Wednesday 14 December 2011

Scrillex - First of the Year (Equinox)



On December 5th the BBC announced the nominees for the BBC Sound of 2012, with the final shortlisted five being announced in early January. The Gizzle will be reviewing each of the fifteen longlisted nominees leading up to the final announcement.



Readers of a nervous disposition, "call 911 now".

Scrillex is fast building a reputation in the music industry, in part for his skills as a producer and partly as "the most hated man in dubstep".  Real name Sonny Moore, he hails from LA and is partly responsible for dubstep's increasing popularity in US dancehalls, despite initially being a UK underground genre.  Both his 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' and 'More Monsters and Sprites' EPs are available now, the latter of which includes First of the Year (Equinox) as well as Ruffneckplayed considerably on Radio 1.

Moore's career began as the vocalist of From First To Last, an American metal band.  The influence is clear in his production work as Scrillex.  Instrumental and vocal samples are cleverly spliced together into an angry maelstrom of exploding beats and lasers, taking dubstep wobbles to the extreme.   Part music, part noise, I'd imagine audiences would be unsure whether to dance or mosh at a Scrillex gig.  Then again, each of his tracks follows a similar structural pattern.  For all its hard-hitting energy, his music does lack diversity, but with hundreds of gigs under his belt and an ever-increasing fanbase, expect to hear much more from this talented producer over the next year.

Just beware before clicking play on the video below...

3/5

Listen:  Both EPs are available now.

Watch: Scrillex will be playing nine UK dates in February.