Music Review: Bassnectar - Underground Communication - Page 2

I read the press releases for Bassnectar and was happy. I was in for some heavy dub fusion, with "throbbing bass." In deference to my neighbourhood, which is somewhat less — shall we say — raw than the neighbourhoods of my teens and twenties, I prepared by turning down my sub-woofer, taking it to the kitchen (which has a concrete floor), closing the windows, and playing the CD on a Saturday afternoon. This seemed like a reasonable time of the week to blast next-door's ears and chests for a while.

Five minutes later, I was upstairs in the bedroom, speakers on the wooden floor, volume up, sub-woofer at maximum — and frustrated as all hell. It was better in the bedroom with the wooden floor, but not heavy enough. Ten minutes after that, I was in the car with the children demanding I turn the music up, then immediately asking me to turn it down again. The top-end became deafening but the bass was only a little better. It tickled my knees, but it never reached my chest. You can't feel the sub-bass strongly enough on even a decent domestic sound system. I checked it against other CDs for reference, including Tricky's Maxinquaye. I had hoped that it could perhaps compete, but Tricky beat it hands down.

I believe there is a weakness in the mastering of this album. If there isn't, I can only surmise a couple of things. In America, either everyone in the market has a massive, professional, stage-standard sound-system; or Bassnectar isn't producing truly heavy underground dub in the studio. Perhaps someone can enlighten me after their forthcoming US Summer events and let me know if the live shows are as body-shakingly throbbing and heavy as I've heard they are.

At any rate, I'm sure there won't be anything amateurish about the quality of the music you hear. You will certainly dance, have fun, and want to explore the eclectic roots of the music, which is no bad thing.

Article Author: Elaine Borthwick

Elaine Borthwick is a mother, blogger, poet, and tutor. Elaine likes music, art, films, reading and the Surreal. She is fond of sketchbooks and Dolly Mixtures. Image of Elaine by kind permission © Ben Wharton 2007.

Visit Elaine Borthwick's author page — Elaine Borthwick's Blog