Thursday, January 5, 2012

Bitch Bitch Bitch: Skrillex

I fucking hate dubstep.

No, seriously. I fucking hate dubstep. It's if trash compactors were given a drum track. The only plus side to 'scene' music-- which I'm guessing is either this or whatever you call BrokeNCYDE's abominations-- is the female fans it brings about.

No matter how many hot girls with the 'scene' look you can pull out of the dubstep fan following, it doesn't justify what the music (guh, I feel dirty describing it like that) is to me. So naturally, I would have a natural hatred for Skrillex, one of its pioneers.
Skrillex, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the 'band' or the 'solo project' or whatever the fuck it's supposed to be, is the stage name for Sonny Moore, former lead of rock band From First to Last (a band I've never really heard of nor heard before). He left that band in 2007 because of an unfortunate brain hemorrhage suffered on-stage that made him think 'say, I don't wanna make music anymore, I just want to get paid for fiddling with Audacity', said by doctors to be fatal within an unfortunately short 6 years.

No, none of that is true, but it sure as hell makes sense. The truth, however, is out there. Look it up.

There's something vaguely pretentious about Sonny and his music. I say vaguely because I don't know whether he deems his work 'art'-- if he does, fuck vaguely, the guy is totally pretentious. I say pretentious because I was skeptical of the first album My Name Is Skrillex released in June 7, 2010, skeptical of whether or not this was just a phase and he would go back to doing whatever it is that kept him off my radar. Of the songs on that album, well...."Weekends" starts off with this cut-up beat with someone shouting 'Pancake'. Besides 'It reminds me of Cabin Fever.', that's all I need to say about that one. "Fucking Die 1"......#1.) This is hardly the soundtrack to angry feelings and #2.) the song itself sounds like the outtakes of the music soundtrack to some NES game. It does not flow together the way it should, but rather keeps a bittersweet feeling in the pit of my already-aching belly. (When this happens, I throw up soon afterwards.) There's also a remix to this-- "Fucking Die 2", right after that song. If this song doesn't live up to the stereotype of dubstep to you, well...perhaps we should both redefine what the stereotype of dubstep is.

A.) Does this song have a beat that goes 'bwa-bwa-bwa-bwa-bwa'? You bet your ass it does!
B.) Does this song have a random sample that has nothing to do with the title of the song nor anything else within the song itself? What would a Skrillex song be without THAT? Of course it does!
C.) Is this song devoid of any melody? Why would it have a melody to begin with? Yes, yes it is!
D.) Is the song completely difficult to listen to in its entirety? That goes without saying :p

There are two other songs on the album, "My Name is Skrillex" and "Do Da Oliphant" but because I'm stretching far from the point I originally wanted to make I'm not going to get into either (especially when I don't know what Do Da Oliphant is supposed to mean). Now, I say Skrillex is pretentious because the first time churning out a turd could be deemed 'excusable' if you never do it again and maybe it'll be nostalgic after you're dead. Calling this 'shit my fans wanna hear' is cool and all....until the second album comes out.

And lo, it did, 4 months later (on an online streaming thingy). So now you know not only did it NOT take any effort whatsoever, the guy is deluding himself into thinking he's making music. And that's why I call him vaguely pretentious. The second album, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, is just as difficult to listen to as the first one was. The title track begins nicely enough...until that random sample of that cup-stacking 'Oh My Gosh' girl. And then it breaks into traditional dubstep.

UGHHHHHHHHHHH. And just when I thought we were gonna get good electronic music.

I'm not going to get into the rest of the album. I'm just going to say that this somehow brought people into liking this kind of stuff. No, it's not redeemable. It's different, however, which is the only justifiable reason why anyone would follow Skrillex in a world of arrogant and narcissistic rappers and YouTube kids getting music careers handed to them. Keep in mind this is a theory, though-- why it actually is popular eludes me because I'm on one side of the glass and the glass goes full circle...if that metaphor made sense to you at all.

It's because of any reason that this warranted a sequel, More Monsters and Sprites, released a year after his first album. This is the album where Skrillex's most likely well-known song "First of the Year (Equinox)" originates (the video appeared in a Beavis and Butthead episode). The video is great. The song....not so much. It starts off nicely and all, and then-- once again-- the sample from yet another YouTube video (This one, to be specific) creeps its way in and then it goes into traditional dubstep mode.

GAHHHHHHHHH!!!! STOP TRICKING ME INTO THINKING YOU HAVE A GOOD SONG, YA DOUCHE!!!


Anyway, I'm quite done in making my point. The next album is called Bangarang and will be physically available 19 days from the day this was posted (or, if you're reading this on the 24th of January, now). I expect that to be just as shitty as the last three were, based solely on the title alone. Whether my post persuaded you into buying a Skrillex album or throwing it out or not doing anything about it at all is irrelevant-- that's just what I think.

And so concludes another Bitch Bitch Bitch. My caption-to-bitch bitch bitch ratio is still unbalanced, I know.




     

7 comments:

  1. I mostly came across him because of the remixed/collaborations he did on the new Korn CD.

    He at least made those songs interesting, which is more than I can say for the rest of the "music" on the album.

    I prefer my noisy, non-melodic music to come from Coil .. at least they'd been around the ambient scene for over 30 years.

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  2. I don't dismiss Dubstep overall, but it's not a genre of music. It's an element of electronic music that's become popular. As you pointed out, all Dubstep has the same base-feedback beat within it. This is an element of music, not a genre. Time will show it will become infused within electronic music and nothing more.

    But the same-ness of the music makes it hard to take seriously over time. I don't hate it overall, but I don't see it making any real headway, a fad that I have a feeling will burn out quickly. Not everyone likes the sound of Transformers having rough sex.

    But yes, i do enjoy the girls too.

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  3. That's pretty much his only good work-- with Korn-- and the only thing he does on the track 'Narcissistic Cannibal' (the only one I've heard; there's another too) is the same shit he does solo: chop up shit. Jonathan Davis carries the song to its potential as a Korn song always should.
    And God, I sure don't enjoy Transformers having sex. That's why I absolutely abhor the Chris Brown single "I Can Transform Ya". :p

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  4. I knew From First to Last when they were big back in 2005 since I was "scene" at the time and thought he was a joke back then as well. I'm glad to see a post like this!

    Some dubstep is good, but Skrillex is just a marketing idea to push FAKE dubstep to American teens and college kids

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  5. A cousin forced me to listen to an hour of so of dub step over the holiday vacation. By the end, I felt like listening to nails on a chalkboard or maybe the sound of cats dying as a way to soothe the massive headache he'd given me.

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  6. I felt the same way but then i researched and listened closely; You should do the same. I partially stopped listening because i was tired of dubstep and how it became commercial but when i started listening to skrillex, it felt completely original. He has samples as ajokes and lots of great edm songs have random samples. How he does his music is utterly complex. I produce too and its very heard for me to produce. No offense but most people like you think all he creates is easy and takes no skill. He is one of the most intricate and hard to emulate producers in the world in the way he sets up and creats his sounds. he makes them from scratch. and audactiy for your fyi is a Digital audio workstation smart ass :)Don't hate on someone if you don't research for your hating. this is an opinion and you can take it and not respond or take and not respond. dont want to start a fight :)

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  7. @Poison3D I'm not trying to say that what Sonny does is easy-- I've gone a simpler route and tried to mash songs that sound the same together and even that's kind of a pain. Sure, the samples may be jokes, but they completely ruin the song for me, especially if you have a nice flow going (e.g. Scary Monsters and Scary Sprites). It may be original, and it may be complex, but it doesn't make it any good to me. And I have researched enough of Skrillex to make my ultimate point, which is as far as I go with it.

    You're entitled to your opinion and I can respect it so long as you don't resort to calling me names.

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