Then he was the nicest man on the planet, fairly good-looking along with his new haircut, and good at making what Justin Bieber known as “costly” sounds. Even Skrillex naysayers have been compelled to return to grips along with his endurance, particularly within the wake of his 2023 appeal offensive that culminated in a headline slot at Coachella. However wait. You thought he had matured into an auteur? Bam—after barely a minute, FUCK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3 swerves into one among his nastiest dubstep basslines in years, the type that brings to thoughts matter disintegration rays and malfunctioning hydraulic equipment.
The album by no means seems again from there, peppered with more and more silly DJ tags from Entice-a-Holics legend Shadoe Haze within the guise of Skrillex sidekick DJ Smokey. There are means too many examples, so I’ll simply choose one: the Wuki collaboration “BIGGY BAP,” a trap-dubstep hybrid with three beat switch-ups. “I’ve Skrillex trapped in my basement! Play this at full quantity or I’ll put him within the gap,” Haze says, earlier than one other voice halts the music: “This beat drop has been seized by Atlantic Data and has been changed with silence.” We hear crickets which might be shortly molded into an entire new beat, interrupted by extra voiceovers: “Microwave meal for one kind dubstep beat! My life is in shambles! I’ve extreme despair!”
If that sounds exhausting, that’s as a result of it’s. That is the album equal of a YouTube get together the place everybody performs their favourite tracks for 35 seconds at a time and screams over them and sniffs so much. The voiceovers get tiresome, and typically you want a observe would last more than a minute. However there are such a lot of concepts, a lot life packed into each second, that it’s onerous to not be shocked by the sheer drive of will. You’ll pay attention to those subsequent 15 seconds of dentist-drill dubstep, and you’ll get pleasure from it.
Because it careens in direction of climax, FUCK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3 out of the blue turns critical. Skrillex, who was as soon as in an emo band, sings about “the voltage that lives inside us” on “Voltage.” Initially the title observe from the album he misplaced on his stolen onerous drives, it’s a little bit of feel-good closure, although the sickly candy sincerity is nearly abrasive after 40 minutes of relentless inside jokes.
However then once more, Skrillex is remarkably honest, and that’s why he’s nonetheless the king of this shit. He’s 37 years outdated and making music that runs laps round dance music producers 15 years his junior, youthful and seasoned on the similar time. It’s onerous to not love him when he’s singing one thing so earnest and hopeful, and heat and purity radiate from the album; it looks like he’s throwing a celebration and on the prime of the invitation listing.
That feeling is what melts even EDM haters ultimately, permitting him to infiltrate the corners of underground music that after tried to bar him entry. FUCK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3 is a victory lap, essentially the most enjoyable “I instructed you so” you’ll in all probability ever hear. The title is a pink herring, as a result of nobody would confuse Sonny Moore for an artist like Andy Warhol. He’s simply Skrillex, writing a few of the most ridiculous dance music ever made and making even purists fall for the wubs. If that’s not Pop Artwork, I don’t know what’s.
