Bassnectar

Lorin Gabriel Ashton, better known under his stage name Bassnectar (born February 16, 1978), is an American DJ and electronic music producer.

With a career spanning several decades, Bassnectar has gained recognition for his innovative sound design and energetic live performances.

His music and performances typically combine elements of dubstep, drum and bass, and various other electronic subgenres, often characterized by heavy basslines and intricate, layered production.

Bassnectar has released numerous albums and singles, and his impact on the electronic music scene has been significant, contributing to the popularization of bass-heavy dance music in the United States.

When Ashton was 16 years old, he played in a death metal band named Pale Existence, which contributed to his heavy style of music.

In 1995, he attended his first rave and was immediately drawn to this new type of music, attending as many shows as possible, promoting shows, and eventually learning to DJ after studying electronic music production.

He continued his studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, producing tracks using Opcode Systems Studio Vision Pro.

Ashton began djing parties in the Bay Area and drew fanfare at Burning Man by playing multiple sets a night.

Around this time, several mixtapes were released under the moniker "Lorin", including Gardens, Dreamtempo Mixtape, and Freakbeats for the Beatfreaks.

Ashton played one such event, Shambhala music festival, in 2001–2002 before formally returning to the grounds as Bassnectar in 2003 and kicking off a string of annual performances at the festival that would continue for 11 years straight.

Making an appearance at the 2002 Health and Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California, it is believed Ashton performed for the first time using a laptop and controller in lieu of standard djing equipment.

It was also around this time that Ashton began formalizing his stage name, sometimes still booking under “Lorin Bassnectar”, before dropping “Lorin” altogether.

His second album Motions of Mutation from 2003 and its 2004 successor Diverse Systems of Throb both garnered support from the Bay Area electronic music community, and through frequent sightings at various parties and festivals, his notoriety continued to grow.

In 2005, Ashton signed with Madison House, a booking agency predominantly known at the time for its work with jam bands.

This move helped to elevate Bassnectar's stature at a key time as audiences became more receptive towards electronic music.

Continued releases in the following years (albums Mesmerizing the Ultra, Underground Communication, Cozza Frenzy, along with the EP Timestretch) added to Bassnectar's popularity and influence in the ever-growing electronic scene in the United States.

In 2010, the first of these events, named "BassCenter", was held at the 1stBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado.

As popularity and demand grew, various curated events were added over time, including "Basslights" (a collaborative event between Bassnectar and Pretty Lights), Halloween and Day of the Dead themed events (sometimes referred to as "Freakstyle"), New Year's Eve celebrations ("NYE360"), and others, such as "Freestyle Sessions", "Spring Gathering", and "Deja Voom".

In 2011, Divergent Spectrum became the first album to chart on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums, spending 35 weeks on the chart and peaking at 2nd position, marking a turning point for the Bassnectar project from a commercial standpoint.

It was during this period that Bassnectar was at the height of his touring era, exceeding 200,000 ticket sales in both 2011 and 2012 and playing over 150 shows a year in venues across the United States.

Following the success of Divergent Spectrum, Ashton released his 7th studio album, Vava Voom, on April 10, 2012.

The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and remained on the chart for 15 weeks.

The success of "Vava Voom" was complemented by a sold-out North American tour.

Through the end of 2013 and early 2014, touring dates tapered off to allow space to produce his 8th studio album.

Ashton approached the effort by first composing each song's building blocks electronically, then deconstructing them into guitar, piano, and vocal arrangements that could then be sent to various producers and artists for workshopping.

The feedback collected from these workshopping efforts informed the finalized version of each track.

The resulting album, Noise vs. Beauty, was released June 24, 2014 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, remaining on the chart for 16 weeks.

The album received generally favorable reviews, with Rolling Stone giving the album a 3/5 rating and noting the release was Ashton's "most mature".

In 2015, Bassnectar stopped touring his own show and shifted focus towards playing the festival circuit almost exclusively, making multiple appearances at Bonnaroo, Camp Bisco, Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Forest Festival, Lollapalooza, and Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival.

However, even before this time of exclusively playing festival shows, Bassnectar began orchestrating his own "curated" events.

His latest curated event was to be held in March 2020 at the Barcelo Maya Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On July 3, 2020, Ashton announced that he was "stepping back" from music, amid allegations of sex trafficking, child pornography, and sexual abuse of minors.

He denied the allegations as being "untrue", albeit admitting that "some of my past actions have caused pain, and I am deeply sorry."

Following this announcement, past collaborators and artists in the electronic music community spoke out against Ashton and led fans to draw comparisons to other artists in the electronic music industry who had been accused of sexual abuse, including Datsik, Graves, and Space Jesus.

Mimi Page, who provided vocals for a few Bassnectar tracks, including "Butterfly" and "Breathless", tweeted that she was "devastated" and sends "love and healing to the fans in this community who's [sic] hearts are also breaking."

DJ and producer Dylan Lane, known professionally as ill.Gates, who produced music with and had previously defended Ashton, ultimately reversed his stance and concluded: "I'm feeling sad. I feel used, I feel betrayed, I feel like my musical history is stained by this."

In response, Ashton removed nearly all their collaborations from streaming services.

Others, such as Peekaboo and Apashe, donated proceeds from the tracks they produced with Bassnectar and offered support to victims of sexual abuse.

In January 2023, following years of silence from Ashton, perpetual discussion from his fans, and rumors regarding a possible return, a new mix, titled Music for Optimists, was discovered on the Bassnectar Mixcloud profile.

Fans also received an email inviting them to a new website, "UnlocktheOtherSide.com", which would act as a “centralized hub” for the community going forward.