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Bassnectar: Vava Voom

Amorphous

Here’s the genius of Bassnectar: The DJ-producer was one of dubstep’s early adapters and now that the genre has exploded, he could’ve cashed in—but, instead, his latest drop, Vava Voom, is already onto the next, careening into the future while taking a very non-nostalgic survey of his past. Here, he builds a dance track out of the sound of a ping-pong ball (“Ping Pong”) and he makes a banger from a snippet of laughter (“Laughter Crescendo”). But the best tracks are the ones where he gives his bass cadets the kind of romp that they’re looking for, such as on the electro-hop opener, “Vava Voom,” featuring a memorable vocal from Lupe Fiasco. Of course, one secret to Bassnectar’s success is his natural crossover appeal; in the past, he’s remixed heavy metal anthems, turning them into big dance tracks. Here, he gives that treatment to SoCal punk rockers Pennywise. Wise move, Mister DJ. This is dance music for the A.D.D. generation and it may just be the dance-floor soundtrack of the year.