Symbiosis Gathering is something of a "burning man in the forest" festival held annually in Yosemite, CA. There is as much focus on music at Symbiosis as art, and art in many forms. In order to raise awareness of the event, the organizers, tightly entwined with (if not one in the same with) Muti Music, have released a compilation to showcase its musical offerings.

1. An-Ten-Nae "Comfortably Crunk"
2. MO2 "Midnight Street"
3. The Flying Skulls "Skeleton Talk"
4. Knowa Knowone "Free Energy"
5. Goddess Alchemy Project "What's It Worth (Jaswho Remix)"
6. Heyoka "Fractalscape"
7. Beats Antique "Oriental Uno (feat. Fanfara Kalashniko)"
8. Eskmo "San Francisco (The Rhythm)"
9. Spystep "Portomental (Ribotto remix)"
10. SexyTime "Lights In The Night"
11. Eric Sharp & Bass Cadet "The Weebler"
12. Telepath "Subterfuge"
13. Deepchild "Stripjoint Mathematics (Worthy's Back Room Remix)"

One thing you can be sure you won't see at Symbiosis Gathering, due largely to the festival's location, is a huge burning effigy of mankind. Not only would that lessen Yosemite's forested offerings, but when you get right down to it, it's just not green. I mean come on, if the EPA doesn't let farmers burn leftovers from their crops, what makes a huge burning man any better for the planet? I digress. When it gets right down to it, Symbiosis Gathering, which just completed its fourth annual happening is well worth your attention.

The basis of the music on Symbiosis Gathering 2009 is SF dub. Though the genre title is subjective, it's basically a variation of the warbling bass and dubwise production of dubstep. However, unlike the minimal, often cold, and bleep-centric stylings of UK dubstep, San Francisco's variety is with few exceptions, very rich and warm. Of course the sound extends well beyond the cities borders, and can be heard from artists throughout the US and Canada, but San Francisco's mature electronic music scene is where it really stepped forward.

I'm familiar with only a few of the artists on this compilation; An-Ten-Nae, Heyoka, and Beats Antique. Each of them have released some really good albums. Beats Antique provide the lead song off their Contraption EP, a track called "Oriental Uno". It has deep bass, heavy drums, tuba-like Balkan horns, and a Middle Eastern influence to its sound that, by no mistake, makes it a perfect song to back tribal-styled bellydance. Heyoka offer up "Fractalscape" from their freshly released album Marklar. Heyoka approach the sound from a spacier perspective, and fill it with glitchy beats, squelchy synth leads, and an ether-speed roll. An-ten-nae drop "Comfortably Crunk", a track with old school electronic drum beats, subtle, warbling bass, and slowly fading synth keys, that move at a lazy pace.

On the whole, these three songs paint a picture of the rest of the compilation. If dubstep is your taste, you should check this out. If dubstep isn't exactly your thing, but you think there might be a flavor of it you like, you should listen to this. If you're looking for an electronic music listening experience, rooted as equally in dub and psychedelia as glitch and abstract hip hop, that will leave you in a peculiarly meditative state, listen to this.

http://www.symbiosisgathering.com

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