The reception for Divergent Spectrum has been overwhelming and hope to see you on our Divergent Spectrum Tour – see all dates at HERE and make sure your crew is in attendance.
Speaking of spectrums, I thought it might be fun to compile a little taster pack of Bassnectar music from the vaults, especially useful for new listeners and visitors to this site. Spread the word and come out to see us as we traverse the country and bring the heaviness…
Tracklisting:
1. Enthusiasm Is Contagious
I was hanging out with one of my best friends (Craig) and had an idea for something I wanted to try in a song I was producing at the time called “Nostalgia Worship”. I had recorded another friend (Sage) playing guitar (the wailing high-pitched harmonic melody part) and was trying to retune it to fit the bassline in Nostalgia Worship. Craig and I were messing around recording our voices in my studio, and I had an idea that if he hummed the bassline, I would test out a melody in my head over-top and customize it melodically on the fly (keep in mind I cannot sing at all). Of course as I tried to come in at the high register we both split into laughter because Craig said it sounded like tinnitus (ringing in the ears)…we were just being goofballs. As you can see the melody ended up working out, and I mixed the two
together.
2. Bass Head
This one has become a bit of an anthem, fusing together 808 hip-hop loops and dubstep technology, but exploring it at a drum&bass tempo. The 80-90 bpm tempo range has been one of my sweet spots
for over a decade.
3. Lights (Bassnectar Remix)
Another tune needing very little introduction. This represents the softer side of melodic & hypnotic bass music.
4. Immigraniada (Bassnectar Remix) [radio edit]
Mashups have always been fun, not so much the traditional “ACDC mixed with 50 Cent” thing, but actually mashing up genres which traditionally do not have much to do with one another… in this case punk rock and bass music. The original song is a very visceral call-to- arms celebrating the rich cultural diversity of the world’s citizens, and the semi-preposterous notion of nations and borders and territory.
5. Cozza Frenzy (Mega Bass Mix)
This was another anthem, the lyrics are about bass bins; specifically the ceremony of gathering a large amount of people together in front of 20 double 18′s and blasting them into vapor space euphoria. It was fun to remix myself, getting to take a new approach on a song I had already completed; giving it new life.
6. Bomb The Blocks (Bassnectar 2007 Remix)
Recorded with Persia around the onset of the Iraq War, this song was a poem about the power of music & politics. Personally I am less interested in politics these days, and more interested in cultural evolution and humanistics: finding ways to enrich, empower, and inspire the lives of other human beings. This song was a remix of the original which I created as a bonus for the “Underground Communication” release.
7. Impossible & Overwhelming
After my overdose on psy-trance music in 1997, I started getting very interested in downtempo. I loved everything from avant-garde ambient music to abstract hip-hop and trip-hop. But I always wanted it to have heavy bass beats behind it. This is a song about overwhelming emotions, being submerged in a sensitivity to the weight of life, which is almost unbearable and so visceral, yet utterly precious also. It is philosophically influenced by the movie “American Beauty”.
8. Teleport Massive (Bassnectar Remix)
Zumbi (from Bay Area hip-hop act Zion I) has become an important member of the Bassnectar collective of artists. His voice runs rampant over many of my songs. This particular song always triggers imagery of daydreaming, and the immaculate universe of the
imagination.
9. Seek & Destroy (Bassnectar Remixxx)
Before I loved raves, I loved metal. And before I loved death metal, I loved pure, freakout music – primarily Metallica. The original song is so raw and ferocious, and SO old school, I was pretty stunned to hear how well it mixed with a proper crush-face bass line.
10. Nostalgia Worship
This is about memories, and specifically about my memories of childhood. I was producing the majority of this song using Reason, and one of my favorite things to do at the time was take old hip-hop beats, and smother them in a lattice of melody and lush synthesizers. I love how the melodies keep changing throughout.
11. Inspire The Empathic
Some food for thought (I am just as interested in thoughts as I am in music), this was a collection of thoughts and ideas I compiled along with the input of many friends like Andres Octavio, Scott Smith & Chris Sia. The general motive was to inspire people who feel a sense of empathy (even if your life is wonderful, still feeling a sense of compassion for those who are struggling, and a desire to help) about injustice in the world. Specifically it is about fairness in media, and the importance within a democracy for all citizens to be well informed, and active in the democratic process. The corporate elite control the
discourse and public opinion in the USA through carefully crafted campaigns of propaganda, and this was made easier by “deregulating media ownership rules” thus allowing a very few handful of corporations to control the vast majority of our news. The issue is still a hot topic today, as those same corporations constantly attempt to control the internet.
I hope you enjoy this music, I will put together another Taster pack in the future, but for now Bon Appetit!
