Bass music’s reluctant long-haired icon has been ruminative the past couple of years. With twenty years of touring, a prolific collaborative ethos, and a discography so deep it can be divided into eras, Lorin Ashton is one of the few electronic artists who can trace his roots and expand his horizons in the same breath.
The lyrics from the Bassnectar song “Select Frequency,” “old school, new school, then combine the two,” could be the mantra for Bassnectar’s entire Reflective series of EP’s. Every release has seen a new cast of trusty collaborators, and stylistic nods or even full remastered versions of his older melodic material. There’s been stunning highlights (Other Worlds, Chromatek, Easy Does It) and listless, uninspired ones (Infrared, Whiplash) culled from the laboratory floor over two years.
If the formula was getting weary by Reflective Part III, the sluggish parts of Part IV feel particularly long in the tooth, but then the heights are twice as rewarding, thanks in part to some buck-wild collaborations and one hell of a remaster.
What an opener.
“Irresistible Force” was momentous for this year’s Deja Voom crowd because it’s a stellar intro. It hits your chest with the familiar grin-inducing expanse of “Into the Sun” and his remix of Rusko’s “High,” with layers upon layers of low-end thick enough to set cement. The fluorescent pulse of the melodies are top notch, mastered dutifully by Seth Drake. If there’s a fresh vote for an exuberant confetti drop song in a live set, we have a new contender.
“Dive” pumps the breaks abruptly, falling into the same problem I have with “Whiplash,” the song is just gratingly repetitive, with a two-note hammering line made no more bearable by vocalist RD’s peppered “okay, okay in the place to be.” It’s doesn’t amount to anything exciting and just flatlines on arrival.
The collaborations are the true highlights.
“Illusion” picks the pace up with a vengeance, featuring vicious sound design, unlike anything Peekaboo’s released before. Vocalist Born I’s constant “I gotta” vocals work well rhythmically because the attack of the track is just that thrilling. The second drop is a nauseous zero-G plunge that scales back up to chilling high-pitched alien invasion synths. Blistering, genre-snapping, new live favorite.
Jantsen has supplied his signature maximalism into classic Nectar tracks like “Blast Off,” “What,” and “Red Step” for over a decade. His feature on this EP, “It’s About to Get Hectic,” is not only the most furious and grimace-inducing song on Reflective IV, but the most dynamic. The second drop kicks the snarling main rhythm into 170bpm drum n’ bass fury with classic gunfire snares rattling off Born I’s pitched vocals.
Leaving so soon?
“Undercover” is decently heavy, but like “Dive” it doesn’t build up impressively, and just maintains its own miasmic groove for two minutes before calling it quits. It’s an interesting interlude, but it could have benefitted from being twice as long to really sink its teeth into the listener.
Adapting classics for the future.
The remix of Telefon Tel Aviv’s glitchy wonder “Sound in a Dark Room” is curiously nervous. Instead of the original’s glacial wanderlust, Bassnectar doubles down on the speed, making the beautiful chimes nervous and caustic. It’s a similar effect to his remix of Grimes’ Genesis, where a new coat of roving sub-bass and subtle ambient trickery is enough to make an electronic classic feel just enough his own.
Reflective Part IV is concluded with maybe the longest-awaited remaster of an old Bassnectar track, “Leprechauns Arise.” The single is from 2005’s Mesmerizing the Ultra, was the holy grail of requested. It made it’s first appearance in over a decade at last year’s Basscenter XI in Hampton, VA. Fans were treated to this “Leprechauns Arise (Mothership Mix),” named after Hampton’s beloved UFO-shaped coliseum where Basscenter is held. Like “Sound in A Dark Room,” the changes are subtle, but the sheen of hi-fi mastering and increased attack makes it feel like a new song, with Sunru Skywaka’s lyrics sounding punchier than ever before.
It’s more Reflective: flaws, thrills, and all.
Like the rest of the Reflective series, this EP is uneven, while covering a lot of sonic ground. The formula of a few new highlights and a solid throwback is wearisome when some songs don’t justify their inclusion fully. That being said, this Reflective breaks a lot of mold for the studio side of Bassnectar and hopefully marks the conclusion of the series with some of the strongest material on any of the releases of the past two years.