LimeWire Music Blog

While many electronic music producers specialize in one specific niche, San Francisco-based DJ/producer Lorin “Bassnectar” Ashton likes to keep his musical options open. On his seventh album, Cozza Frenzy, Ashton unleashes a tasty smorgasboard of pummeling dubstep beats, tough-as-nails breaks, blissed-out chillout room fodder, and chugging electro grooves. In this EXCLUSIVE interview, Ashton, whose latest album includes his spectacular remix of Fever Ray’s “When I Get Old,” discusses his penchant for following his own musical bliss.

LWMB: Is there a difference between Bassnectar and Lorin Ashton?

Lorin “Bassnectar” Ashton: Indeed. Lorin Ashton is a person, and Bassnectar is my creative alias, my creative project, kind of like a collaborative imaginary band.

DJs are often pigeonholed into one niche. However, it seems your style eschews such musical constraints. How have you managed to keep your sound eclectic?

It’s never been a challenge. I just do what I feel, and I feel diverse, passionate, excited to try new things, intrigued by the unexpected, and addicted to massively heavy sound.

I read that your musical roots lie in metal. What prompted you to make the jump to dance-floor oriented music?

It never felt like a jump, just a mutation. I suppose the moment came at my first rave in 1995, when I first let go. That night I experienced two of my favorite aspects of the human experience: totally buckwild hardcore ripping freakout music, and beautifully open and empathic friendship and community with strangers and friends alike. At the age of 18 I had never felt it quite like that before.

Cozza Frenzy features a host of terrific collaborations. How did they come about?

I have a band mentality. I love the resonance of various minds, but I am a total control freak. So remixes are a good path for me, taking someone else’s idea and mutating it, or reinforcing it. Also, I love collaborating and practicing compromise and discipline and taking input and feedback. I grew up on a commune; I like to work with others.

This is your seventh release. How did your prior releases prepare you for this album?

This album was the most difficult to make because of a serious lack of time. But I felt the least pressure when I was finishing it, in that I just really do not care if people like it. And that is not because I do not care about what people think; I do! But I created this for lovers of my music, and the live shows are so off the fucking chain that I am not seeking any validation from this. It is just a gift, and some people will love it, and some will hate it, and some will not care, and I am really happy with it.

“I have insanely high standards, and sound quality is one of the most important aspects of a show. Every time I am home in my studio, I wish people could hear the music the way I hear it there.”

I understand that you tour with a custom-built sound system. What inspired you to build it?

I have insanely high standards, and sound quality is one of the most important aspects of a show. Every time I am home in my studio, I wish people could hear the music the way I hear it there (super thick and super heavy, but clear and clean and not too loud or too painful). My crew strives to define sound in terms of weight not volume….we love it heavy!

You’ve played Burning Man for over ten years. How did you get involved, and what sort of impact has playing there have on your music?

Well, I have been there 12 years so it is difficult to [briefly] answer that question. It was a wonderful way to broadcast my styles and sounds to people from all over in one place.

There’s often a political message in your DJ sets. What do you say to people who think politics and music are a bad mix?

I’m not really worried about it. For one thing, I am not overbearing with it (unless I feel I must be, and then I am. People can deal with it or leave). But it really is not an issue. With each passing day I am less interested in politics, and more interested in humanistics. Studying humans and human interaction, and investing time and thought into basic empathic principles of improvement like education, health, community, critical thinking, discussion skills, communication, information sharing, etc. I am a pretty positive guy in terms of most of the world, although I come across as a cynic if I am dealing with hippies.

When was the last time a DJ changed your life?

Coldcut.

It’s been a busy year for you. How will you look back on 2009?

I hope to enjoy each moment as deeply as possible for what it is. This has been a big year, full of transitions and challenges and breakthroughs, and I feel like time vanishes before you can touch it. I really want to slow time down…. like a hummingbird.