It's been a celebratory occasion with the recent launch of Stereofox 2.1, so I figured it is time for our first Bassnectar feature.  Here we go.

"Reaching Out" is the first of the four original pre-releases off of Unlimited due to be released on June 17th. This track showed me the capacity that music has to foster inner-discovery.  This collection of exploratory melodies spoke to the limitless atmosphere inside of the human mind. Similar to how we perceive a border between ourselves on earth and the infinite outside of it, but overlook the fact that there is no true border.

So, we're introduced to a set of seemingly acoustic and synthesized melodies that, for me, fostered a curiosity of each passing moment. Distortion then increases the intro's build-up and queued me in to the fact that this song was really about to affect me. I was then dropped into a cosmic maze of uptempo, Bassnectar-esque beat structures layered by melodies, which reminded me of the track "Fun With Synthesizers".

To truly understand this track, though, I had to go deeper and sit down for a drum session with it. It was a bit of a re-coordination of my drumming consistency, ability to follow, and even improvise once put into context through Bassnectar.  It proved tricky, but I got goosebumps once I snychronized the hats and bass drum beats in the various forms that they come. At times, I felt as if the world itself could feel the kick of this song. It's funny how music tends to affect you when your mind thinks it is the one orchestrating it.

This ambient jam brings together many approaches to music I've witnessed Bassnectar create over the years.  The tempo, beat, and complex melodic layering showed mature form of electronic music compostion. I definitely look forward to a more extensive album review of Untlimited and, of course, thrashing to it.

Enjoy the headspace. Check out the iTunes link at the top to pre-order.

posted by Mike
June 2016