Thursday, April 19, 2007
East Bay Express Interview with Bassnectar
The most recent East Bay Express has a long profile and interview of Lorin Ashton, aka Bass Nectar. Seems like Lorin is trying to break into the big-time by going hip-hop. *Sigh,* I can't think of of anything more stereotypical. There are some interesting bits here; I didn't realize that Lorin grew up in a Santa Cruz commune called Koinonea, which is what led to the creation of the Koinonea party crew (who are having their annual 2012 party coming up June, btw, details to follow as available), and his musical history is interesting as well, from death-metal to psytrance to breaks and now hip-hop. I'm a little put off by both his and the writer's playing into typical rock critic themes (music made by black people is more authentic and sexy and political than music made by white people, the assertation that "rave" is now a dirty word, the backlash against electronic music in favor of guitar music), as well as Lorin's urge to shed his burner image to go mainstream, but it's an interesting profile nonetheless.
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I was reading an editorial in Paper Magazine yesterday from an NY scenester explaining his "Yin-Yang" theory. He claimed that because of the nature of our jobs (sitting in front of computers and feeling isolated and disconnected from humanity), there is an equal and opposite push for a certain 'real'. The 'real', he claims, is live music and organic socialization. While I agree with him that much of what we do contributes to a certain isolationism, and that (speaking from personal experience) there is a powerful drive to socialize, the whole idea that one scene (live music, hip-hop, etc) is instrinically more important for our very souls is rubbish. You make of things what you want to, be it a DJ set, an Ableton Live set, or a rock band.
With that in mind, I don't want to discount Lorin's hard work. The man has done more in a few years than you and I have in a few decades. He's got drive and a vision, and that I appriciate. What I don't appriciate is posturing, and when you decide to "break into the mainstream" you end up having to pose a lot more than you did when you were doing your indie thing. If he's going to market himself as an electro-hip-hop artist, he best be careful that the title doesn't end up diluting his appeal, his sound, and ulitmately his career.
Also he should cut his hair. Sheesh.
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