With less than a potentially year away from Dave Tipper retiring I have made it a priority to try to see as many of his sets left that he’s willing to give us. As I stood there during the ambient set on the final night of Tipper’s Huntsville Alabama Labor Day 3 night run it really did hit me that this may truly be the best time to be a Bass music fan than ever before. A true Golden Age if you will.
I think the main takeaway that I had from the weekend is how truly amazing the culture of bass music has become. There may not be a genre glowing with more talent, creativity, and togetherness as this is now.
Bass music took a huge blow over the past couple years as many Huge artists began to be exposed for the heinous activities they were conducting. But like a phoenix out of the fire this community has flourished and blossomed into a magnificent beast. The fall of Bassnectar and company provided a Void for fans to have to branch out and find artists that they had never heard before, or latch onto existing artists that weren’t creeps, and now here we are.
The Return of Pretty Lights, the meteoric rise of Daily Bread and the more hip hop focused teams. Excision, Zeds Dead, Subtronics, and the Heavy Raging Dubstep community running so strong. Tipper, Jade Cicada, Detox Unit, and the IDM community exploding with talent. Drum and Bass always hanging around and starting to come back into the spotlight as it is in Europe. No matter what direction you love or look there is mind blowing music to be found.
But truly what I continue to marvel at is the communal engagement and support of all artists to other artists. So many DJs and Producers inspired by Tipper were around Labor Day weekend. As I scrolled my social media feeds, posts by major producers flooded all aspects in supports of the openers and DJs performing at the afterparties. Every DJ as they came up to perform their set giving a shout out and a hug to the previous performer. An entire after party (Nocturnal Nights) had to be cancelled due to weather and the unselfishness of the competing afterparty (Wubmasters) allowed for some of the artists that got cancelled to still perform. The close knit love and support of all these artists and the access they allow us as fans through social media combine to create a sense of respect but also human element to all the artists that makes all of them feel so accessible. Many artists sharing there stories of mental health, addiction, and all sorts of problems they are having continues to break down the wall of putting these artists on a pedestal, and allows us to just think of them as normal humans.
The community as far as the fanbase continues to embrace the “being 100% your true self” maybe better than any other out there. This is a tough genre to try to get the average person into. Many people laughing at it being just a bunch of fart sounds, or robots fighting, and many people just look at us like crazy people just to have us embrace that mentality ten fold. It is weird, there are alot of times that the music does make even us feel uncomfortable, but there’s a magic to that that allows the dichotomy of the good feelings to feel even more powerful.
As technology continues to be pushed into the stratosphere the sounds coming out of recent years are fresh and more powerful than ever before. The projection mapping at Orion Amphitheater was one of the most beautiful and stunning things Ive ever seen anywhere. The respect for Visual Artists and Lighting Crews at an all time high. It truly is a magical time to be a bass music fan.
If you’re in Atlanta make sure you are coming out to all the underground shows at Aisle 5, Believe Music Hall, the DEF community shows, Arcadia after parties and so much more. I promise you these communities have their finger on the pulse and we are so lucky to be living in a city that loves their BASS.