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.

Skrillex is just killin’ it

Lots of usual suspects popped up on the just-released roster of Grammy nominations — Adele, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, the Foo Fighters.

But who, folks might wonder, was the wild-maned artist who calls himself Skrillex, who logged no less that five coveted nominations?

First, the 23-year-old born Sonny Moore in Los Angeles was a band member (in From First To Last), then a top-flight producer (he just finished working on the upcoming Korn album). Now, he’s a solo artist, as well, with his recent “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” nabbing a Grammy nod for Best Dance/Electronica Album.

Skrillex also got a nom for Best Music Video (“First of the Year (Equinox)”), and he now owns the honor of being the first electronic musician to ever be nominated for Best New Artist.

Chalk it up to his insane work schedule, perhaps — over the past year, Skrillex has also: released two EPs, played over 300 performances, collaborated with Kaskade, made the cover of Spin Magazine, and even launched his own “Watership Down”-inspired label OWSLA, and signed hot new artists like Bristol’s dubstep maestro Koan Sound, singer Alvin Risk, and San Francisco’s own M Machine.

The guy should be throwing one helluva crazy New Year’s party!

Skrillex: Happy Holidays! Pirate My Music, I’ll Still Love You

As negativity surrounding online piracy grows to epic proportions in the United States, Sonny John Moore is playing the intelligent game. Moore, better known to his fans as Skrillex, has a total of six 2011 Grammy nominations under his belt but he’s still not towing the corporate line on file-sharing. As he drops his brand new album, Skrillex tells fans that don’t have the money to go ahead and pirate it instead.

 

Today, on a Christmas morning with giving, kindness and sharing on our minds, we thank Sonny John Moore for his contribution to the holiday spirit.

These days Moore is better known as Skrillex, and since taking his current form in 2008 he’s been going from strength to strength. Last year he released his debut EP, My Name is Skrillex, as a free download and he hasn’t looked back.

He’s currently nominated for no less than six Grammys including Best New Artist, Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronica Album. Everyone seems to love Skrill’ and today his fans will love him even more.

After delivering his much anticipated new album Bangarang this week, Skrillex reached out to fans both rich and poor, and trashed the mainstream recording industry mantra that “file-sharing is evil”.

“Happy holidays just like I promised,” said Skrillex on his Facebook page. “Just like I always say, go pirate it if you don’t have the money, I just want you to have it.”

“You can buy it here, either way i’ll love you,” he concludes.

Quite how long Skrillex will be able to deliver this crowd-pleasing attitude is unclear. He’s signed to Big Beat Records, an Atlantic Records subsidiary which in turn is owned by Warner Music. Hopefully, though, Skrillex will be left alone to do his thing, and here’s why he should be.

Modern electronic music, and by that I mean material from the last 25 years, has drawn its lifeblood from piracy. Sampling, cut-and-paste, mixtape and more recently file-sharing cultures have ensured that artists like Skrillex can hit the mainstream, gain a huge fanbase, get Grammy nominated and yet still give stuff away for free. And make money.

But perhaps more importantly in these turbulent times, this kind of approach gains the respect of fans, regardless of how deep their pockets are today. And tomorrow, one way or another, they will spend. If they actually enjoy doing that, the rest is easy.

Skrillex RE:GENERATION Interview

The RE:GENERATION project has become one of the most interesting collection of collaborations of the year. With all of the videos and music finally being released Hyuandai sat the performers together for a little chat. Here is a clip from the interview with one of the hottest names in electronic music for 2011, Skrillex. Sonny gives some insight of what it was like to work with musicians he has been listening to as long as he can remember as well as what a surreal experience it was to find he was nominated for more than just one Grammy.

Skrillex, Little Dragon and ChromodaData

Breathe (Vocal)

So some dude sent some email which was a reply to a reply to a reply to some dude claiming he hacked into OWSLA-computers and got the vocal version of Skrillex’ ‘Breathe’. Not sure about giving you the download yet. But this could be a pretty intentional ‘leak’, or just a hoax. Let’s wait what OWSLA and Skrillex himself have to say about this. On track: Really nice recording, sounds like a legit Skrillex production. Will probably update on this. Also keep your eyes on the Skrillex and OWSLA twitter pages.




Little Man (ChromadaDate Remix)

cool (relatively short) rendition by ChromodaData on Little Dragon’s ‘Little Man’. The original minimalist production is a perfect track to remix, leaving room for ChromadaData to add solid beats and additional synths. Though I’m not really sure if he used the original track with an EQ on it or if he just got the acapella somewhere.

Skrillex Killed Dubstep

2011 has been one of the biggest years ever for Dubstep, quite possibly the most significant since its decade-old inception in the UK. The Pop music industry as a whole has witnessed a massive transformation taking place over the last year, as major artists from all around the world have begun incorporating the instantly recognizable sounds of dubstep into their music. Britney Spears and Rihanna, two of the biggest female stars in American pop-music have already “jumped on the dubstep bandwagon” so to speak, harnessing the unrelenting, high-energy sound typical of the dubstep genre to infuse their music with a whole new dimension of appeal. Even more telling, industry juggernaut’s such as Jay-Z and Kanye West licensed the classic Flux Pavilion track “I Can’t Stop” in their official single “Who Gon’ Stop Me”. To top it all off, dubstep-icon Skrillex has not only released recent collaborations with several music-industry giants such as Korn and The Doors, he also just received a whopping FIVE Grammy Nominations, including the first “Best New Artist” nomination EVER to be awarded to a DJ/Producer.

What started as an entirely underground movement has begun to gain mainstream recognition, and the community response to this transition has been dramatic and highly conflicted to say the least. To fully understand the ramifications of what Skrillex has accomplished, we have to begin by looking at the structure of another genre that has gone through a very similar evolutionary process, the Hip-Hop industry.

The first lesson to be learned from the history of Hip Hop is the supposed fate of the underground and the role Skrillex is playing in “reshaping” the sound of dubstep. Hip Hop is by far one of the most influential and expansive musical genres currently in existence. New Hip Hop acts are constantly emerging, many of them reaching millions of followers within their first few months of touring. However, despite the monumental reach and power of contemporary Hip Hop, it has still maintained a wonderfully rich and vibrant underground culture that is hardly diminished at all by the explosion of Hip Hop and Rap in the mainstream. If Hip Hop becoming mainstream didn’t kill the underground, why would the story be any different for Dubstep? If anything, the underground has matured and evolved into a relatively unaffected category separate and distinct from the Hip Hop mainstream, but with the added benefit that underground artists are able to make a living from their craft.

There is another important aspect of Hip-Hop that deserves to be noted in order for this comparison to be relevant. The dominant role in Hip Hop is almost always granted to the MC (just as in pop music it is granted to the singer). This is not to say that it is impossible to gain attention as a Hip-Hop producer, but it is certainly significantly more difficult as the majority of the attention and praise is awarded by default to the MC. In many cases, incredibly talented producers are ignored entirely as relatively untalented figure-heads spit mediocre rhymes over their producers finely-honed instrumentals. Whatever your personal opinion concerning Skrillex may be, his nomination for Best New Artist as a dj/producer has the potential to completely change the way this model functions, opening wide the doors for a whole new generation of producers to gain the respect and attention they so rightly deserve.

At the end of the day, producers make music so that people can listen and enjoy it, just like all other musicians. Any success for the Dubstep community at large is ultimately a success for the industry as a whole. Brilliant producers like Skrillex are casting light on what the mainstream has been missing out on, and this illumination will only serve to benefit those who follow in his footsteps; whether they choose to produce in a mainstream or underground style is completely irrelevant . Until very recently, many critics have been reluctant or even unwilling to consider producers to be musicians, instead preferring to think of them as some other sort of entertainer unworthy of the “artistic” title of “musician”. With his boundary shattering nomination for Best New Artist, Skrillex has boldly demonstrated the falsehood of these unjust claims, stating that he’s “only hoping that his nomination this year will carry on to the next year, and open doors for more people to come up and be noticed and recognized as actual musicians.”

The important thing to keep in mind is that when people begin to accept Dubstep as a whole into what people refer to as “actual music”, the generally accepted value of the producer will increase dramatically. Before Hip Hop was recognized as part of popular music, it was extremely rare to find an artist that was able to support themself solely from their musical career. The same is true now for the producer; the general populace is relatively ignorant to the musical complexities of dubstep, and as a result it is extremely hard to get recognized as providing a service genuinely worth enough money to live on. Most producers are instead forced to rely on a side-job that prevents them from focusing all of the necessary energy on production, a vicious cycle that inevitably prevents many talented individuals from ever reaching their full potential. When the genre is accepted as an essential part of popular culture, talented producers will have a much better chance of being able to direct all of their energy at developing their musical career rather than struggling to support their musical through various odd-jobs. Although dubstep being incorporated into the mainstream may dramatically increase the number of producers (and many of them will surely copy Skrillex, as he is the very definition of “Whats Hot”), it is important to remember that there will always be an underground, and there will always be quality producers of all styles and varieties….it’s just a matter of finding them!

If bridging the gap between the mainstream and the underground helps clarify for the listener how they can personally relate to and interact with the music they are hearing, there is certainly no harm in such a simple endeavor. If Skrillex being nominated for a Grammy helps pave the way for a whole generation of up-and-coming producers, that is a tremendous accomplishment regardless of how you feel about his music.

Grandpa Hates Skrillex, Dances To Foster The People (VIDEO)

A lot of eyebrows were raised when Skrillex was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist last week. After all, not every mainstream music fan listens to dubstep -- let alone knows what it is -- and so the inclusion of a word that sounds like a nifty device for brunch making was quite curious to some indeed.

Before the nomination was even announced, YouTube user TheRedGibson22 decided that his 90-year old grandfather Al should get acquainted with the beats of a new generation. He did a good job trying to understand the sound coming from his grandson's computer, but he wasn't much of a fan.

"Not to be nasty, but is that considered to be music that's popular with teenagers?" Al asked. "We don't understand one word they're saying."

To be fair, the guy's seemingly far cooler than most 90-year olds: he wasn't rejecting Skrillex for Sinatra, but because he couldn't dance to it. Thankfully, Foster the People came on next, and all was right with the world.

Zomboy stole Skrillex's sound

Anyone here of "Zomboy"? If you look up any of his songs on Youtube you will immediately hear that Zomboy not only stole Skrillex's style... but stole direct sounds from his songs. He didn't even have the intelligence to change the sound a little... it's just blatant theft. And the best part is... he is saying that he didn't steal anything and has made the sounds himself. Even if that is true (which we all know it isn't) why would he want to sound EXACTLY like Skrillex? It pisses me off and it should piss you off too. Let everyone know that Zomboy is a fake and a pale imitation of Skrillex. If I was Skrillex, I would seriously look into copyright infringement.

What do you guys think?

Don't Know the Difference Between Dubstep and Brostep?

Dubstep might be the new heavy metal. It's dark, it's aggressive, and it's already conquered North American suburbs with little mainstream media support. Born in the clubs of south London in the early oughties, Dubstep is a hybrid of dub, drum and bass, and glitchy electronica. At its most inoffensive, it's moody restaurantica. At its best, it's an obnoxiously fun and angry assault on your ears; the kind that makes you say, "What is this shit? That's not music," just like every generation of old people has uttered when they were confronted with a new and exciting musical genre.

Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it, maybe you've never heard of it. Regardless, it's impossible to ignore anymore as it's gradually popping up everywhere. You'll hear a Rusko song between whistles at sporting events, read a great review of Burial on your favourite blog, see a hilarious YouTube video with a dubstep score or watch a stripper dance to a Skream remix of La Roux at the No5 Orange (it was an incredibly classy performance). And it's only going to keep spreading. This past week, Justin Bieber announced his next album is going to include some dubstep while the biggest name in the genre, Skrillex, was receiving five Grammy nominations -- including Best New Artist.

Skrillex, who seemingly appeared overnight, is so huge YouTube will probably make you sit through a Procter & Gamble ad for VapoRub or a digital pregnancy test before you can watch his excellent video for "First of the Year (Equinox)" (It received a Grammy nomination for Best Short Form Music Video). Or maybe give a listen to this one, "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites," which is closing in on a stupefying 50 million views. To give you a little perspective, the first single from Jay-Z and Kanye West's album Watch the Throne has nearly 30 million views. Skrillex is a pop star that's never had his music played on commercial radio or television.

In his previous life, when he was 18, Skrillex went by his given name Sonny Moore and was the lead singer of screamo band From First to Last (Yep, that's him screamo-ing.) Now practically geriatric at 23, it only seems fitting that a kid who was signed to Epitaph Records and played the Warped Tour is the one to triumphantly bring dubstep from the trendy areas of London to the Hot Topics of every mall in suburban America. Feel old and out of touch yet? I sure do, and I'm the one writing about this shit.
Purists of the dubstep genre, of course, hate him. They say he looks like a jackass and his music lacks subtly; that it's too in your face. His sound has petulantly been labeled brostep -- the connotation being that only jockish idiots and frat boys listen to it. Having observed his fans closely when Skrillex was in Vancouver for two sold out shows at the PNE Forum in October, I'll attest that they do look suspiciously like participants in the Stanley Cup Riot, only groovier. But maybe hockey's not the violent sports reference I should be making. The dubstep snob's critique of his music is comparable to a boxing fan ragging on MMA Fighting. Can't we just all agree that, so long as someone’s face or ears get viciously maimed, it's great entertainment?

Skrillex gets nominated for 5 Grammy's then does a funny dance!!

If you didn’t already hear the breaking news, Skrillex was nominated for 5 Grammy’s on November 30th, 2011 at the official Grammy nomination ceremony. The biggest nomination of all is the Best New Artist category, which puts him against the likes of The Band Perry, Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj, and  J. Cole. This is a huge turning point for EDM, and is a big deal for all electronic music producers across all genres.

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Skrillex is the fastest growing producer in EDM history, and It just goes to show how EDM is taking over- check out this really good, kind of long article about how “Electronic Music Moved the Masses in 2011″.

There are some other producers nominated for Grammys, which is dope as well. Deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta and others figure in the list, check the full list at the Grammy’s site here. So, does this mean dubstep is going mainstream?

These are the 5 awards Skrillex received Grammy nominations for :

• Best New Artist
• Best Dance Recording (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites)
• Best Dance/Electronica Album (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites)
• Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (Cinema Skrillex Remix)
• Best Short Form Music Video (First of the Year)

Once Skrillex  realized was nominated he started doing this funny dance! Everyone laughed at his seizure-sh dance moves and it was kind of an awkward moment.. But everyone stills loves him (or hates him for that matter) because he makes banging tunes. thanks r/electronicmusic for the gif



So what do you think? Do you think this nomination is good for EDM, or do you think that Skrillex getting Nominated for  5 Grammys is going to continue to bring Dubstep and EDM to the mainstream, and turn it into some poppy, over done, over marketed, over produced  garbage?

Google Search Traffic for 'Skrillex,' May 2010 − Present...

In 2007, Sonny Moore ditched his emo-screamo band and started a solo career, eventually adopting the moniker 'Skrillex'.  That was a good move...    

The left axis is Google's search volume index, with scaling fixed to the starting point (more on that methodology here).  There are definitely some nice milestones in this quick shot upward, though the ascendency has actually been fairly smooth (a good sign).  That includes a recent performance at Coachella (April), and a growing number of articles from major publications like the Guardian.

Actually, Skrillex's recent 5 Grammy nominations isn't even factored into this graph, due to a multi-day delay in traffic data.

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!”):

Study playlist creates perfect exam cram vibe

There is a moment that occurs during a late-night study session when the deafening silence – broken only by the typing of keys, the sniffling and coughing of sick and tired collegiate souls, the crinkly of candy bar wrappers and the slurping of caffeinated beverages – drives any student to the brink of insanity.
Some students depend on absolute quiet to concentrate on their work, but others need background music. There is a reason tears are shed when an iPod battery dies in the middle of a late night; music can be a lifesaver.

But what music should one listen to while studying? People will, of course, gravitate toward their favorite bands or genres, but sometimes this isn’t ideal. While some students may possess the skills to be able to concentrate while blasting Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Watch The Throne,” Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” or Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” not all possess that kind of talent.

The ideal background music provides a sense of calm and stability for the student, while also providing the energy needed to power through a marathon session of hitting the books. Everyone has their own music tastes, but here are six different albums to consider for the next time you’re in the library.

Andrew Bird – “Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs”

For those who have not yet experienced an Andrew Bird listening/study session, it is simply a must. Like most of his music, his 2005 album utilizes soothing vocals, an overlapping array of instruments and A-plus whistling to create a truly unique and interesting sound. Bird’s music is relaxing and won’t compete against textbooks for the attention of one’s brain. But there may just come a time when the student – despite focusing very little on the music itself – will have a sudden realization of just how awesome this album is.

Avett Brothers – “I And Love And You”


If the stress levels are rising, play “I And Love And You.” This folk-rock album is more energetic than some of the band’s previous work and will – with perhaps the exception of a brief screaming episode at the end of the song “Kick Drum Heart” – succeed in calming any anxious studier.

Bob Dylan – “Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”

Sometimes, however, mellow music is the only way to go. If caffeine or other substances are preventing one from being tired, then there will be no harm in putting on “Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” This is classic Dylan from 1963 with “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” being two of the most notable tracks. Like the Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan is a powerful cure to handle mounting anxiety and stress.


Fleetwood Mac – “Rumours”

In the late night hours when coffee is beginning to fail, “Rumours” is always a safe bet. The 1976 hit album has enough energy to jumpstart any tired college student and on the plus side, it’s just plain excellent music. Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie even provide an unintentional reminder to focus on work for future classes and tests when they sing, “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Don’t stop, it will soon be here.”

Lupe Fiasco – “Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor”


For fans of rap and hip-hop that are shaking their heads at this list so far, Lupe Fiasco’s first album may just do the trick. “Food & Liquor” uses very simple background tracks which make Fiasco’s clever rhymes easy to listen to, even during hours of cramming for that final.


Steely Dan – “Aja”

The search for the perfect study album of jazz and rock fusion is over; cue up “Aja” and prepare to be blown away. The 1977 album has the perfect mix of classic Steely Dan vocal magic and incredible jazz instrumental solos. The only downside to this album is that it’s only seven songs long. But the Steely Dan studying/jamming session can continue with their next album “Gaucho,” or with singer Donald Fagen’s solo album “The Nightfly.”

During finals time, the work can be plentiful and the tension high. Sometimes all it takes is listening to the right album to put any mind at ease and back on track.

David Guetta Congratulates Skrillex For Grammy Nomintations

David Guetta has praised fellow producer Skrillex for his Grammy and BBC Sound Of 2012 nominations.

The 'Who's that Chick' DJ claims the public recognition of Skrillex is good for the dance community as a whole.

"It's a statement: I think it's really good that an artist from our community is nominated just as 'an artist.' Not as a 'dance' artist, you know?" he said before adding "I think that it's good that [our] music is now getting the attention and the respect that all the other styles of music, like hip-hop, are getting."

Guetta, himself a multiple Grammy winner, seemed perfectly content being out of the limelight for once.

"He's extremely talented, and I'm very happy for him," he said.

Skrillex is on the longlist for BBC Sound Of 2012 and was nominated for five Grammys including Best New Artist.

David Guetta, Others Laud Skrillex For Grammy Noms

Last week, it was announced that Sonny Moore, the rocker-twisted-DJ/producer that has exploded onto the electronic music scene as Skrillex, has been nominated for five Grammy Awards. Included among the noms is Best New Artist, a initially in Grammy history for a “DJ.”

And while Skrill’s Grammy salutes may have come as a shock to him when he heard the news while in Manchester, U.K., his EDM cohorts say the recognition makes perfect sense.

“I am just so pleased for Skrillex, man!” his 19-year-ancient friend and former OWSLA tourmate, Porter Robinson said. “He certainly deserves it. I’ve been saying it all year, he’s the most influential musician of this year, in any genre. Incredible sound designer. Incredible songwriter. Incredible performer.”

EDM artist, friend and collaborator Sofi said, “He’s been in bands before. He’s an brilliant songwriter. He can sing. He’s just so versatile that I reckon that comes through in his music. He kind of brought this ‘rock,’ ‘raw’ element into electronic music. He’s the punk rock of the new generation.”

In 2011, Skrillex has whipped up hearty remixes (his remix of Benny Benassi and Gary Go’s “Cinema” remains a fan pet), unrestricted his EP More Monsters and Sprites, supplied songs for video games, launched his OWSLA record mark, played massive festivals, jumped on Kaskade’s new album and produced songs for Korn’s new album ? just to name a sliver of his endeavors.

Regardless of how Skrillex is categorized as an artist (he’s often called a “dubstep” artist ? a moniker he doesn’t agree with), fans, critics and artists alike, from niche to pop, all seem to be onboard the Skrillex train.

“He’s extremely talented, and I’m very pleased for him,” beamed dance music’s most well loved veteran, David Guetta. “It’s a proclamation: I reckon it’s really excellent that an artist from our community is nominated just as ‘an artist.’ Not as a ‘dance’ artist, you know? I reckon that it’s excellent that [our] music is now getting the attention and the respect that all the other styles of music, like hip-hop, are getting.”

To mark the Grammy recognition, Sonny’s friends questioned us to share their congratulations with him.

“Skrilly, congratulations, dude!” shouted Tommy Lee. “That’s so rad, man. I’m sitting here thinking a year ago we were sitting in my studio and you were playing me your new sh–, and Blam! Grammy nods like a muthaf—-! Congratulations, dude! Kill that sh–, brotha!”

“Sonny, man, I just want to congratulate you on the Grammys!” echoed Porter Robinson. “It’s been an absolutely insane year. The tour that we did together, the OWSLA tour, was without question the best time of my life. You deserve this like nobody else, so congratulations!”

“Skrilly, congratulations on your many nominations!” Sofi exclaimed. “I’m just really thrilled for you buddy. You’re awesomely talented and you know I’ve been a fan of yours since day one. I remember when you showed me your EP that came out on mau5trap (deadmau5′ mark) and I told you that you were going to get REAL busy! And guess what ? I can’t even get a hold of you anymore!” she laughed. “Excellent for you, buddy! Go get ‘em!”

What do you reckon of Skrillex, his nominations and what he’s been able to achieve this year? Sound off in the comments below!