Bassnectar - Friday 10.03.2008
w/ Mike Relm, Dark Party
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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In a time when the skratch musician is once again shoved to the background behind drummers, guitar players, singers, and rappers, one lone skratch artist continues on the road much less traveled. Sharing the stage with nothing more than two turntables, a DVJ, a mixer, and a microphone, Mike Relm defies any preconceived notions of what a solo DJ can achieve musically and visually. The dexterity of the turntablist. The 6th sense of the party rocker. The music palette of the obsessed record collector. The presence of the freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. The couture of a Reservoir Dog. Mike Relm. Genres of music mean absolutely nothing to this champion turntablist. Using the skratch techniques which turned the Hip Hop world upside-down, Relm masterfully manipulates everything from Jimi Hendrix to Beck to Vince Guaraldi to Rage Against the Machine. Born and raised in what has become known as the mecca of turntablism, San Francisco, Mike Relm played a critical role in the skratch music movement of the late 90’s producing records and events. “Skratchcon 2000”, which he directed, is to skratching what “A Great Day In Harlem” is to jazz. He made his debut on the silver screen on Doug Pray’s award winning film “Scratch”, where he was documented in a studio jam session with DJ Shadow. Relm’s unmistakable style also led to a collaboration with Money Mark for music on “Along Came Polly” (Universal, 2004). Upon meeting director John Hamburg during the studio session, Relm was brought on to appear in several of the film’s scenes. Mike Relm has become a worldwide leader in the visual arts. He transforms every stage into his personal film festival, manipulating music and movies live to awestruck audiences. Never before has anyone attempted such an act, and it has been called the most brilliant thing a DJ has ever done on stage.

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Dark Party is Eliot Lipp and Leo123. They met in San Francisco. Their songs are inspired by their favorite Classic Electro, Techno & Hip Hop producers. 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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