Skrillex has the distinct honor of being one of the most despised and celebrated artists in dubstep, one of the most despised and celebrated genres of popular music today. Dubstep is a Frankenstein’s monster of techno’s various minimalist strains, sample-heavy hip-hop production and post-everything pop sheen. Skrillex, the subject of a thousand blogs’ screed, took home three awards at the 2012 Grammys: Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronica Album for Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and Best Remixed Recording for Benny Benassi’s “Cinema”.
He masterfully works the edge between accessible and difficult, infecting sing-song synth melodies with viral corruptions so jarring you either regret all the drugs you took or wish you had some. “Right In,” the opening of his recent EP Bangarang, lays into you like a fire alarm, and whether you are drawn to it or repelled largely depends on how willing you are to submit to music. Skrillex does insanely (or inanely) simple things like slowing down a Jim Morrison sample into a creepy deadpan recitation in “Breakn’ a Sweat.” Bangarang closes with the weirdest move yet, a lush orchestral suite drawn from his signature melodies.
Before becoming a DJ with a signature haircut (shaved half way up the left side, long on the right) Skrillex was Sonny Moore, singer of post-hardcore group From First to Last, with whom he cut three albums. In 2007, Moore went solo with own band, joining the Alternative Press tour that year. Just as that phase of his career was about to take off, Moore transmuted into Skrillex with free download EP My Name is Skrillex on MySpace. Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites appeared in 2010, followed by More Monsters and Sprites a year later, reaching out past the insular haze of club music. With this new sanction by the Grammys, Skrillex might just be poised to infect the great populace. You’ve been warned.
Skrillex headlines the Sunday portion of the 2-day Buku Music & Art Project at Mardi Gras World, March 17 & 18. Tickets run from $69.50 – $299.50 More info at TheBukuProject.com.
