Bassnectar on his history, posted via bassnectar.net
A quick run down of my musical life:
When I was in junior high I began discovering music that struck me, as opposed to music that felt familiar (like my parentās music). This was mostly Metallica (the first song I heard of theirs was āEnter Sandmanā, so this was after they had already become āmainstreamā and blown up), NWA (which I memorized completely verbatim), and Nirvana (again my introduction to them was āSmells Like Teen Spiritā their ābreakout singleā which all hardcore Nirvana fans I am sure despised and griped about) but for me this music was raw, pure, and extremely riveting. I gravitated towards anything heavy, and fell headfirst into the local underground scene, which was full of freaks, lunatics, and overall playful, strange, creative people.
I begged my parents for a crappy guitar, and after three quick lessons I formed a band with my best friend, and we set out to lose ourselves in heavy metal. To this day I do not know THE SLIGHTEST musical theory, I donāt understand notes or chords or anything like thatā¦ I taught myself to play by basically remixing the songs I loved best, or combining riffs from different songs. Or I would take a hook (like the opening guitar in Black Sabbathās āIronmanā) and play it at various alternate speeds, trying to change up the feel but maintain the essence.
About this time, my Uncle Joe (who has always been a bohemian world traveller) started bringing me hand drums and teaching me beats. He would leave me with cassette tapes of brazilian Samba and Batucada beats. As I learned to play the drum, my ability to keep time with my band mates improved significantly.
The music I was into became progressively more and more hardcore, and as I began turning away from Religion and mainstream American culture, my friends and I descended into an obsession with the darkest, heaviest music possible. Death metal, Black metal, doom, grindcoreā¦ and I mean we became *OBSESSED*ā¦it was all we ever did. There was an intense camaraderie between the various metalheads in the area, and a network developed. There was so much creativity and experimentation exchanged as the 2 or 3 kids from each high school influenced each other, shared new styles, and got together to form bands or make underground shows happen. Sometimes we would have informal āshowsā in our practice studios, or in my bassistās garage (or on crazy days we would set up and play on his rooftop), as well as taking over various Battle Of The Bands, or throwing grindcore/punk crossover shows in the basement of the Cupertino Public LIbrary. A very unique community formed, comprised of freaks from every nook and cranny. It was a community of misfits and oddballs and rejects, but it felt like home. Bands like Exhumed, Spazz, Gory Melanoma, Dawning, etc were all very influential.
As time progressed, my songwriting developed, and although I did not officially know what I was doing, I was writing most of the music for my band from intuition, and again from opening to all the influences around me. I experimented with 4-track recorders and FX pedals. During senior year of high school, as my friends and I started going to āravesā, I started making rough forms of DIY techno music (with crappy drum machines, my guitar, my effects pedals, and bad vocal effects) and listening to late night electronic music shows on KFJC.
Upon going to my first rave on September 5, 1995, I basically changed irrevocably. I was still extremely obsessed with music, but the rave scene at the time opened my eyes to the beauty of community (something I had been raised with in the hippy commune I grew up in) and I felt completely open and connected to other people. As opposed to the introverted darkness of metal, I found ārave musicā to be just as raw and powerful and immersive, but the values were very positive and friendly, and so was I.
I got into raves not for the drugs, or even the music (although both were very powerful) but rather for the community. I was so mesmerized by everything i found in the rave scene that my only response was to give back. I wanted to get as utterly involved as I could, so I could re-create my experiences for as many other people as possible. I was usually completely sober, running around all night long taking care of everyone I met or dancing for 8 hours straight like a mad man.
Soon I knew all the promoters in the area, and thousands of people in the San Francisco scene. As my tastes developed into hardcore psytrance (we called it āGoa Tranceā since it supposedly originated in trances that took place on the beaches of India), I quickly got behind the scenes and started throwing parties in SF warehouses and throughout the beaches in Santa Cruz. I was working with hundreds of other people, this was not a lone wolf thingā¦ there were multiple communities, simultaneously pushing the boundaries further and further and I wanted to be at the core of all of them, working with all my heart to contribute. (I am tempted to start listing names of people who i worked with but the list could get long, maybe in another post, i can tell a better history, with more details).
I remember in early 1996 when I realized that all a DJ was doing was playing a record. Before that, I had thought they were *making* all those sounds liveā¦ I found a pair of turntables at a friends house, and after a 20 minute lesson I gave it a try and seamlessly beatmatched the two records (her name was Bonnie, she was a SICK downtempo DJ out of San Jose) ā¦I remember laughing out loud, partly because it was so much fun, but also because it was *SO* painlessly easy. Years of drumming had prepared me and I thought that since I was already throwing ill parties, why not play at them as well? Until that time I had never considered being a DJ (although I was taking the Electronic Music minor at UCSC and playing with tons of amazing gear). I was mostly focused on making events happen, and making music, in addition to going to school (I majored in āCommunity Studiesā at UCSC, and also minored in Education)ā¦
One Sunday morning, a few hundred friends and I were deep off in the boonies on a beach outside of Santa Cruz. We had been there all night absolutely raging, and as the sun rose over the water and illuminated the beach I noticed another sound system and group of people way, way down on another side of the beach. I was usually the sober guy who would go talk to the cops if they came to bust our fun, or to basically handle whatever needed to be handled, so I started walking over to this other party. Halfway there, I met one of their representatives, a small guy who looked kind of like an Ewok. He introduced himself as āBrotherā and explained that his group (they were called āSpaceship Gaiaā) had noticed our party and wanted to come make friendsā¦ Brother was (and is) a huge influence on the early Santa Cruz full moon collective scene, and also one of my favorite DJs to this day. One time he gave me a sticker he made that said āButterfly Beings Drink Bass Nectarā and as soon as I saw it I thought that if I ever made a band again I would name it āBassnectarāā¦
That is the long and short of it. I can tell you more about the hippy commune I grew up in, or the death metal scene in California in the early 1990ā²s or the illegal warehouse raves or working as Barney The Purple Dinosaur at little kids birthday parties while I was in collegeā¦ Or I can tell you how the sounds and styles morphed from the 1990ā²s through Y2K and into the present day, but this feels like a good place to stop for now.
Upside Down
Bassnectar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Upside, upside, upside, down.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down,
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards and upside down!
NIAOOOW, .
Go up!
(letĀs go!).
Go up!
(letĀs go!)
NIAOOOW, waow weh,
Go up!
(LetĀs go up!)
Upside, upside, upside, down.
(Down down down, dow dow dow dow down.)
(LetĀs go up, uh uh uhhhp. uh uh uhh.)
Upside, upside, upside, down.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down,
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down,
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards and sdrifnufdeh sdrifnufdeh upside down!
The lyrics of Bassnectar's song "Upside Down" are a series of repetitive phrases that describe a disorienting, chaotic experience. The recurring refrain of "Upside, upside, upside, upside" and "upside, upside, upside, down" creates a sense of confusion and instability, as the listener is repeatedly pulled in different directions. The following lines, "Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down," further emphasize this feeling of disarray and uncertainty, as the singer seems to be moving back and forth and all around.
The repetition of these phrases also serves to reinforce the central theme of the song: the idea that everything is turned on its head, and nothing is quite as it seems. This sense of disorientation is further underscored by the use of distorted and manipulated vocals, which create a sense of unease and dissonance. The song as a whole is an exploration of this state of mind, and the way in which it can be both exhilarating and unnerving.
Overall, "Upside Down" is an intense and immersive track that immerses the listener in a world of chaos and confusion, reflecting the disorienting experience of being upside down.
Line by Line Meaning
Upside, upside, upside, upside.
Repetitive chanting of the word 'upside' to set the tone and theme of the song.
Upside, upside, upside, down.
Contrasting 'upside' with 'down' to symbolize the duality and inversion of reality and perception.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down.
Repetition of the line to create a hypnotic effect while describing the constant motion and change of direction that challenges the listener's orientation and expectations.
NIAOOOW, .
Sudden sound effect to punctuate the end of a section and signal a transition to the next part of the song.
Go up!
Encouraging the listener to elevate and transform their state of mind and break free from their limitations.
Let's go!
Inviting the listener to join the journey and embrace the excitement and uncertainty of the experience.
NIAOOOW, waow weh,
Another sound effect to create aural interest and variety.
Go up!
Reiterating the call to transcendence and adventure.
Upside, upside, upside, down.
Repeating the central theme of the song to reinforce its meaning and power.
(Down down down, dow dow dow dow down.)
Adding a playful and catchy echo to the chorus to enhance its catchiness and singability.
(Let's go up, uh uh uhhhp. uh uh uhh.)
Varying the melody and rhythm of the chorus to keep it fresh and dynamic and encourage active engagement from the listener.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down,
Continuing with the mesmerizing and mind-bending repetition and exploring the different permutations and combinations of words and syllables.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down.
Echoing the previous part to emphasize the cyclical and recursive nature of the song and its themes.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, back, backwards and forwards and upside down,
Extending the previous part to build tension and momentum and prepare for the climax of the song.
Backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards and sdrifnufdeh sdrifnufdeh upside down!
Ending with a nonsensical and jumbled phrase to subvert expectations and challenge the listener's assumptions and preconceptions about language and meaning.
Writer(s): Lorin Ashton
Contributed by Isaiah T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Carolynn Wright
This makes me feel really old. This was THE dubstep song( jam, mix, beat) that turned me on to dubstep 10 years ago. Lol
gee eye
As much as other artists down dubstep, there is no doubt the sound crafting and sequencing that goes into constructing a song are incredible and the dynamics regularly heard in this subgenre of electronic music really blows my mind - Bassnectar works to break the monotony that typically goes with this style of music and for me he will always be top in the dubstep production field
Oreo88200
This is definitely one of my favorite Bassnectar songs
forktruck certified
From an short era of music that was so unique
Shorecrestskate
i automatically like every bassnectar song even when i haven''t listened to it yet because i know its going to be good
Some Wiseguy
words cant describe lorins ability to create the most breathtaking music.
JSaga
I usually don't think mix of hip hop and electronic is a great mix, but this piece is definitely an exception!
Hey, Here in my Garage
If you think this has any hip hop in it, you have a lot of learning to do
xShaolin
tko, now run dmt remix and level up by bassnectar would like to speak with you
xShaolin
and speakerbox