Bassnectar
Oct. 2, Zilker Park
Looking like Cousin It enthusiastically checking his e-mail, Bassnectar kept the kids moving with an eclectic mishmash of pop tracks and skull-rattling bass. The Bay Area DJ born Lorin Ashton opened with Pink Floyd bouncing into Barrington Levy as he presided over an array of technological gadgetry. Tryptamine-friendly graphics accompanied the cacophony as ninjas, sumo wrestlers, and animated B-boys whizzed across the big screens flanking the Dell stage. Not to be outdone by their graphic counterparts, onstage B-boys top-rocked to Ice Cube bootlegs and B-sides, one dazzling the crowd with a head-spin lasting a full 15 seconds. Later, White Zombie clashed with the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian” and Ol’ Dirty Bastard shimmy-shimmy ya’d to Blur. Dropping Roy Ayers’ “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” as dusk fell on a perfect Texas afternoon was an especially classy play. “It’s like a better version of Girl Talk,” declared a guy in the bathroom line.
This article appears in October 9 • 2009.
