“Bangarang,” Skrillex (Big Beat/Atlantic)

When Esperanza Spalding was announced as a nominee for Best New Artist in advance of last year’s Grammy Awards, she was universally dismissed as a non-contender against her much-better-known competition that included Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence + The Machine and Mumford & Sons.

Of course, Spalding won — which is still a head-scratcher, frankly.

At any rate, some mainstream observers might mistakenly regard Skrillex as this year’s Esperanza Spalding, a Best New Artist nominee against the Band Perry, Bon Iver, J. Cole and Nicki Minaj. Yet don’t be surprise if Skrillex, aka Sonny Moore, is revealed as the winner at the Feb. 12 show.

Major clue: Skrillex landed five nominations, including for Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronica Album, which clearly indicates that Grammy voters recognize his trailblazing in electronic music, even if millions have never heard of him.

Unlike the other Best New Artist nominees, Skrillex has unquestionably advanced his genre.

But where are his pioneering ways leading? His latest release, “Bangarang,” doesn’t really indicate.

Skrillex is typically categorized in the “dubstep” subgenre of electronica, but the label only fitfully suits him. For the uninitiated, his sound generally smashes together elements of a chopped-up dance song and overwhelmingly aggressive synthetic assaults and bass drops. Traditional continuity is out the window and vocals are rarely more than minor props, if they’re even used: This listener experience is all about marveling at the man and his machine(s), something equivalent to watching a champion playing a videogame (and often just as disengaging). Some have a primal response to his jarringly disjointed drama, while others struggle to make any emotional connection to the austere commotion.

“Bangarang” hijacks its listeners in typical Skrillex fashion, skittering about between aural air raids in a gamer’s claustrophobic realm of faux sirens, slapping beats and random vocals. Apart from the penultimate track “Summit,” featuring alluring vocals by Ellie Goulding, and a surprising “orchestral suite” finale, “Bangarang” is similar, too similar, to Skrillex’s previous work.

If he’s going to prove worthy of Best New Artist, Skrillex is going to have to step up his innovation — dubstep or not.

Rating (five possible): 3

‘Breakin’ A Sweat’ by Skrillex

Skrillex is twenty four year old American music producer Sonny John Moore. Following a moderately successful three year career fronting post-hardcore outfit From First to Last, Moore embarked on asolo electronic venture in 2007. Subsequent extensive touring of the underground electro scene gained Moore a soaring popularity, and Skrillex was formally born in summer 2010. Widely referred to as the Prince of Dubstep, Skrillex has amassed a Twitter fan base doubling that of contemporary electro royalty Steve Aoki and Diplo. But don’t take Twitter’s word for it. With no less than FIVE Grammy nominations for 2012, and a C.V. boasting A-List clientele such as Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, Skrillex is contributing in a big way towards bridging the gap between underground progessive-house/dubstep and the mainstream.

This Radio One advertisement features the anthemic Breakin’ A Sweat:

What sets Skrillex apart?

After all, the diminutive Californian is hardly the first to navigate a two step beat through what often sounds like a laser battle. Still, something about Skrillex obviously excited perhaps the biggest name in the laptop music world at the moment, Deadmau5, who signed Skrillex to the Mau5trap label on the strength of six track debut EP My Name Is Skrillex, released for free over MySpace in June 2010. In October of the same year, Skrillex released second EP Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites through Mau5trap. This release rocketed brand Skrillex to no fewer than 47 million YouTube hits, which secured enough momentum to see third EP More Monsters And Sprites (also 2011) win MTV’s prestigious Electro Dance Music award on December 12th, beating off competition for the honours from David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, and Tiësto.

Less than a month later, December 27th saw the digital download release of Bangarang, Skrillex’ fourth and most commercially successful offering to date. Again only in seven track EP format, Bangarang’s chart success was head turning, taking 15th spot on the US Billboard 200 at the height of December’s Christmas sales -that’s just two behind Adele, and a full five places ahead of the massive Jay-Z and Kanye West collaboration Watch the Throne. It is not hard to see how this meteoric yet under the radar rise to stardom landed Skrillex the Alex Zane Radio One TV commercial in the UK.

Taken from Banagarang, the Radio One advertisement features the anthemic Breakin’ A Sweat. The pounding chorus line is perhaps the most accessible serving to be had at Skrillex’ veritable buffet of tectonic tunes, with tracks Right In and The Devil’s Den also thumping their way in to the hearts of those who like their dubstep in bold underlined capital letters. Final track Summit rounds the EP off nicely. Thanks to a relaxed vibe and the supple yet confident vocals of Ellie Goulding, Summit will no doubt find its way onto every Chilled Ibiza compilation going. One small step for Skrillex. One giant leap for dubstep in the mainstream.

Skrillex’ first studio album Voltage is due to drop in early 2012, in the mean time also check out Doctor P, Zomboy, and KOAN Sound.

Popularity of DJs, including Skrillex, increasing

 

Sonny Moore, a 23-year-old electronic music producer — better known as “Skrillex” — is not only nominated for five Grammy awards this year, but is also the first DJ to ever be nominated in the Best New Artist category.

Most people refer to Skrillex’s style of music as dubstep. Both dubstep and electronic house music have become increasingly popular among young adults over the past few years, providing listeners with an explosion of sound and escape from reality.

Sara Freed said this nomination represents a shift in society’s musical culture.

“There’s definitely a changing trend in music from being based on an artist performing original [music] to artists mixing others’ work,” Freed (sophomore-health and human development) said.

Freed added she mainly listens to dubstep-style music at the gym during her workouts to pump her up and keep her motivated.

Former Interfraternity Council President Dan Florencio also counts himself as a dubstep fan. To him, it is incredible to see someone so young have such a significant impact on the mainstream music scene.

“It shows that he’s leading the charge for dubstep to be mainstream,” Florencio (senior-philosophy) said. “The Grammy nod means a lot for other DJs as well. It’s a win for the whole type of music.”

Skrillex is not the only DJ receiving a warm welcome from the public. Swedish DJ Avicii, who performed at Penn State in November to a packed Bryce Jordan Center, has also gained mainstream success and has acquired a loyal fan base.

The increased interest in electronic music is due to the accessibility of technology and social media outlets, Associate Professor of Music Technology Mark Ballora said. Applications on iPhones and Macs like GarageBand now allow individuals to create their own electronic beats and mixes, Ballora said.

He added that electronic music has a certain other “worldliness” to it because of the way it sounds compared to traditional acoustic music.

“We are part of a world with social media and mobile devices,” Ballora said. “I can imagine [this genre] got a new audience because of [these outlets].”

Skrillex is continuing to record, and he recently released his fourth EP, “Bangarang”, which contains seven tracks that sample music from The Doors and features collaborations with Sirah and other artists.
Skrillex never lacks originality and he provides a variety of sounds on each track, Florencio said.
“He’s got a song for every mood and the way he samples songs is exceptional,” Florencio said.

The Apoca-Label: Skrillex Makes FOAM a Mixtape

L.A. dubstep artist Skrillex unleashes the roster for the end of the world.

Sonny Moore is talking about rabbits. But it’s only because the 23-year-old DJ/producer known as Girls That Look Like Skrillex” Tumblr, offer clues about his musical past. He once fronted the emo band From First to Last, though he swears he was into e-music, and all kinds of other stuff, all along. That kind of open-mindedness carries over into his label managing philosophy. “I want to build something that’s forward-thinking, that expresses the fact that I like all sorts of music, not just any one style,” he says. Plus, he’d like to pass on the good will that Deadmau5’s stamp of approval won him. “I like taking someone that’s unknown, having faith in them and watching them hit it out of the park,” he says. “There’s no better feeling.” We got Skrill to tell us why the artists on OWSLA are awesome:

KOAN SOUND

HOME: Bristol, England
SOUND: the Prodigy swimming through syrup
Skrill says:
“They’re only 18, 19 years old and I look up to them in terms of production. A lot of dubstep and electro house is between 128 and 140 BPMs. They came out with the really funky, hip-hoppy, 100 BPM down-tempo sound, but it’s really aggressive and totally dancefloor. There’s nobody else doing that.”

ZEDD
Home: Kaiserslautern, Germany
Sound: the awesomest part of a European sports flick
Skrill says:
“Last year, I happened to check my Myspace the day Zedd emailed me. He was like ‘Yo I’m a fan, check out my stuff.’ I heard his stuff and it was so incredible so I had him remix ‘Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,’ which did really well. He mixes big, anthemic hooks with very sophisticated electro production.”

KILL THE NOISE
HOME: Los Angeles, CA
SOUND: the apocalypse arrives, but the party don’t stop
Skrill says:
“He’s been doing this for ten years, but he’s never had a proper platform. Now his production has completely outdone everything he’s done before. It was perfect timing for the label. It’s a cool feeling.”

THE M MACHINE
HOME: San Francisco, CA
SOUND: Regina Spektor goes clubbing with Eurhythmics
Skrill says:
“The M Machine stuff is different from the other OWSLA releases because it’s a bit more indie geared. People are making a connection with them beyond the dance floor with songs, lyrics and melodies. One of them sings live. It’s very personal.”

PORTER ROBINSON
HOME: Chapel Hill, NC
SOUND: epic A.D.D. dance party
Skrill says:
“He’s someone that can play at [New York-via-Ibiza club] Pacha or hammer out some groovy-gnarly bass show. He’s so versatile. He can do any BPM, any genre. He’ll drop you off a cliff, and then bring you back to life. And he’s only 19 years old.“

SKREAM
HOME: London, England
SOUND: Kanye and La Roux conceiving a child in the VIP booth
Skrill says:
“He’s a legend. If it weren’t for Skream, I wouldn’t be making music. He actually hit me up though! He was like, ‘Hey do you want this song?’ It’s called ‘Anticipate.’ It’s about the birth of his first child. It’s just gorgeous.”

Adele Holds Number One, Foster The People Finally Make It

Adele stays at number one for yet another week, and Foster the People finally top the singles chart.

It’s 2011 déjà vu all over again, with Adele hopping back atop the album chart last week and staying there this week too.

Added to that, there were exactly zero new entries on the chart today, but it makes sense since new releases were very thin on the ground last week.

There was a bit of movement though. 360’s Falling & Flying is up to 11 from 22,  Skrillex’s ‘Bangarang’ EP shot up from 44 to 14, the Alvin & The Chipmunks Chipwrecked soundtrack comes up to 23 from 42, and Grouplove’s visit put their Never Trust A Happy Song back in the chart at 30.

The big story, and relief, is that Foster The People have finally hit number one on the singles chart with ‘Pumped Up Kicks’, over a year since the song was officially released. Their Torches album also got a bump to number five, through ad placement and a BDO visit.

Also on the singles chart, Flo Rida’s ‘Wild Ones’ with Sia is in at number two from 24, and Timomatic’s ‘Set It Off’ climbs to four from 12.

Nothing particularly high-profile was released on Friday so we can assume that Adele will hold number one next week as well, unless the ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ juggernaut can get Torches up there after almost nine months in the chart.

Check out our chat with Grouplove below.

Adele Returns To The Top Of The ARIA Chart

Adele returns to number one in 2012, in this week’s uninspiring (apart from Foster The People) ARIA chart.

The queen of the chart in 2011 has reclaimed her throne in 2012, 21 returning to number one this week. It’s a flashback all around (not least due to the dearth of new releases): LMFAO at number two, Reece Mastin at three, Coldplay at four and Bruno Mars at five.

Triplej’s Like a Version, Gotye’s Making Mirrors and the Black Keys shoot back up to the next three spots, with One Direction and Florence + The Machine rounding out the top ten.

The only new entries are the Chipwrecked soundtrack at 42 and Skrillex’s Bangarang EP at 44.

Unsurprisingly, Buble’s Christmas album plummeted from number one last week to number 29, but that still means people were buying it in the week after Christmas.

LMFAO’s ‘Sexy And I Know It’ retains the top spot on the Singles Chart.

But the big story is Foster The People’s incessant ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ single is finally all the way up at number two, 15 months since its initial release.

Can they make it to number one? We’ll have to wait until next week.

Electronic dance music hits a groove

Will 2012 be the year for electronic dance music?

With dubstep artist Skrillex nabbing five Grammy Award nominations and superstar DJ deadmau5 landing three, all indicators say yes.

“Skrillex is a purely electronic artist, and getting a best-new-artist nomination is Grammy’s way of acknowledging the rise of EDM (electronic dance music),” says Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts at Billboard. The awards “have overlooked EDM artists in the past, like David Guetta and Moby. Skrillex is the face of all EDM at the Grammys.”

Who is Skrillex? With his eerie, spine-tingling samples and grinding bass lines, 23-year-old Sonny Moore — a diminutive, bespectacled Los Angeles-based DJ and producer — is the undeniable leader of dubstep.

“What makes this an incredible achievement is that he has been so successful by being off the radar,” Caulfield says. “Sure, kids know who he is, dance fans know him.” But when the awards show rolls around Feb. 12, “your average music fan won’t have the foggiest idea who he is.”

EDM is having its moment, says electronica pioneer Moby, who broke through to mainstream audiences in 1999 with album Play, which sold 3 million copies.

“For pop stars, their main currency is youth and the record label. For rock stars, their currency is songwriting and their ability to play live,” Moby says. “Electronic music artists are only as good as the last record they played, and their ability to play other people’s records. Luckily, there are a lot of good records out there.”

Last summer yielded a bumper crop of electronic dance festivals, from Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, which pulled in 250,000 attendees, to Live Nation-backed IDentity, the first electronica touring festival, which made 20 stops. Dozens more such fests are slated for 2012.

“If you go to a rock concert, there are four people standing onstage playing songs that sound nice,” Moby says. “You go see Skrillex or deadmau5 live, and there’s a huge production value, the lights, the sound. It’s hard not to be impressed.”

The audience for such spectacles is almost certain to get bigger.

“Pop music has become so aggressively uptempo, when people go to search for more of this kind of music, they’re discovering this whole world that exists,” Caulfield says.

Girls LOVE Skrillex!

I love girls and skrillex!

Skrillex gleefully mashes up genres on seven-song Bangarang EP

Bangarang (Warner)

Okay, so either Skrillex is dubstep but is bastardizing the style to his own ends, or he’s not dubstep at all, right? Or maybe he’s the saviour of the genre, singlehandedly responsible for lifting it out of the obscurity of the electronica underground and into the mainstream. If these seem like rather meaningless talking points, that’s because they are, but that hasn’t stopped the type of geeks who frequent Internet message boards from either crucifying Sonny Moore or venerating him.

Moore probably doesn’t have much time to worry about how his music is labelled; he’s too busy racking up Grammy nominations and playing sold-out shows to pay much attention to his detractors. Oh, and recording, too. The seven-song Bangarang is the fourth Skrillex EP in less than two years, and his first full-length album, Voltage , is slated for release later this month.

It should be interesting to see where Moore takes things, because while Bangarang shows off the impressive range of his musical influences, it also hints at the limitations of his own creative impulses. The most intriguing track is “Breakn’ a Sweat”, a collaboration with members of the Doors that, despite boasting a signature spiralling organ part from Ray Manzarek, sounds very little like anything Jim Morrison would recognize. “Kyoto” is a mind-melting mix of industrial-strength distorted chords, Far East synth lines, and hard-core rap (courtesy of L.A. indie hip-popper Sirah). “Right on Time”, coproduced by 12 th Planet and Kill the Noise, revs up like a ’90s trance-techno cut but then never quite turns into one.

While it’s clear that former hardcore kid Moore is comfortable mashing up genres with all the gleeful abandon of Girl Talk, he tends to rely on the same few techniques to juice up his tracks. At some point in just about every song, the rhythm breaks down to the same simple cut-time beat to which Moore wobbles the shit out of everything until it sounds like a pleasure droid having a grand mal seizure. This brain-shaking oscillation is a fun, and effective trick, but it’s quickly becoming a cliché, which should be anathema to an obviously forward-thinking artist like Skrillex.

James Blake – Love What Happened Here

Nothing makes me happy like a new James Blake release. Thank God the past couple of years have been full of them. Love What Happened Here came out earlier last month (listen to the title track here on Soundcloud, I have no idea who frankyboy is), and the fact that I only came across it today because it was reviewed on Pitchfork scares me. New year’s resolution: start following other music sites.

Quick recap of 2011 for James Blake: His awesome self-titled debut ended up hitting most year-end best of lists, but the Enough Thunder EP that came out in October garnered a mixed reception. A lot of people especially disliked his bare, piano-and-voice cover of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You.” Personally, I loved every track off the album and the EP which tells me again that I need to stop relying solely on Pitchfork for critical opinions.

Love What Happened Here is a 3-track EP in the vein of his earlier 2010 releases like CMYK and Klavierwerke, and has an overall similar sound as well. The title track especially reminds me of CMYK (this isn’t really surprising: it’s been around online since 2010), with the way Blake changes up the synth sounds every so often and intersperses brief vocal samples throughout. The result doesn’t disappoint, either melodically or rhythmically. Blake couples unorthodox percussion arrangements with synth motifs that blend perfectly together in a way that few artists can deliver.

“At Birth” is a slightly different. A throbbing bassline that exemplifies Blake’s dubstep roots runs through the track, with lonely vocal samples popping up every few bars before fading out. “Curbside,” however, really stands out from the pack. It’s got a big, pounding beat that involves what sounds like a timpani and haunting vocal samples that really make for an uncanny mix. The percussion starts out like a hip-hop beat (emphasized by the “no-no-no” samples that could be Kanye starting off “Stronger”), but the way that the soulful samples fit with the rest of the track make classifying “Curbside” to a genre a difficult task.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but for all the love I’ve got for Skrillex and other heavyweight dubstep artists out there, I do enjoy watching the development of artists like Blake who epitomize this quieter, more detailed strain of dubstep. I think some online communities have even started Skrillex vs. James Blake debates. To make matters worse, Blake even publicly denounced the former type of what he called “fratboy” dubstep (Wikipedia calls it “brostep”) at one point, calling it a “direct misinterpretation of the sound.” Oh no, can this mean… dubstep war???

Why Does America Love Skrillex?

In 2004, a 16-year-old named Sonny Moore left Los Angeles to play guitar for a band called From First to Last. Somehow he wound up becoming its lead singer instead. The group recorded for Epitaph Records, played the Warped Tour, opened for Fall Out Boy. They were a “scene” band, part of that realm of black-and-pink, mess-headed emo and hardcore acts—a world that’s never entirely been embraced by the mainstream rock press. Magazines might put a big name like My Chemical Romance on the cover, for the copies it would sell; then they’d slink back to arm’s-length joking about studded belts, Hot Topics, bad haircuts, kid stuff, malls, commercial rock.

These days, Moore is a black-clad producer called Skrillex; vocal-cord problems helped steer him out of the singing game. He records electronic dance music, and is lately experiencing a pretty massive flush of notoriety—a storm of interest in his new EP, Bangarang, will surely extend. A month ago, he was nominated for five Grammys, including the one for Best New Artist. When Facebook counted the most-played pieces of music on the site in 2011, two of the top 10 were by Skrillex. Kanye West spent New Year’s Eve tweeting about him, including the allegation that his remix of Benny Benassi’s “Cinema” is “one of the greatest works of art ever made.” He draws massive crowds at festivals like the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, where the Lollapalooza-sized attendance numbers positively dwarf those of rock fests you read about more often. His asymmetrical side-cut hair inspires blogs and novelty songs. The guy is rapidly becoming the face of something: a big American groundswell of love for buzzy, populist dance music.

You only have to look at the Billboard charts to notice that Americans as a whole have taken to club sounds lately. As I type this, our number-two song, “We Found Love,” has Rihanna singing over a straight-up ecstatic house production by Calvin Harris. But there’s also a deeper boom going on, one you can trace down from hit producers like David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia to the huge rave-style events they play in this country; and from there to big-tent, pop-minded acts like Deadmau5, Aviici, and Kaskade; and from there to the way Skrillex can pack tour dates in places like Montana; and from there to peers like Bassnectar and 12th Planet. If these aren’t names that mean much to you, well, it’s a bit like that rock scene again. Those who are in the business of noticing what makes money move around the industry seem to have plenty of eyes on this stuff; notice the Grammy nods for Skrillex. Those who act as gatekeepers for musical artistry have been slightly more standoffish about it.

One reason for this is that the acts we’re talking about are not, generally speaking, interested in offering some refined or studious advancement on the long, rich, soulful history of electronic dance music. Skrillex’s work, in particular, is a lot more of a pile-up, as if someone’s picked all the most obviously, superficially cool and high-impact parts of a dozen different genres, dredged them in stimulants, and started mashing them against one another—the same way Quentin Tarantino can rifle through a dozen film genres and borrow all the best fight scenes. There’s Daft Punk’s insistent pop-dance; the blocky neon blips of electro; the melodic buzz of old video games; the gushy, sentimental melodies of trance; the high-speed skip and glitch of Aphex Twin; the glammy pop feel of L.A. party music—all things that are easy to like. And when you mush them all together into one clanging, high-octane stew, they become extremely easy to like, whether or not the listener has ever known or cared about electronic music before. Not elegant, deep, or moving, but very easy to get a thrill out of.

But the genre Skrillex milks the most is dubstep. If you wanted to pick any one trick from this London genre that is super-obviously cool, fresh, and head-turning, it would be the massive, grainy bass blurts that have spun out of it, revved up by English producers like Rusko—giant, wobbling shudders that go wubwubwub and activate the same part of the brain that makes 10-year-old get excited about explosions. You hear them everywhere now: in commercials for Transformers DVDs, behind TV footage of extreme sports, folded into the bridges of pop songs. The way Americans have made these basslines lately, they’re aggressive, vertiginous, and adrenaline-heavy, and they conjure up obviously cool images like being inside the gleaming metal torso of a planet-sized robot while it punches an even bigger robot, or Cookie Monster barfing up that liquid-metal Terminator from the sequel. They’re littered throughout a lot of the tracks masses of Americans are suddenly raving to. The cut that got Skrillex a Grammy nod for Best Dance Recording is called “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”; it crashes casually back and forth between glowy video-game melodies and that big slobbery scenery-chewing dubstep grind. His remixes chew up original songs in the same way, making the source material glitch and wubwub around itself. If those big bass drops are the car-chase scene, you typically do not have to wait long for him to cut to it.

Keep in mind that Americans, and especially American males, have traditionally had some weird reservations about electronic dance music—at our worst, we’ve written the whole thing off as silly, trashy, soulless, effeminate, or “gay.” And there is clearly something about that gut-punch dubstep trick that can help certain Americans overcome those reservations. For one thing, it sounds essentially like hard rock or metal—a gnarly, monumental, distorted sound that tears through the middle of the frequency spectrum. (If you’d like to hear evidence of this, consult the nu-metal band Korn, who just released a “dubstep” album, complete with contributions from Skrillex himself; those blurts of bass slot easily into the space where the band would once have deployed guitars.) In Skrillex’s hands, you can hear an odd, clear continuity between the world of young hair-rock and emo acts and hyperactive dance music. One of his remixes, for the Scottish band Twin Atlantic, manages to swap out their instruments for a light-speed recreation of old rave music, complete with vacuum-cleaner whooshes, sound-the-alarm noises, and chewy wubwub. (There’s a slight kinship with hip-hop, too—the Bangarang EP features an L.A. party rapper called Sirah, and people dancing to Skrillex have a habit of moving their arms like they’re rapping to Linkin Park songs.) It’s another species of that rare and lucrative beast: A form of electronic dance music that does not threaten anyone’s masculinity. Sort of like the last time electronic music threatened a sales boom in the U.S., when one of the top successes was the Prodigy, whose 1997 single “Firestarter” felt as aggro as anything else on offer.

Hence the new insult pointed at some of this American music: “brostep.” The epithet comes complete with scary visions of amped-up meatheads stomping around to the stuff—even if the actual audience is as mixed-genre as any. You can probably guess how dubstep’s old English guard has reacted to the stuff. Rusko, one of the first producers to nudge the sound in this direction, has stepped back: “Brostep is sort of my fault,” he told the BBC, “but now I’m starting to hate it”—Americans, he said, were taking it too far, turning it into an arms race of heaviness, draining the music of richness and subtlety. James Blake, a highbrow British producer whose debut LP sounded more like an elegant singer-songwriter’s, told the Boston Phoenix that the American scene had “hit upon a sort of frat-boy market where there’s this macho-ism being reflected in the sounds.” (He suspected this would not appeal to women, which I think misunderstands certain things about how both dance music and gender work in America.) The word “soul” comes up a lot: This American sound is all big, sick, melt-your-face-off noises, and no soul.

One doesn’t hear a lot of soul in an act like Skrillex; that’s true. One doesn’t hear the long, sensual pacing of dance music, either—his tracks surely get all that Facebook play because they shoot straight for the three-minute flash and bang of a rock single, not the elegant build and release of tension. But some of electronic music’s biggest bursts of ideas have come from eras of populist face-melting. Take, for instance, the original, early-90s heyday of British raves, when thousands of kids—many of whom had never much cared about dance music before—would flock to empty fields in search of relentless, alarm-sounding music, and the process of trying to keep them excited kept leading to the invention of fascinating sounds. (Even the epithet “brostep” puts me in mind of a graceless, hard-pounding, and fairly lovable techno from that era—“gabber,” which comes from a Dutch term that means basically the same thing as “bro.”) When you have huge numbers of people flocking to one spot with the agenda of getting messed up and hearing something crushing and spectacular, the race to please them stands a chance of rushing out on limbs and creating new things. You don’t hear much of that in Skrillex, or among many of his peers; so far, there’s just a lot of collisions and amplifications of sounds we’ve already heard. But that’s what people said about our mess-headed emo and hardcore scenes at the start of the century, and they rapidly became their own weird world.

Skrillex - Bangarang Lyrics

(Guitar Intro)

Shout to all my boss boys

Sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-shout to all my boss boys

We rowdy

Shout to all my boss boys

Sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-shout to all my boss boys

We rowdy

Shout to all my boss boys

Sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-shout to all my boss boys

We rowdy

Shout to all my boss boys

Sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-shout to all my boss boys

BANGARANG! Peace! BAYYYH!

Wah-wa-wa-Wah-wa-wa-BANG-BANG

O-ooo-ooo-ooo-o-ooo-ooo-wa, Feel the BAYYYH!

Wah-wa-wa-Wah-wa-wa-BANG-BANG

O-ooo-ooo-ooo-o-ooo-ooo-wa, BANGARANG!

BAYYYH! Wah-wa-wa-Wah-wa-wa,

BANG BANG, o-ooo-ooo-ooo-o-ooo-ooo-wa FEEL BASS!

BAYYYH! Wah-wa-wa-Wah-wa-wa,

BANG BANG, o-ooo-ooo-ooo-o-ooo-ooo-wa BANGARANG!

BAYYYH! Wah-wa-wa-Wah-wa-wa,

BANG BANG, o-ooo-ooo-ooo-o-ooo-ooo-wa FEEL THE

BAYYYH! Wah-wa-wa-Wah-wa-wa,

BANG BANG, o-ooo-ooo-ooo-o-ooo-ooo-wa BANGARANG!

BAYYYH! Wah-wa-wa-Wah-wa-wa,

BANG BANG, o-ooo-ooo-ooo-o-ooo-ooo-wa FEEL BASS!

BAYYYH! Boss boys, sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-

Shout to my boos boys

We rowdy

Shout to all my boss boys,

Sho-sho-sho-sho-sho-sho-shout to all my boss boys BANGARANG!

Shout to all my boss boys,

Sho-sho-sho-sho-sho-sho-shout to all my boss boys

We rowdy

Shout to all my boss boys

Sho-sho-sho-sho-sho-sho, BAYYH, BAYYYH, BANGARANG! BASS!

Wah-wah-ooo-wah, berm-berm-berm-mmm-berm-berm-berm!

Wah-wah-ooo-wah, berm-berm-berm-berm-WOOO!

Wah-wah-ooo-wah, berm-berm-berm-mmm-berm-berm-berm!

Wah-ooo-ooo-woo-yuuuh, FEEL THE

Wah-wah-ooo-wah, berm-berm-berm-mmm-berm-berm-berm!

Wah-wah-ooo-wah, berm-berm-berm-berm-WOOO!

Wah-wah-ooo-wah, berm-berm-berm-mmm-berm-berm-berm!

Wah-ooo-ooo-woo-yuuuh, FEEL THE

Wah-wooo-wah, berm, berm berm, berberber, berm, berm,

Wah-wooo-wah-wah-wah-wah-WOOO!

Wah-wooo-wah, berm, berm berm, berberber, berm, berm,

Wah-ooo-ooo-woo-yuuuh, FEEL THE

The Black Keys: 'Rock Is Dying Because Of Nickelback'

The Black Keys claim that "Rock and roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world."

Drummer Patrick Carney made the comments, noting a lull in guitar groups because of bands like Nickelback.

"[Musicians] became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be shit - therefore you should never try to be the biggest rock band in the world," he said.

"Rock and roll is the music I feel the most passionately about, and I don't like to see it f--king ruined and spoon-fed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous s--t."

His comments came only days after Kasabian noted a "drought" of rock bands in the charts.
While rock has suffered from a mainstream assault of hip-hop, female-fronted pop and now dubstep, we at Ultimate Guitar know there are more people learning to play guitar than ever. So why are rock bands making less of an impact on the mainstream?

One theory is that young people will tend to be attracted to the most noisy, brash genre of music possible. Once upon a time, bands like the Rolling Stones sounded utterly wild, and louder than anything before it. Nirvana was a 90s example of a similar impression being made on young people by rock, at a time when drab 80s electro pop dressed in black was otherwise becoming the norm.

Today, rock venues do not always offer the same volume or impact that a dubstep club might. We wouldn't know, but it's not surprising that young people are attracted to music by the likes of Skrillex with shuddering basslines and ever-changing attention grabbing synth effects.

Do we have something to learn from the cultural shift, or should we stick to our guns? Does rock music need a jolt to the heart? Defend your craft in the comments.

WPTS’ DiDonna reflects on music trends from 2011

This year, two giants collide in something that will rock the Pitt community.

Or at least give it a taste of something different in its regular media intake. Welcome to the new WPTS column, brought to you by a rotating cast of the staff of Pittsburgh’s Progressive FM radio station.

Each week, WPTS will take a look at musical trends, upcoming releases or the Pittsburgh music scene. On the flip side, you can tune in to the Pitt News on WPTS every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. to hear your favorite Pitt News writers and columnists take a broadcast look at the week’s events.

As the new semester begins, I wanted to reflect back on the musical trends of 2011: the good, the bad and the un-listenable.

Dubstep: Frankly put, it’s everywhere. Characterized by a wobbly bass noise — affectionately referred to as “womp” in the WPTS offices — the genre gained popularity in Britain in 2005 before making the leap across the Atlantic three years ago. In the United States, dubstep morphed into an electro-house hybrid, led primarily by the now-Grammy-nominated Skrillex. Has the Dayglow tour actually infiltrated the mainstream to this extent?

Evidently so. In the more electro vein, Steve Aoki and Pretty Lights recently played to huge crowds in Pittsburgh, and newcomer Avicii has a sold-out gig at Stage AE on Jan. 8.

Saxwave: Deerhunter brought back the saxophone on their memorable 2010 album Halcyon Digest, leading frontman Bradford Cox to remark, “Next year everyone’s gonna have a saxophone on their record because saxophones are just cool.”

Apparently, he was right. M83’s monstrous single “Midnight City,” from the album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, with its electronic riff, hushed vocals and wailing saxophone hook undeniably became the favorite song of many WPTS staffers. It’s now even playing in a Victoria’s Secret commercial.

Other indie groups worked in the sax: Destroyer’s “Kaputt” used it for a pleasant, yacht-rock vibe, while dance-punk’s The Rapture added a sax solo to the breakdown of the blistering “How Deep Is Your Love.” On the other end of the spectrum, Katy Perry fell prey to the power-sax solo on “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).” And one can’t forget Lady Gaga’s ubiquitous “The Edge of Glory” that featured legendary sax player Clarence Clemons on the last recording of his long career.

The changing face of independent hip-hop: In 2011, we saw the rise and fall of L.A. rap crew Odd Future. It started with their zany TV debut on Jimmy Fallon in February, continued through their subsequent popularity in the springtime and ended with their acceptance by mainstream media outlets like MTV and Spin magazine. In short, the self-purported iconoclasts became everything they railed against.

At a certain point during the summer, we all kind of stopped caring about Odd Future. Maybe it was because Tyler’s album Goblin, the first major-label release of any of the OFWGKTA members, turned out to be disappointing in light of the hype. Or maybe it was because we all got sick of his rape jokes. Either way, OF’s been on a slow decline since the summer.

And while Tyler, Earl Sweatshirt, Hodgy Beats and crew dominated the rap scene for the first half of the year, a plethora of rappers and producers have come out of the woodwork to achieve new fame: AraabMuzik, Shabazz Palaces, A$AP Rocky, Danny Brown, the Weeknd, Mr. Muthaf**kin’ eXquire and — my personal favorite — Azealia Banks.

On her single “212 (feat. Lazy Jay),” the unsigned 20-year-old New York rapper works through a variety of rap personas over an infectious Diplo-esque beat, bringing to mind shades of Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott with her vocals.

While her verses are certainly dirty — the parting punchline is in no way printable here — Banks wields her sexuality as a political and social tool in a way that packs more punch than Nicki Minaj’s recent tunes. Her lyrical prowess stands in direct contrast to the explicitness utilized by rappers such as the members of Odd Future, who seem more bent on shocking than expressing any real meaning behind their lyrics.

Canadian R&B singer Abel Tesfaye — better known as The Weeknd — released three free, solid albums in 2011, beginning with the universally acclaimed House of Balloons. Dealing with themes of drugs and lust, The Weeknd stands apart from other R&B projects through its embrace of lush, atmospheric production.

And if you haven’t yet heard Shabazz Palaces’ excellent Black Up LP or the single “Peso” by newcomer A$AP Rocky, hand-picked by Drake to open his 2012 tour, load up your iPod and start listening.

What will be hot in 2012? Only time will tell. I personally look forward to the return of guitars — after a certain point, I can only listen to so much mellowed-out electronic music, known as chillwave. In particular, the new Sleigh Bells album, due out on Feb. 14, will be make-or-break for the band. I think the dubstep trend will eventually fizzle.

So as the trends ebb and flow, look for WPTS’s comments in this column.

Gabriela DiDonna is the promotions director for 92.1 WPTS FM, the University of Pittsburgh’s student-run radio station. More information can be found at wptsradio.org.

BBC Talk To Skrillex In LA

The Beeb head to Los Angeles to interview Sonny Moore aka Skrillex in his creative environment at home.

TwitBits: Christina Perri, Skrillex, Bryan Adams, Kings Of Leon And More

Christina Perri finds heaven, Skrillex wants to play to dogs, Bryan Adams watches prehistoric soccer coverage, Kings Of Leon and The Strokes start a book club, and heaps more.

We’re back for the New Year and continue peeking into the thrilling lives of musicians on Twitter.

• If Questlove from The Roots can still ask Diddy if he can break items with his mind, it means Diddy can’t.
• One can only suspect a Skrillex concert for dogs would have the same effect on them as New Year’s fireworks.
• Jared Followill from Kings Of Leon and Albert Hammond Jr from The Strokes seem to be starting their own book club, bless ‘em.
• Tyler The Creator says that the OFWGKTA twitter account has been hacked. How could they ever tell? Are the hackers being polite or something?
• The inimitable Henry Wagons hits the bar with an (Arctic) Monkey and a (Last Shadow) Puppet.
• Strike one off the bucket list for Grizzly Bear – they finally found that painting of a heavily-nippled monkey excited by asparagus.
• The Teflon Don, Mr Rick Ross is humbled by a six-figure bidding war over his new mixtape. But not so humbled that he won’t tweet about it.
• Poppet Christina Perri finds heaven in what looks like an instragrammed photo of the Windows default wallpaper.
• An unverified Anthony Keidis twitter account says: “My new year’s resolution for 2012 is to catch a live bird with my bare hands. Like, a healthy one.” I want to believe.
• “Soccer will one day get instant replays”? What Third World network are you watching, Bryan Adams? Actually, the Third World networks would be better for soccer coverage.

Top music moments of 2011

The music biz is in the middle of a very long and painful transition from one business model to a new and undefined one. But it does feel like the music biz turned a corner in 2011.

Despite some hard bumps the music business has taken during the past decade -- bumps that the film, book and video-game worlds are just beginning to experience -- the industry is more present, ubiquitous and more available than ever before. Nothing breeds innovation like disruption, and we're seeing plenty of both.

For the first time since 2004, overall album sales were up, to the tune of 4 per cent. Of that, digital album purchases increased by nearly 20 per cent and track sales by 9 percent. CD sales were down 5 per cent, but it was a far less toxic number than the double-digit declines of the past decade.

Top music stories of 2011 

Google, Spotify, Facebook: 

This trio underscored the digital surge in 2011-- and the immediate gratification of paying to download a track. Yet people still embraced albums. HMV Canada is now hopeful that a new online streaming subscription service will take off in Canada, joining Rdio, Slacker Radio, Rara and Deezer.

Five women who rocked the world: 

Rihanna, Adele, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry helped dig the music business out of its seven-year sales slump. Adele was the sindustry's hining star of in 2011. She sold five million copies of her Grammy-nominated sophomore effort, and 21 to 33 percent of them were digital. The album has sold in excess of 100,000 for more than 30 weeks, the first time that has happened since 2006. From undergoing throat surgery to cleaning up in Grammy nominations, Adele provided story after story for the music world. "Rolling In The Deep" also sold more digital copies than any song in history, landing Adele on just about everyone's "best of 2011′ lists.

Swift moved 3.8 million copies of her third album.

Perry saw five singles from her second full-length album top the charts, tying Michael Jackson for the record and totalling 15 million downloads.

Rihanna also released two hit albums to bookend the year, racking up sales of 1.9 million.

In terms of pop, 2011 was clearly the year of the female singer.

Adele, Lady Gaga, Perry, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears pulled off radio hits and sold 52.5 million downloads combined. They also toured their vocal cords raw, spent millions on videos and performed at every awards show imaginable.

Arcade Fire's Grammy: 

Arcade Fire rocked the music world when their album "The Suburbs" won the Grammy for Album Of The Year. While many critics thought the accolade was a well-earned choice, the pop-music community retaliated in disbelief and outrage. The win, however, paved the way for other cult musicians and lesser known artists to enter the mainstream arena.

Canadians ruled the world: 

For the first time, four of the Top Five albums on the Billboard pop charts were by Canadians at the start of Dec., 2011. Michael Bublé had the second biggest selling album of the year with "Christmas," joined by Drake, Justin Bieber and Nickelback. The Weekend scored massive play, with more than 500,000 free downloads for this record (hyped by Drake). Deadmau5 broke attendance records in NYC's Roseland Ballroom, which they followed up by throwing a stadium rave filled with 20,000 people at Toronto's Rogers Center. The Sheepdogs, the Saskatoon retro-rockers, also became the first unsigned band to grace the cover of the Rolling Stone. The Sheepdogs became the second Canadian band in history to score that honour.

In short, it's been quite the end to a year that began with the Grammys handing its first-ever Best Album award to a Canadian band, Arcade Fire.

Steve Jobs, Amy Winehouse die:
 
Amy Winehouse has been greatly missed by her fans since she passed away on July 23, 2011 at the age of 27. The release of her posthumous album, "Lioness: Hidden Treasures," allowed the world to glimpse into the raw, unfinished works of the troubled singer.

Steve Jobs also passed away and received a Trustee Award from the music industry. The honour was bestowed upon a man that every label hated. Jobs held the music industry in a stranglehold for years. But death changes the world's perspective on people.

Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray is jailed: 

Conrad Murray became known around the world after Michael Jackson's untimely death on June 25, 2009. Murray attended Jackson at the time of his death. In November, Murray was jailed for four years for involuntary manslaughter. The judge who delivered the sentence told Murray that he had "abandoned his patient, who was trusting him." Fifty-year-old Jackson died on the eve of his much anticipated comeback shows, which were due to take place over 50 nights at London's O2 Arena.

Breakups and reunions: 

The White Stripes, LCD Soundsystem, R.E.M. and (hiatus) Black Eyed Peas all called it a day in 2011. Stone Roses, Black Sabbath and Van Halen with original lead singer David Lee Roth reformed. Prince also performed a cross-Canada tour which sold out.

Nostalgia: 

Record labels and fans celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Nirvana's "Nevermind," Pearl Jam's "10," U2's "Achtung Baby" and The Beach Boys' "Smile" box set.

Beyonce's pregnancy 

It seemed like all anyone was talking about in 2011 was Beyonce's pregnancy, from the initial reveal during her VMAs performance of "Love On Top," (which broke the Tweets per second record) to the controversy surrounding the realness of her baby bump. Now the world waits for the chosen one to emerge from the most revered womb on earth.

It's Friday, Friday: 

Rebecca Black's "Friday" was the runaway sensation of 2011. The strangely hypnotic tune and low-budget video made for the most talked about song of the year, though many ridiculed Black's efforts. Still, with 180 million YouTube views, Black's "Friday" was the Internet hit of the year.

The Black Keys, Coldplay won't share: 

The Black Keys not only found mainstream fame and appreciation in 2011, they also refused to share their new album, "El Camino." The Black Keys announced that they wouldn't be offering "El Camino" on music file sharing devices like Spotify, claiming that it wasn't feasible at this point in the band's career to do so since the band makes its living selling music. Fans spoke out from both sides, marking The Black Keys as the second major act behind Coldplay to shun streaming services.

Bon Iver, Skillrex get Grammy Nods: 

"Alternative" cult artists Bon Iver and Skillrex scored nominations for 2012′s Grammy Awards for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist. Controversy surrounded the nominations, as Bon Iver front man Justin Vernon slammed the Grammys by calling them "unimportant."

Skrillex scored a whopping five Grammy nominations and became the first DJ to land a Best New Artist nod. The former Sonny Moore's musical background -- both on his own and as a member of his former group, From First to Last -- carried over into Skrillex's brand of fiery electronica.

Skrillex - Bangarang (EP Review)

Skrillex is actually a man called Sonny Moore who used to be the lead singer and guitarist in an emo band called From First To Last (They were actually quite good!). The band disappeared into obscurity after the release of their second LP and I thought that would be the last anyone would hear of any of them. This was back in 2004.

A year or two later, Sonny attempted a solo electronic project imaginatively titled 'Sonny'. It seems here he picked up a few tricks because in 2009 he released his first EP as Skrillex and blew the world of Dubstep wide open.

Skrillex, love him or hate him, is the most well-known name in Dubstep. He is adored by thousands of fans who strongly feel he is the cutting-edge of music progression this decade, whilst at the same time having an equal amount of people apparently hate his guts because of his help in the commercialisation of Dubstep.

I have to admit I found myself more inclined to the 'haters' camp even having listened to each of his new remixes. However, with the release of his new EP, 'Bangarang', he makes it very clear he is all about the music and all my prejudice about him melted away with the listen of one track.

'Bangarang' is seven tracks of Dubstep, Trance, elements of progressive house and guitars being thrown in and Skrillex seems to be evolving to use Drum and Bass and Jungle beats in a concoction of electronic beauty.

The first song is aptly named, 'Right In', as that's what he does. Less than 30 seconds from pressing the play button and the track is in full force. “It's another one!”  Says some person before blasting the bass. This is the only track he does on the EP without collaboration.

Swiftly to the second track, 'Bangarang', which starts off with some funky 70's style guitar, while the first collaborator Sirah (I've never heard of them either) raps. The drop is quite literally the most impressive I've ever heard him produce.

'Breaking A Sweat' is the third track. It is notable because the collaborators are the surviving members of The Doors (If you don't know who they are.... shame on you) plus an eerily accurate prediction (at about 2:35) from the late great Jim Morrison about the future of music. Great and intelligent DJ'ing from Skrillex.

The fourth track, 'The Devil's Den', features Wolfgang Gartner and is an absolute banger. Get a copy of it and play it at a party, make sure everyone sees you put it on. Everyone will love you. 'Right On Time', the fifth, features fellow electronic music artists, 12th Planet and Kill The Noise, a classic track setting the level for which all Dubstep should now be based. The sixth track, 'Kyoto', welcomes back Sirah from the second track to do some more rapping with Dubstep over the top of it.

The closing track is wonderful. 'Summit', has a simple riff but is majestic in it's delivery and builds and builds until you almost can't take it anymore. Ellie Goulding (also worth checking out her work) features and sings perfectly complementing Sonny's voice. On hearing this song, I downloaded this EP as fast I could, which inspired me to write this review.

'Bangarang' is the fourth EP by Electro House/Dubstep producer Skrillex. It was released for download on Beatport on December 23rd, 2011, was made available from other music download sites on December 27th, 2011, and will be physically released on January 24th, 2012.

Skipping Over Dubstep, Breaking All the Big Beats, an EP that Bangs Genres Together

(Big Beat / Atlantic Records) First released as a download from Beatport on December 24, 2011, widely released on all other digital sites on December 27th, and with a physical drop date set for January 24, 2012 Bangarang -- the fourth and latest EP from Skrillex -- has been introduced to the world as a spitting firework of a release. Fitting to be launched over the threshold of a new year, it's explosive and sounds like the measure of a moment of time.

The Grammy Award-nominated Skrillex tends to split listeners. He's a newcomer who had been around for quite sometime in a previous post-hardcore incarnation as lead singer in From First to Last. He's a Dubstup aficionado who doesn't always regard the rules of genre. He's a Bigbeat specialist who doesn't always treat rhythms as the genre police would expect. He's credibly recognized yet sometimes throws his credentials a curve ball. He's one of the most notoriously experimental names in electronica, yet he is fast to commercial success and to establishment of sound. He's bound to have those who disapprove; he is also destined to receive the adoration of fans who like their tunes club-banged into bewildered dimensions.

Aside from anything, the Bangarang EP stands as a flash-bang of ambition. With a host of contributing artists -- Sirah, The Doors, Wolfgang Gartner, 12th Planet, Kill the Noise, and Ellie Goulding -- appearing across the eight tracks, the diversity is stunning. There's a generosity of spirit from all involved; The Doors, appearing on “Breakn' A Sweat,” was recorded as part of the Re:Generation Music Project -- a movie that married musicians through the ages with contemporary DJs. The track -- for all of its surprises, atmosphere, beat, and lifted vocal commentary -- still sounds exactly as you'd expect if The Doors had ridden the snake into the future to the point where production techniques and the Collective Unconsciousness were ready to receive the message. Hooks are strong, beats are big, and the beauty of the track unfolds like a potentially stormy ocean.

Production across the EP is all Skrillex. Regardless of genre and regardless of what he's handling, the man just brings the best out of sounds. Until you hear it, you'd consider terms like 'cubism' somewhat pretentious when discussing music, but what he achieves with deconstruction, reconstruction, treatment, and fill-ins is other-worldly. Ignore what you expect to hear or what you're told is acceptable, commercial, or credible; listen to the sounds and you'll see that music is nothing but a whole bunch of noise assembled in such a way that gravity can sometimes be ignored and space sometimes has additional dimensions. Phil Spector's Wall of Sound is the closest production reference you could make, but only if you'd smashed in the wall and rebuilt with mirrors, flame, liquids, and glitch.

Sonically, this is a massive EP. Volume begs and deserves to belong over every track, but this isn't a simple dose of bombastic floor-fillers. Ellie Goulding brings ethereal strains to “Summit” and proves that some mountains are both earthly and above the clouds. Her voice here is perhaps as cool as it has ever been. Closing track “Orchestral Suite By Varien” builds on the concept of air and height and feels like take-off. Fans of Skrillex will use tracks like this to illustrate the breadth of the man's vision; the detractors will level some kind of nonsense to do with lack of focus. The fact is that it's just this kind of track and the multi-palette approach that displays a larger truth.

As with the Re:Generation Music Project, the Bangarang EP underlines that music doesn't know its own color, a song has no sense of genre, and emotional content shouldn't be checked against categories, sub-categories, or codes of conduct. In that sense, Skrillex is a purely innovative artist. In the sense of what's hip, what's acceptable and expected, he may occasionally falter, but that's because he's paying attention to the tunes and not to the accessories and attachments. Add volume and await the Grammys.

RIP Skrillex

Sorry - hoax. Wikipedia had his date of death as Jan 2, 2012 from a cocaine overdose.

When I started working on this drawing yesterday for Computers Club Drawing Society, electro/house/dubstep producer Skrillex was still alive - according to CNN he died today.* I felt a little weird posting it on CCDS now, where the tone or motivation wouldn't be very clear, so I'm putting it here with my own collected drawings. It was meant to be sympathetic but not a memorial - now it's that.

*Update, ha ha, well, if this drawing's going to serve as a memorial it'll have to wait till the man is actually deceased. You gotta love that Wikipedia still has trolls. Some wag inserted the date of Sonny John Moore's death as "January 2, 2012" and said CNN had reported that he died from a cocaine overdose but no official statement had been made. That was enough to spare CCDS from this drawing.

Amazing songs

The year 2011 saw many artists release amazing songs and some, well, not so amazing. Either way, we enjoyed them!

From the amazing Adele to new entrants such as Bon Iver, Skrillex and Nicki Minaj, all fought profusely for the top spot. No questions asked, it belongs to Adele, obviously.

I decided to find out the top 20 songs of 2011 as we don't have much of year-end charts in Bahrain.
So here they are, and remember they are based on the music, not popularity.

I'm sure most of you haven't heard some of these songs. If you haven't, then you must. They are amazing. The Top 20 Songs Of 2011:

1. Adele - Rolling In The Deep
2. Adele - Someone Like You
3. Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
4. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Niggas In Paris
5. Frank Ocean - Novacene
6. Bon Iver - Holocene
7. Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory
8. Chris Brown Ft Busta Rhymes & Lil Wayne - Look At Me Now
9. Nicki Minaj - Superbass
10. The Joy Formidable - Whirring
11. Katy Perry - Firework
12. Beyonce - Countdown
13. Radiohead - Lotus Flower
14. Nicola Roberts - Beat Of My Heart
15. Lady Gaga - You And I
16. Drake Ft Rihanna - Take Care
17. SBTRKT - Wildfire
18. Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels
19. Rihanna - We Found Love
20. Tony Bennet & Amy Winehouse - Body & Soul

HARD's Gary Richards Captains One Holy Ship!

For the past half decade L.A.'s HARDfest brand has been behind some of the most riotously wondrous shows on the West Coast and beyond. Now the electronic music events activator is taking to the sea with a few dozen of its very favorite racket-makers, among them Fatboy Slim, A-Trak, Diplo and Skrillex. The voyage is called HOLY SHIP!, and it kicks off Thursday night at Revolution Live. Niteside got with HARD's Gary Richards and had him fill us in on all the action.

What the hell's a Holy Ship and why should we ship out on it? People know us for the HARD Summer and HARD Haunted Mansion festivals, and for a few years I've had the idea of doing a HARD Cruise. Take the acts I book at the festivals -- i.e. Diplo and Skrillex and a lot of the up-and-comers -- and use a giant cruise ship as the venue for the festival.

The name HOLY SHIP! started as a joke, but we all grew to love it. Europeans know that MSC (based out of Italy) is one of the top five cruise fleets in the world, and the Poesia is one of their largest ships. It has a tennis court and gym and spa and sushi bar and the list goes on.  When you really educate people with what we're doing in music and vacation, their eyes pop out of their head. That's why the name HOLY SHIP! just fits.

Who have you got to top this maiden voyage? One of my all-time favorite musicians in the world, Fatboy Slim, is a big draw for me and anyone that partied over the years. Diplo and A-Trak are like the two guys that have really been HARD superstars since early on. I like that you have kids in college or whatever just finding out about them now because they fell in love with a Major Lazer song or a Duck Sauce song; then they come and see these guys in front of an audience. As a DJ, they just own it. A-Trak and Steve Aoki and a few others (Jason Bentley, Gina Turner, Rory Phillips) were all at my first HARD event ever in 2007. That was a crazy night, and right now I feel like I did right before that, like this party is going to be insane.

We also have Rusko, who I first brought to the states in 2009 for his live USA debut.  He's known for really launching dubstep, and I've toured with  him around the country. He's such an awesome performer. Then I got a little lucky with Skrillex. When I started hanging with Sonny a year or so ago, he was really excited that deadmau5 had even listened to his song, nevertheless that he was going to put it out on his label Mau5trap. He told me then he'd been in the audience at my show at HARD Haunted Mansion and always wanted to play it. We made that happen this October, and now Skrillex is like the biggest phenomenon in music in the past year.

That's not all though, right? We have over 40 different bands and DJs performing, plus all their musician friends are on board because it's the vacation of the century. There's four different parties going at any given time and you can hop between them all at your leisure. It's a cruise ship, so you can eat all day for free  and never make your bed because the cleaning crew will come and tidy your cabin. It's a resort that travels to the Bahamas (and a private island) with a whole HARD music festival aboard.

Isn't there also a pre-cruise kickoff? Yeah, we found people are coming in the night before and booking hotels, so we found the best venue in Ft. Lauderdale and we're going to do a whole night of pre-partying there. Major Lazer tops the bill, but we're using two rooms simultaneously and there's a half dozen artists playing.

Will your alter ego Destructo be making an appearance either on board or before the embarking? Yes, I'm going to play both. I've been working on the pre-party set and I think I'm just going to go all out from the get-go. On the boat I'm probably going to do one set that's really grooving, pool party style music like I used to play on vinyl in the summers in L.A., and maybe another set of my newer, mental stuff I've been producing and DJing.

I don't know for sure, one of the things about being a DJ (or being a performer in any capacity) is reacting to what the audience is feeling.

If you had to recommend one item for each Holy Shipmate to bring along, what would it be? Sunscreen.

Anything else we know about Gary Richards before you go-go? "Make it happen" -- those are words to live by.

The Holy Ship! kickoff party takes place Thursday January 5 at Revolution Live. Holy Ship! disembarks Friday January 6. More information about both can be found here.

Skrillex drops new beats in time for the New Year

Rating: 5/5

 

The day before Christmas Eve, dubstep sensation Skrillex announced he had bestowed a new batch of electronic music upon the world. It was an early Christmas miracle for fans, over 2.6 million of them.

One of Bangarang EP’s major highlights is the list of guest artists, including 12th Planet, Wolfgang Gartner, Ellie Goulding and Sirah. 12th Planet is currently finishing up a tour with Skrillex that stopped by Tallahassee during finals week. The timing didn’t prevent the show at the Moon from selling out.

Bangarang makes an evolution in Skrillex’s sound very evident. Elements like the signature high-pitched voices and shouting are still mixed in, but the songs definitely have more depth and are driven by better beats. A lot of it seems more groovy than heavy. Fans of house music should notice some similarities, too.

Overall, Skrillex is demonstrating that it’s not just about bass drops. There is still plenty of innovation left to do in the genre.

Skrillex also has something bigger to prove. He’s nominated for multiple Grammy Awards this time around. The rising star of this genre competing with the world’s most popular recording artists would have been unthinkable only a couple years ago.

The album is legally available through the BeatPort website at a total cost of $17.43. For only seven songs, the price seems uncompetitive with what you would pay on the iTunes Store, for example. It is unknown whether it will be available elsewhere or for less money any time soon.

“Go pirate it if you don't have money..I just want you to have it... or you can buy it here..either way I'll love you,” Skrillex said kindly on his Facebook wall. Fans can make the call whether to follow that advice or not.

Into the trance zone

They gave psychedelic trance a fresh sound — triggered it with a new electronic buzz, gave it a dose of heavy metal licks and offered a generous fill of hypnotic arrangements. Twice ranked among world’s 10 Best DJs, the Israel-bred, LA — based duo, Amit Duvdev Duvdevani and Erez Eisen are Infected Mushroom! The duo was in the country to perform at the Sunburn Festival.

The band’s latest offering, Legend of the Black Shawarma sounds more intense, boasting of a strong heavy metal influence. “The album definitely pushes a heavy rock sound, but there are also traces of our typical psychedelic riffs and infectious melodies. We were very happy to collaborate with some of our inspirations such as Perry Farrell and Jonathan Davis. We’re extremely happy with the album’s outcome,” says Erez. Both artistes claim to have been influenced by artistes like Metallica, Pantera and Primus. “Our current favourite electronic artistes are Skrillex, Nero, Feed Me, Randy Seidman, Eitan ‘Fatali’ Carmi,” says Erez.

The first of four singles, Pink Nightmares hit the market early last year. “Pink Nightmares turned out to be a hit, but it started out as a nightmare — it was a bad dream one of our daughters had. When we first performed the tune at Coachella this past year, the dance tent went mental. We recently finished a music video for the single, quite dark and psychedelic,” he adds.

Talking about the latest album, due to release in 2012, Erez says, “We are very excited. The album will be a little less ‘rock-and-roll’ and a little more dance-oriented. You will hear our signature sound applied to a contemporary scene. I don’t want to ‘toot our own horn’ but, for example, dubstep has spread like wildfire and we think our interpretation is strong. What you will hear on the album will make you say ‘oh! this is what it sounds like when dubstep is done well’.”

Back home, in Israel, the duo has a huge fan following. “Many people tell us that they can hear the Middle-Eastern influence in our sounds. I guess this is proof that we are from where we are”, he says, adding, “Over the years, we have spent a lot of time in India, so it is a very special place for us. When we travel to India, we look forward to hanging out with good people. In terms of graciousness, generosity, kindness, warmth — the people of India are second to none.”

deadmau5 to go all the way live in Las Vegas

For deadmau5, there's a world of difference between being a DJ and an electronic dance music (EDM) producer.

"If you want to be called an artist, then you should produce your own music," says the 30-year-old Canadian, whose real name is Joel Zimmerman. "EDM artists need to move away from being human iPods."

If there's any question by now, he prefers to be an electronic music artist. "If people come to a deadmau5 show, I want them to hear deadmau5 music. Just like if I go to a Motley Crue show, I don't want to hear them playing Warrant covers. An artist just can't aspire to being the world's greatest player of other people's music."

If that sounds a little demanding, deadmau5 has the clout to be. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has dubbed Jan. 2 "deadmau5 Day," which marks the beginning of the EDM star's exclusive partnership with Wynn Las Vegas. Zimmerman, wearing one of his signature mouseheads, will burrow in Sin City through 2012, playing at XS and Encore nightclubs for an as-yet-undetermined number of shows.

If he can continue to attract crowds at mainstream and larger venues (he's done stadium shows in San Diego and Toronto), he stands to be the new face of EDM.

"The thing about electronic music is that it's more about the music and production than the individual," says electronica pioneer Moby. "Generally, (EDM artists) are not the most distinctive-looking people. They're nerdy guys who like to make music on their computers. deadmau5 has that very distinctive mouse head. And his shows have a big production value."

He's also up for three Grammy Awards: dance/electronica album (4x4=12), dance recording (Raise Your Weapon, with Greta Svabo Bech) and remix (Foo Fighters' Rope). "I didn't even know that there were that many categories for EDM!" he says.

His nominations weren't the only surprise. "Boom! Five nominations for (EDM artist) Skrillex. His nominations are a win for us all."

More important, what will he wear on the red carpet? "A couple of years ago, I was nominated for a remix and wore a T-shirt that said, 'Your ad here,' " he says with a laugh. "I'm going to do something like that, fake ad, fake company kind of thing."

This summer, deadmau5 became the first EDM artist to headline an all-genre music festival when he topped the bill at Lollapalooza. 4x4=12 spent 54 weeks on Billboard's album chart and peaked at No. 2 on the dance/electronic chart, with 250,000 copies sold to date.

"EDM is the new pop music. It's not just landing on the map, it's developing and growing and being leached into the mainstream," he says. "But that's just how it goes. It's the circle of life. Just because EDM has become popular doesn't mean that it's going to suck, it just means more people are listening to it."

Still experimenting

What does the one band considered the choirmasters of Nu-metal do in a year that saw its contemporaries Limp Bizkit and Staind spring back to form? It ups the game, and reinvents its sound for the umpteenth time.

Korn has been no stranger to rough times and band members stepping in and out. Despite all that, Jonathan Davis, Munky (James Shaffer) and Fieldy (Reginald Arvizu) kept on. Usually, that meant pulling favours from friends to fill in on studio duties. Since last year's album — “KoRn III: Remember Who You Are” — drummer Ray Luzier became a permanent member. 

But on their latest offering “The Path of Totality”, Davis says he wanted to “test the waters”. This involved inviting the biggest names in the wobbly world of Dubstep. Skrillex, Noisia, Feed Me, Excision, Downlink and 12th Planet were the DJs who got on board, and laid down the squelching, stifling digital sound to which Korn would riff out. They dive right in on the opening track ‘Chaos Lives in Everything' with Skrillex (Sonny Moore) manning the console. 

Filthy, grimy beats and warbled drops meet chaotic breakdowns in the lead singles ‘Get Up!' and ‘Narcissistic Cannibal', both of which feature Skrillex, who clearly emerges as a lucky charm for the band. The haphazardness about this album is when you hear heavily downtuned guitar riffs first on some tracks, and other tracks, there's just a wail of synth with guitars nearly forgotten. Tracks such as ‘Illuminati', ‘Sanctuary' and ‘Kill Mercy Within' pass with very little distinction. 

‘Let's Go' and ‘Way Too Far' are two worthier efforts however, with strong riffs from Munky and a structure that is immediately identifiable. Vocals still stay strong, from growls to croons to despairing cries. This is one aspect that will forever remain the band's distinction. The closing track ‘Bleeding Out' seems way too experimental for even Korn; as though Davis just remembered he was good at playing the bagpipes so he wanted it on a song. 

This kind of mash-up does beg the question: How does the analogous rage of metal fit with the computerised chaos of dubstep? On hearing “The Path of Totality”, it's almost safe to say the marriage isn't all that great, although Korn do try to make it work to their best efforts. After all, there aren't a lot of bands from two decades ago that are as keen as the California metallers to experiment at every given chance. Whether that sort of attitude converts to critical acclaim is a different matter all together.