bassnectar CD, Mesmerizing The Ultra, a double album debut on Organic / Amorphous Music, available through Fontana distribution, a division of Universal Music and Video Distribution. Having remixed or collaborated with the likes of, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Buckethead, Michael Kang (The String Cheese Incident), FreQ Nasty, Saul Williams, Noam Chomsky, Cheb I Sabbah, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Crash Berlin, Landslide, Heavyweight Dub Champion & KRS One, and Perry Farrell, the Bassnectar sound has benefited from a wide lense of exposure, and evolved from cutting edge dance music to where it exists today: a mutant mash-up of multiple styles and genres.

Imagine the heaving basslines of Drum ‘n’ Bass and Breakbeat (think Dieselboy, Freestylers, Tipper, Aphrodite), the massive beats of old school Hip Hop (think PublicEnemy, Beastie Boys, Run DMC), glitchy tones and sonic tricks of modern Electronica/IDM (think Prefuse 73, Plaid, Pest, Underworld, Aphex Twin) all mashed up with hip hop lyrics, cut-up dancehall/ragga vocals, samples of political speeches (from activists like Noam Chomsky, Mumia Abu Jamal, Michael Ruppert, Michael Franti, Martin Luther King, etc) and pumped through a variety of tempos. The new Bassnectar music is an exotic blend of both the listening experience and the dance experience. As a DJ he has achieved enormous success. Rated "Best Of The Bay 2005" by the SF Bay Guardian, and Number 1 in Nitevibe.com’s recent DJ Dreamteam contest, he is constantly booked 3-4 months in advance, on a regular tour schedule, playing to thousands of different people a month. From sold out festivals to overcrowded clubs and warehouses to tight and tiny bars and venues; his following continues to grow due to his unique charisma and a cutting-edge futuristic spin on electronic music.

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This trio of genre-bender pride has made a name for itself on the Bay Area scene by successfully mixing spiritualism and hip-hop. Oakland's MC Zion and DJ/producer Amp Live blend hip-hop and trip-hop beats with lyrics focused on a message of unity, hope, and spiritual awareness. After a couple of indie hits, the trio slowly made inroads while opening for rap royalty like De La Soul, Rakim, and Run-D.M.C. Their debut album, Mind Over Matter, was released in May of 2000 and features collaborations with fellow Bay Area rappers Rasco, Planet Asia, and the Grouch. Although Zion I operates out of Berkeley, the group was originally formed in Atlanta, making their music difficult to classify as strictly West Coast hip-hop. Their musical style makes them even harder to define. With a style that borrows from hip-hop, trance, drum'n'bass, and reggae, Zion I's style is equally mystical and mystifying.

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From Tacoma to San Francisco to Chicago to Los Angeles to New York, producer Eliot Lipp has always followed the music. Creating songs that, according to XLR8R, “tickle days after the last spin,” he combines hip-hop influenced drum programming with the vintage synthesizer sounds found in the cutting edge electronic music of the 70s. Eliot Lipp’s early career saw him vigorously honing his skill on the club circuit where his fresh and daring take on hip-hop impressed Scott Herren (Prefuse 73) so much that he put out his 2004 debut LP on Eastern Developments. Subsequent successful releases on Hefty Records have continued to expand his audience and refine his craft. Now, Mush is thrilled to bring offerings of Eliot Lipp’s timeless yet novel interpretation of electro-funk to the people.

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Entheon, meaning "a place to discover the spirit within," is an effort to promote sustainable cultural re-evolution that heals relationships between the people of the earth and our planet. The mission of Entheon is to demonstrate a future in which sustainability, ecological responsibility, environmental stewardship, and meditative and mystical consciousness are a welcomed and integrated part of society, and where art, spirituality and creativity is central to that vision. Entheon strives to offer an intellectual, therapeutic, artistic and creative cornucopia of interactive opportunities. Lectures, workshops, renewable energy demonstrations, visionary art, zen meditation in a zendo, holotropic breathwork sessions, and performance come together in the spirit of celebration to co-create our shared vision of global healing and a broader awareness of ecological responsibility and the utopian spirit.

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This event is a part of the Green Apple Festival and is a co-promotion of JAM Productions, Entheon Village and Silver Wrapper.