Freestyle

Freestyle is a good description of Bassnectar's 2012 breaks-meets-bass-meets-dubstep style, but it's also a good description of the ever-evolving producer's attitude toward constructing this EP, which is as scattershot as they come. It's also the name of the title track and kick-off highlight of the EP, which finds Angel Haze's vocals being put through the Bassnectar machine, twisting and swirling over his block-rocking beats and offering "bouncing like ping-pong," after which a table tennis sound effect is skillfully applied. This kinetic fun is followed by the busy but dreamy sound of "Breathless," and then a grinding, punchy, dubstep robot called "Hologram," and later, the wonderful idea of the Neptunes as breakbeat producers, coming in the form of a Zion I remix. The unifying theme could be that Bassnectar is a worthy show-off, or maybe it's just the time-stretched "Wowwwwwww" that's dropped during the closing "Ego Killer" (an Amp Live, Eligh, Bassnectar, and Timeline dubstep remix spectacular) but forgive the lack of cohesiveness because these random bits are alive, exciting, and certainly not the usual leftovers that clog up many EDM EPs.