“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.