It's difficult to avoid Bassnectar's own self-definition, which appears somewhere in all the press materials for the San Francisco-based outfit: "A free-form project that merges music, art, new media, social involvement, and community values; dedicated to a constantly evolving ethos of collaborative creation, self reinvention, and boundary-pushing experimentation." Or, to put it more succinctly, Bassnectar is a breakbeat-oriented electronic dance music act with a fine line in public relations and a sponsorship deal with Red Bull. On record, Bassnectar is DJ, producer, and remixer Lorin Ashton (aka Lorin Bassnectar) with occasional guest performers, but live Bassnectar shows are freewheeling affairs with close to two-dozen people on-stage, from instrumentalists, DJs, and rappers to graffiti and video artists. Ashton began working as a DJ and remixer under the Bassnectar name in the late '90s, developing the live experience under heavy influence from the multimedia Burning Man Festival that takes place each summer in the California desert. Bassnectar debuted on vinyl with the 2002 single "Float," followed by 2004's "Creation Lullaby" and a downtempo album, Tempo Rosso, that was released as a promo item for Red Bull. The first proper full-length Bassnectar album, Mesmerizing the Ultra, was released in 2005, followed by Underground Communication in 2007.