Bay Area breakbeat god Bassnectar hits White Room

If Adbusters made music or Negativland veered more toward the dance floor, the result might come off booming like Bassnectar. Of course, the world would have to be ending — on a happy note. And in its place would be a space made wholly of encouragement, enthusiasm, and a bright, light positivism. Because Bassnectar is about pushing the plusses, not the minuses, and giving us the widest range of sensorial experiences. It's the sound of a polyglot exploding into everything that's new, and it will blow your mind.

Bassnectar is Lorin Ashton, a Bay Area-born sound sculptor who boasts a vicious array of knowledge and skills. Ashton describes Bassnectar's music as "omni-tempo maximalism," which is to say he incorporates every strain and genre under the sun, moon, and stars. Ashton also has come up with a few never-before-heard strains. And he's concocted a genre that defies definition.

Naturally, Ashton doesn't pull off this great, glorious racket all by himself. He has co-conspirators that span the globe, including Jamaican toastmaster Tapper Zukie, Philly's Diplo, L.A.'s 6Blocc, and the Austrian/Australian and Italian/English duo Product.01. All of them guest on Bassnectar's relatively recent Amorphous Music single, "Art of Revolution."

On September 29, Bassnectar digitally released the full-length Cozza Frenzy (the physical CD is due out October 27). It's his seventh LP since 2001's Freakbeat for the Beatfreak. Like all of Ashton's slabs, Frenzy finds him teaming with crazy diversity. But whether Bassnectar is making expert use of the likes of Sweden's Fever Ray, Oakland's Zumbi (of Zion I), New York's Mr. Projectile, or Toronto's DJ Capital J, the concoction always bubbles up into its own mad patented brew.

This Saturday, the recently refurbished White Room will import a party called Arcade. Like its home base in Toronto's Mod Club, the shindig will embrace anybody with an open mind. That's why Bassnectar will headline and why the likes of Damaged Goods and Juan Basshead will back up the cat throughout the night. It's also why you and everyone you know will be there, digging the scene. Because we don't do closed minds, do we?

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