Skrillex - Discuss, Debate, Praise, Hate

  On 2/21/2012 at 1:24 AM, Margatroid said:

  On 2/20/2012 at 11:38 PM, chassis said:

Sorry, but this article was a hooot

http://www.vice.com/...n-february-2012

I think it's rather telling that most of the fans there are very young, except for a fat couple in their early 20s and a 32-year-old "pretty little gothling" named Billie Childish (lol). Skrillex's music doesn't have much appeal for people over 25 from what I've seen, and I think it's more of a specific generation gap thing than it is a "too old to enjoy fun music" thing. The dude is a methed-out cartoon character and his songs are erratic ADHD blasts of energy without much memorable structure... I think he appeals way more to kids who grew up in the 2000s than he does to slightly older people who experienced a world without internet, constant cellphone use, and basically being able to stimulate a dopamine rush at any time with the push of a button.

 

I think of him as the musical equivalent of something like 4chan. I'm sure previous generations said similar things about young people being influenced by television, but that doesn't make it any less true.

 

Anyway, kids will enjoy what they want to and there's no point in gnashing teeth about it. I was disappointed when I read Lube Saibot's post about how much he contributes to his own music, though.

 

At least the dude is amusing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T58LyzFP7sI

i think that you may be overthinking things and you may need to discard the glasses that don't have lenses and get some sense instead.

  On 2/21/2012 at 1:41 AM, kaini said:

i think that you may be overthinking things and you may need to discard the glasses that don't have lenses and get some sense instead.

You don't need to be defensive. I posted that for fun, not to challenge your Forum Cred.

i didn't post that to establish so-called forum cred. feel free to examine my post history, and it's pretty apparent that i don't give two shits about it.

hmmm how should i put it?

some people like some stuff

some other people like other stuff

i don't like skrillex very much.

other people do.

i'm cool with all of that.

oh no! ow! my imaginary internet points!

  On 2/21/2012 at 2:02 AM, kaini said:

i didn't post that to establish so-called forum cred. feel free to examine my post history, and it's pretty apparent that i don't give two shits about it.

 

hmmm how should i put it?

 

some people like some stuff

some other people like other stuff

 

i don't like skrillex very much.

other people do.

 

i'm cool with all of that.

 

oh no! ow! my imaginary internet points!

itt: ltm's internet cred is challenged.

He's not even american, he's from Zambia or something like that.

It's still amazing to me that this aurally 'aggressive' aesthetic has become as popular as it has... To reiterate what others have said it isn't the sound or aesthetic that bothers me but rather the testosterone-swilling, meat-head culture that has sprung up around it; people arbitrarily demanding that track arrangements contain 'drops' and producers placating to that demand resulting in a bunch of interchangable producers with little variety.

yo skrillex sux!!1

  On 2/21/2012 at 1:24 AM, Margatroid said:

  On 2/20/2012 at 11:38 PM, chassis said:

Sorry, but this article was a hooot

http://www.vice.com/...n-february-2012

I think it's rather telling that most of the fans there are very young, except for a fat couple in their early 20s and a 32-year-old "pretty little gothling" named Billie Childish (lol). Skrillex's music doesn't have much appeal for people over 25 from what I've seen, and I think it's more of a specific generation gap thing than it is a "too old to enjoy fun music" thing. The dude is a methed-out cartoon character and his songs are erratic ADHD blasts of energy without much memorable structure... I think he appeals way more to kids who grew up in the 2000s than he does to slightly older people who experienced a world without internet, constant cellphone use, and basically being able to stimulate a dopamine rush at any time with the push of a button.

 

I think of him as the musical equivalent of something like 4chan. I'm sure previous generations said similar things about young people being influenced by television, but that doesn't make it any less true.

 

Anyway, kids will enjoy what they want to and there's no point in gnashing teeth about it. I was disappointed when I read Lube Saibot's post about how much he contributes to his own music, though.

I'm 19 and this makes me feel butthurt. :(!!

I do agree with you though, sadly.

  On 2/21/2012 at 3:24 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

It's still amazing to me that this aurally 'aggressive' aesthetic has become as popular as it has... To reiterate what others have said it isn't the sound or aesthetic that bothers me but rather the testosterone-swilling, meat-head culture that has sprung up around it; people arbitrarily demanding that track arrangements contain 'drops' and producers placating to that demand resulting in a bunch of interchangable producers with little variety.

"Beast Mode"

There doesn't seem to be much in the current state of the genre that cares about anything in the tracks or overall "art," if you will, that isn't the drop or what-the-fuck-ever. The names are usually half-assed and [hopefully] tongue-in-cheek "nerds trying to be cool/hardcore." The art on the covers or whatever is usually really similar too, and is often something trying to look mechanical.

Zole, where were you guys when breakcore was at its peak?

  On 2/21/2012 at 10:00 AM, modey said:

Zole, where were you guys when breakcore was at its peak?

Does not have a drop, which is the epitome of hard and rough to these kid.

This article is tits.

  Quote

What do you like about his music, is he dubstep?

Ken: Dubstep evolved I guess. It evolved into Skrillex.

  On 2/21/2012 at 3:24 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-uH0OVL_Y&feature=related

 

It's still amazing to me that this aurally 'aggressive' aesthetic has become as popular as it has... To reiterate what others have said it isn't the sound or aesthetic that bothers me but rather the testosterone-swilling, meat-head culture that has sprung up around it; people arbitrarily demanding that track arrangements contain 'drops' and producers placating to that demand resulting in a bunch of interchangable producers with little variety.

fuck, i loved most of them. and i got bored of dubstep like 4 years ago. i don`t care who made those tracks and how they look, but that shit is raw. i probably couldn`t listen to it for more than 20 min at the time, but still there are times when you want to listen to some agressive shit and fuck it all regardless if you`re 13 or 33 (like i am).

Anyone else see this on pfork? It was the conclusion of an article about headphones and expectations of what one wants to hear (for instance, they mentioned Dr. Dre's headphones line versus hi-fidelity studio headphones)

http://www.pitchfork...gments-on-bass/

  Quote

This past week a funny jpeg made the rounds. It was a screenshot of an old Facebook post from the wildly popular dubstep producer Skrillex. He linked to a YouTube of Aphex Twin's "Flim" and called it his "favorite song of all time." Below the post, there are responses from his fans that say, "I was hoping for a drop," and, "that track is waaaaay too light to be my face [sic] song." The responses were edited down from hundreds of comments, many of which had Skrillex fans mirroring his praise of the tune. But the reason why it's funny, and why it's been passed around so much, is clear: These bass fiends have no ear for electronic music genius. They just want that drop.

 

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For me, a fun thing about this image was seeing Skrillex's initial post about his favorite song of all time and thinking, "Hey, it's mine, too." I wrote a column here once about what I consider perfect songs, and one of them was "Flim". I've played it regularly for years and always marvel at how perfectly and carefully it's constructed, not a single snare hit or cymbal brush wasted. It has that brilliantly simple Satie-like piano melody, the kind designed to turn your insides into mush, which is something Richard D. James had already mastered completely by "Xtal", the first song on his first album. But the most interesting stuff in "Flim" is happening elsewhere.

I've written about my admiration of the track's drum programming, how each little pause, hesitation, and stutter is so perfectly placed, and how the drums plant ideas in my head about innocence, awkwardness, burgeoning confidence, and growth. I'm projecting pretty heavily there, but Aphex Twin makes the drums feel, and he knows exactly what to do with the bass that goes with it. There is bass in "Flim", and its role in the track is key, even if it never overwhelms the space; it supports the drums and engages in a dialog with them, but the approach is subtle and precise and intimate, a whispered conversation instead of a shout across the rooftops.

Someone on YouTube has slowed down "Flim". At least one person created a dubstep remix of the song in response to the Skrillex Facebook post, but it's since been removed. More of these will follow. And some people will even like the drop version better. Their ears may work differently from mine, but they are not wrong. Meanwhile, I put on my "accurate" headphones and turn up "Flim" as loud as I can bear, and I picture myself sitting across from Richard James in his bedroom as he works over this material on his computer. It's an illusion, of course, but I like to imagine that I'm hearing what James was hearing right at that moment, that the glass between us is completely transparent. And maybe that's what Skrillex hears, too, even if some of his fans couldn't.

hhahaha

[youtubehd]ox1c0dgeLiA[/youtubehd]

Hey did you hear about this jazz band that covered Skrillex?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHb8qVHJI4M

^ lol, they probably think that's so artistic

  On 2/21/2012 at 9:29 AM, Xyrofen said:

I'm 19 and this makes me feel butthurt. :(!!

I do agree with you though, sadly.

Eh, you shouldn't feel bad. You apparently have better taste in music anyway. Besides, teenagers just like this kind of shit... When I was in high school I loved "Poison" by The Prodigy for the same reason that kids love Skrillex now. And we're all affected by the same Web 2.0 digital world bullshit nowadays... Teens just seem to be less inoculated against it.

  On 2/21/2012 at 8:48 PM, Margatroid said:

^ lol, they probably think that's so artistic

Probably, and yet I can't ignore the blunt reality that I kinda enjoyed it. I'm in zen state where I can no longer muster hate for skrillex or his fans, even though i know there's been better music before him and there will be better music after. watching kids who are clearly musically apt and talented dedicate time to cover a skrillex song is intriguing to me, it reminds me how every Olympics during the floor routines at least one female gymnast does her performance to some shitty remix of "Night on Bald Mountain." They spend years and years perfecting these amazing routines only to perform them to the same set of godawful music every year and that just amazes me.

  On 2/21/2012 at 10:04 PM, joshuatxuk said:

  On 2/21/2012 at 8:48 PM, Margatroid said:

^ lol, they probably think that's so artistic

 

Probably, and yet I can't ignore the blunt reality that I kinda enjoyed it. I'm in zen state where I can no longer muster hate for skrillex or his fans, even though i know there's been better music before him and there will be better music after. watching kids who are clearly musically apt and talented dedicate time to cover a skrillex song is intriguing to me, it reminds me how every Olympics during the floor routines at least one female gymnast does her performance to some shitty remix of "Night on Bald Mountain." They spend years and years perfecting these amazing routines only to perform them to the same set of godawful music every year and that just amazes me.

I found it enjoyable as well. Those kids are pretty good, and I don't hate them at all, but I do think teenage pretension is pretty funny. They might be taking themselves really seriously or they might not be at all. In any case, it's ok to laugh at things. Zen masters are known for their senses of humor. :)

My take on why they do it is that they mostly just want to play music that they like, and also probably want to legitimize something that they know is not taken seriously by many older people. It's their way of saying "see, this is actually good music." This is definitely a phenomenon particular to Skrillex songs... I've seen a lot of orchestral versions and live covers like this that seem to be rooted in the desire to show complexity and depth in his music. The fans doth protest too much, perhaps. Sometimes it's better to just admit that something you like is a guilty pleasure than to try and lionize it.

As for the gymnasts, I don't think athletes are generally known for their good taste in music, haha. I bet some of them don't even choose the tracks themselves.

i really don't get this video, i mean, it worked when justice did it, but this? i guess armed robbery / being an annoying little disrespectful chav brat is something that should be glorified now. wub wub.

  On 2/23/2012 at 6:23 AM, data said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJVmu6yttiw

 

i really don't get this video, i mean, it worked when justice did it, but this? i guess armed robbery / being an annoying little disrespectful chav brat is something that should be glorified now. wub wub.

at least it's a video with actual coherence and a story, that is very hard to find in music videos these days.

(also the video is about a kid feeling bad for his actions and trying to make up for it lol)

  On 2/21/2012 at 8:47 PM, joshuatxuk said:

Hey did you hear about this jazz band that covered Skrillex?

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHb8qVHJI4M

I enjoyed that!

  On 2/23/2012 at 6:41 AM, GORDO said:

  On 2/23/2012 at 6:23 AM, data said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJVmu6yttiw

 

i really don't get this video, i mean, it worked when justice did it, but this? i guess armed robbery / being an annoying little disrespectful chav brat is something that should be glorified now. wub wub.

 

at least it's a video with actual coherence and a story, that is very hard to find in music videos these days.

 

(also the video is about a kid feeling bad for his actions and trying to make up for it lol)

[youtubehd]Th-AqMvvBzE[/youtubehd]

i get it now. "it's all just a little bit of history repeating..."

seriously, so many parallels i could draw. drops are the new guitar solo.

lol billy corgan with hair