AC Slater

AC Slater refers to himself as "The King of Heavy Bass House in America" while creating raucous party tracks from his Los Angeles base, pulling from house, rave, and U.K. bass among other styles. Active in hardcore since the early 2000s, he gained far wider notice after pivoting to broader club sounds near 2008. His productions have since earned support from DJs such as Diplo, Moby, and Skrillex, with appearances at major dance festivals and clubs worldwide. In addition to output on club imprints including Trouble & Bass, Nightshifters, and OWSLA, he founded Pitched Up Recordings, Party Like Us Records, and Night Bass. With rapper Dell Harris he issued the 2010 album Right Now. His first solo LP, Outsiders, arrived in 2017, after which he shifted toward tech-house on 2023's Together.

Born Aaron Clevenger in 1979, he absorbed '90s hip-hop along with old-school rave. Early in the 2000s he launched Pitched Up Recordings and began issuing happy hardcore and hard trance material. In 2008 his approach changed sharply, moving to standard yet energetic club tempos while folding in the heavy bass of U.K. garage and dubstep plus breaks and samples recalling '90s rave. His remix of Math Head's "Turn the Music Up" became a club favorite, as did "Jack Got Jacked" on Palms Out Sounds. He started Party Like Us Records in 2009 via the singles "Party Like Us" and "BanGer." Dubstep experiments followed with Rock It Out on Nightshifters and Calm Down on Trouble & Bass. Mishka released Right Now, his 2010 collaborative album with Dell Harris.

After remixes for Crookers, Boys Noize, and Deekline, among others, the Back to the Floor EP appeared on OWSLA sublabel Nest in 2014. Take the Night and Bass Inside followed on OWSLA proper, while he launched Night Bass in 2015 with the Sinden collaboration Not No Love. Several further EPs preceded the 2017 full-length Outsiders, which featured Rome Fortune, Chris Lorenzo, and Shift K3Y. Hi8 arrived in 2019 with appearances by Flowdan, Taiki Nulight, and Kaleena Zanders.

Slater focused mainly on singles and remixes in the first years of the 2020s. "Gold Star" with Taiki Nulight, "Navigator" with Curbi, and "Vibes on Tap" with Darkzy and P Money appeared among his 2020 releases. He teamed with Qlank and Queen Millz on 2021's "Suffocating," as well as Bleu Clair and Kate Wild on "Green Light" and Chris Lorenzo on "Fly with Us." Another Curbi track, "Crave the Bassline," surfaced in 2022. Full-length Together emerged in 2023, including tracks with Scruffizer, Devyn Sawyer, and Murkage Dave.