Referring to himself as "The King of Heavy Bass House in America," Los Angeles-based
AC Slater makes boisterous party music influenced by a wide range of styles, particularly house, rave, and U.K. bass music. Active on the hardcore scene since the early 2000s, he made a much greater impact once he switched to more accessible club styles around 2008. Since then, his tracks have become favorites of DJs such as
Diplo,
Moby, and
Skrillex, and he's performed at numerous major dance festivals and clubs throughout the world. In addition to releasing tracks on club labels such as Trouble & Bass, Nightshifters, and OWSLA, he's also the founder of Pitched Up Recordings, Party Like Us Records, and Night Bass.
Born
Aaron Clevenger in 1979, he grew up listening to '90s hip-hop as well as old-school rave. In the early 2000s, he started Pitched Up Recordings and began releasing happy hardcore and hard trance records. In 2008, his style shifted dramatically, slowing down to a more standard (but still energetic) club tempo and incorporating the heavy bass of U.K. garage and dubstep, as well as breaks and samples reminiscent of '90s rave music. His remix of
Math Head's "Turn the Music Up" was a club smash, as was "Jack Got Jacked" on Palms Out Sounds. In 2009, he launched Party Like Us Records with his singles "Party Like Us" and "BanGer." He ventured into dubstep with releases such as Rock It Out (Nightshifters) and Calm Down (Trouble & Bass). In 2010, Mishka released Right Now,
Slater's collaborative album with rapper Dell Harris.
Following remixes for the likes of
Crookers,
Boys Noize, and
Deekline,
Slater released the
Back to the Floor EP on OWSLA sublabel Nest in 2014.
Take the Night and
Bass Inside followed on OWSLA proper, while
Slater launched Night Bass in 2015, releasing a collaboration between himself and
Sinden titled Not No Love. Several additional EPs led up to the release of
Slater's 2017 full-length, Outsiders, which featured guests such as
Rome Fortune,
Chris Lorenzo, and
Shift K3Y. ~ Paul Simpson