Lotus Magazine was a pop cultural blip, a rave publication that catered to a niche of a subculture. Independently published from 1996 – 2002, Lotus served the West Coast's underground rave community. It was a free magazine, half electronica rag, half semi-spiritual/environmentalist youth outreach project. This online archive presents a sliver of the material published in the magazine during its six years of bi-monthly publication. Some of the content is still relevant, and some of it's just silly. All of it's very, very earnest. Enjoy! – Bassnectar, Winter 2000
Vegan
Dance Music: Santa
Cruz's DJ Lorin, aka
Bassnectar
By Ariel Meadow Stallings
Exploding out of Santa Cruz with a driven bass beat, DJ Lorin (who also composes under the moniker of Bass Nectar) is one to watch. Emerging from a history of psytrance events, he's been throwing monthly full moon gatherings in Santa Cruz for two years with 13 Moontribe, and DJing frequently in SF for ((THUMP)) Radio and Yoga Tai Chi parties, among others. He's both a connoisseur DJ, playing the loveliest eclectic sets this jaded dancer has heard in years, and a producer, generating remixes and original work. Lorin describes his Bassnectar remixes as "vegan dance music," since he pulls out the "oh, yeahs," "take me highers," and other offensive cheesy vocals. After my tired sober ass danced for three hours to his amazing set at Burning Man, I decided I had to corner him and pick his brain.
You used to be a Goa trance DJ. What made you transition out of that, and how would you describe the music you play now?
The thing that I really found lacking in trance was the bass and the percussive funk. I played downtempo for a while, but then I started wanting more powerful dance energy and got into spinning eclectic sets. Because my CD turntables can change the speed so drastically, I can go from jungle into trance into downtempo into breakbeat. So, I would call what I do now eclectic funky—I want to say breakbeat, but some of it's house, a lot of it has ethnic overtones in it, traditional instruments and lots of chanting, but with fat beats and fat bass. It's a psycEclectic journey.
So, wait: you mix exclusively with CDs?
Yeah, I used to mix vinyl, but since I have a studio I can just burn my music directly onto CD instead of having a vinyl pressing. I can mix anything I make.
Do you miss vinyl at all?
Not at all. In my opinion, it's so traditionalist to say "a true DJ uses vinyl." It's all psychological. There's no difference in sound, except that vinyl has cracks and pops. But as far as ability to mix, there's so much more I can do with a CD player, adding effects and sampling. I'm more concerned with the musical ends than the means.
We hear a lot about the metaphor of "DJ as Shaman." What's your metaphor?
"DJ as Musical Connoisseur." When I'm listening to music and I hear a song that explodes my mind, my first thought is, "I can't wait to share this with someone." You're in front of hundreds of people, and you're like "Check out THIS song! I want to see what you think of it." And the dancers will show you EXACTLY what they think of it. But I really don't like putting DJs on a high shelf. I'm always wishing for a four-corner sound system and no reason to be staring at the DJ.
Certainly music can be powerful, but do you think it can heal?
My most powerful experiences with music as healing came the last year that I spent at UC Santa Cruz. I did an independent study, working for six months at the local juvenile hall and various group homes implementing music programs, doing creative recreation therapy. We would do drumming classes and beat boxing, and started recording certain kids who were doing conscious rap. We were doing poetry workshops, teaching DJ classes, and showing kids how to use synthesizers. And these were hardcore gang-affiliated, drug-addicted kids, and within a few months these kids were crying in front of me, hugging each other. The whole thing felt like a party.
What's on the horizon for you?
I'm the most focused on what I'm doing in my studio as Bassnectar. I've been working on original music, which is mostly between 90 and 120 bpm, deep funky big bassy breakbeat freak-beat. But I'm also doing two Bassnectar remixes for Spearhead's new album, Stay Human, and a couple remixes for Perry Farrell's new CD. Then there's also a remix CD in the works with Garth, Pollywog, and DJ Spooky. Next year I want to be doing remixes and working with bands, and I'm planning a West Coast tour.
For more information about Lorin and Bassnectar, go to www.bassnectar.net.
By Ariel Meadow Stallings
Exploding out of Santa Cruz with a driven bass beat, DJ Lorin (who also composes under the moniker of Bass Nectar) is one to watch. Emerging from a history of psytrance events, he's been throwing monthly full moon gatherings in Santa Cruz for two years with 13 Moontribe, and DJing frequently in SF for ((THUMP)) Radio and Yoga Tai Chi parties, among others. He's both a connoisseur DJ, playing the loveliest eclectic sets this jaded dancer has heard in years, and a producer, generating remixes and original work. Lorin describes his Bassnectar remixes as "vegan dance music," since he pulls out the "oh, yeahs," "take me highers," and other offensive cheesy vocals. After my tired sober ass danced for three hours to his amazing set at Burning Man, I decided I had to corner him and pick his brain.
You used to be a Goa trance DJ. What made you transition out of that, and how would you describe the music you play now?
The thing that I really found lacking in trance was the bass and the percussive funk. I played downtempo for a while, but then I started wanting more powerful dance energy and got into spinning eclectic sets. Because my CD turntables can change the speed so drastically, I can go from jungle into trance into downtempo into breakbeat. So, I would call what I do now eclectic funky—I want to say breakbeat, but some of it's house, a lot of it has ethnic overtones in it, traditional instruments and lots of chanting, but with fat beats and fat bass. It's a psycEclectic journey.
So, wait: you mix exclusively with CDs?
Yeah, I used to mix vinyl, but since I have a studio I can just burn my music directly onto CD instead of having a vinyl pressing. I can mix anything I make.
Do you miss vinyl at all?
Not at all. In my opinion, it's so traditionalist to say "a true DJ uses vinyl." It's all psychological. There's no difference in sound, except that vinyl has cracks and pops. But as far as ability to mix, there's so much more I can do with a CD player, adding effects and sampling. I'm more concerned with the musical ends than the means.
We hear a lot about the metaphor of "DJ as Shaman." What's your metaphor?
"DJ as Musical Connoisseur." When I'm listening to music and I hear a song that explodes my mind, my first thought is, "I can't wait to share this with someone." You're in front of hundreds of people, and you're like "Check out THIS song! I want to see what you think of it." And the dancers will show you EXACTLY what they think of it. But I really don't like putting DJs on a high shelf. I'm always wishing for a four-corner sound system and no reason to be staring at the DJ.
Certainly music can be powerful, but do you think it can heal?
My most powerful experiences with music as healing came the last year that I spent at UC Santa Cruz. I did an independent study, working for six months at the local juvenile hall and various group homes implementing music programs, doing creative recreation therapy. We would do drumming classes and beat boxing, and started recording certain kids who were doing conscious rap. We were doing poetry workshops, teaching DJ classes, and showing kids how to use synthesizers. And these were hardcore gang-affiliated, drug-addicted kids, and within a few months these kids were crying in front of me, hugging each other. The whole thing felt like a party.
What's on the horizon for you?
I'm the most focused on what I'm doing in my studio as Bassnectar. I've been working on original music, which is mostly between 90 and 120 bpm, deep funky big bassy breakbeat freak-beat. But I'm also doing two Bassnectar remixes for Spearhead's new album, Stay Human, and a couple remixes for Perry Farrell's new CD. Then there's also a remix CD in the works with Garth, Pollywog, and DJ Spooky. Next year I want to be doing remixes and working with bands, and I'm planning a West Coast tour.
For more information about Lorin and Bassnectar, go to www.bassnectar.net.