“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

Skrillex's Best New Artist nomination: One small step for dubstep, or one giant leap away from artistry?

When Skrillex, a 23 year-old dance-music producer from Los Angeles whose real name is Sonny Moore, nabbed the final Best New Artist slot at last night’s Grammy Nominations Concert, more than a few people balked:

Who is this Skill-rex person/band, and why has he/she/they taken away the nomination from my beloved (insert act here)?!

But other people were much more excited about his nomination (this is a real, if not strictly grammatical reaction from his official Facebook page):

Your  f–king amazing! I hope you win each and every one of those Grammy’s, you deserve it! F–k the haters that say otherwise, your dope as f–k!!!!!!

Truth is, if you aren’t still on the Party Rock circuit, you’ve likely never heard of Skrillex, the dubstep wunderkind whose trancey EPs blare at raves and festivals across the country and whose personal YouTube uploads have racked up over 190 million views. To the tech-savvy Gen-Zers, though, for whom thumping bass rumbles and beep-bop-boop remixes are commonplace, Skrillex is a god among DJs. (Somewhere, P!nk is totally confused by that line.)

Perhaps the Grammys were attempting to reach out to the youth demographic that every awards show so desperately desires by giving Skrillex a Best New Artist slot. Or perhaps they simply wanted to acknowledge the rise of dubstep/dance music by awarding him five nominations and giving deadmau5 three of his own. Or perhaps Grammy voters really just love Skrillex. (I mean, he clearly shares a lot of fans with last year’s Best New Artist winner, Esperanza Spalding, right?)

No matter what the reasoning, though, some people — you know, the kind who prefer guitars and pianos and lyrics (fogies!) –  just can’t consider Skrillex a legitimate music artist. They hear tracks like the one below and wonder, “Is this music or just noise?” (and also: “Get off my lawn!”):