Artist Review (Forecastle Preview Edition): Bassnectar

For the past decade, Bassnectar (Lorin Ashton) has been creating many unique, electronic tunes. With a  freeform electronic and dubstep sound, Bassnectar is best known for his live performances, light shows, and community engagement. With 8 different LP's along with many remixes of other artist songs, Bassnectar is releasing his ninth album titled VaVa Voom on Tuesday, April 10th and with any successful live DJ there is a 2012 VaVa Voom tour this spring and summer. Luckily, for the people of Ohio Valley, his tour comes to Louisville at the beginning of Forecastle weekend and he will be headlining the Friday lineup.

For anyone who has never heard Bassnectar's music, it has very heavily electronic bass with many unique sounds mixed together. While I don't feel like his music is best for casual listening, it is fun music as there is a lot of energy and would be great to hear at one of his live shows.

Ashton's main musical influence comes from heavy metal and grunge bands such as Nirvana, Megadeath, and Metallica and it shows in his music. He has been creating genre-mixing music since the early 90's and has gained popularity through his live shows with music that consist of heavy tempos, lots of play with double time and half time and using electronic methods to embellish and reinforce other styles of music. Since 2009, he has been doing live shows constantly and has appeared at many music festivals and sold out shows around the world.

Bassnectar is also an active proponent of creativity, discussion, thoughtfulness, communication, health, education, safety, interaction, and critical thinking, and has fostered a community through his online discussion forum based around these principles. He has openly advocated for causes such as free press and true media, net neutrality, ending corporate personhood, public knowledge, and the non-profit organization Conscious Alliance.

Be sure to stay around for Bassnectar the Friday night of Forecastle weekend, as I am sure no one will want to miss his crazy ass live show.

Boombox - Bassnectar

The Churn Of The Century - Bassnectar

West Coast Lo-Fi Rides Again - Bassnectar

Upside Down - Bassnectar

Plugged In (Remix) - Bassnectar

Voodoo - Bassnectar

Forecastle Music Festival 2012 Lineup

For people living in central Kentucky and southern Indiana, Forecastle is the closest and best music festival in the area. Over the past decade, in the heart of Louisville, Forecastle has become one of the best outdoor festivals in the country and to celebrate its 10 year anniversary, one of Louisville's most successful bands, My Morning Jacket, will be headlining and collaborating the festival's lineup.

Yesterday the lineup was released with many great bands set to play at the festival, headlining each night will be Bassnectar (Friday), My Morning Jacket (Saturday), and Wilco (Sunday). The rest of bands are a great mix of popular alternative Pop/Rock (Sleigh Bells, Beach House, Atlas Sounds, Andrew Bird, Dr. Dog, Deer Tick, etc.), Folk/ Classic Country (Ben Sollee, Justin Townes Earle, The Head and The Heart), Techno/ Electronic (Girl Talk, Washed Out, Flying Lotuc, etc.), Blues/ Soul (Galactic, Stax! Soul Revue, Charles Bradley), Heavy Metal (Clutch) and Rap (Atmosphere).

Here is the complete list...

There are currently 3 Day tickets available for $144.50 (soon to be $159.50).

Single day tickets for $49.50 will go on sale this Friday (March 2nd).

VIP 3 Day tickets and 1 Day tickets are available as well ($350.00 and $150.00).






















I plan on writing up on some of the bands playing at the festival over the next few months, so stand by for some in-depth reviews on bands you may not know about but might be interested in seeing at the festival this year.

I hope everyone who wants to make it out to Louisville, Ky July 13-15th for this fantastic festival gets a chance.

Concert Recap: Yonder Mountain String Band

The last time I saw Yonder Mountain String Band was at Bonnaroo in 2005. Prior to Bonnaroo I had listened to several of their live albums, but after seeing them live in Nashville, TN recently, I realized that their live recordings just don't do them justice. I was impressed by their 2005 Bonnaroo performance, but the show was not as memorable as other shows I attended that year. This time around I really feel like I witnessed the band for what they really are, a talented, live entertaining newgrass jam band. 


For those of you who are not familiar with Yonder Mountain String Band, I'll give you some details before I get into the actual show. The band was formed in Nederland, Colorado in 1998. They have released 6 studio albums and several live albums. The band consists of 4 talented musicians: Dave Johnston (banjo), Jeff Austin (mandolin, vocals), Ben Kaufmann (bass, vocals), and Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals). All contribute a great deal to the band's sound, music, and writing. The band has created such a large fan base that they have their own music festival in Arkansas called "Yonder Mountain's Harvest Festival". Of course, Yonder headlines, but they have brought in other large bands, such as Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Railroad Earth, Corey Smith, to name a few. Given their large fan base I knew that I was in for a treat since I was seeing them in "Music City".

The venue called Marathon Music Works, was a newly renovated warehouse on the outskirts of the downtown area. It was the venue's second show since opening earlier this year. The inside was huge, able to hold 1,500 people with two large restrooms and two fully stocked bars (local beers on tap). Experiencing a live show at a new venue that had excellent lighting equipment, sound system, and well-maintained restrooms was very pleasant . The stage was set on the side wall of the venue which allowed for just about everyone to have a great view of the band.

While I mainly paid to see YMSB, the opening band, The Infamous Stringdusters, was a great bonus. The band was much like YMSB but a little more traditional. YMSB chooses bands like the Infamous Stringdusters to open for them because they invite the opening band to come back out to play with them. This makes for a great show because the unique blend of music not heard on YMSB's albums. Hearing their music, old and new, brought out the bluegrass lover in me and I danced pretty much through the whole show.

If you enjoy bluegrass/newgrass music with great vocals and lyrics, check out Yonder Mountain String Band and keep an eye out for a live show close to where you live. You will not be disappointed with what you see and hear.