Skrillex - Recess
(Atlantic / Big Beat / OWSLA; 2014)
One
could be forgiven for thinking that Recess
was not Skrillex's - AKA Sonny Moore's - first album. While the DJ has been the
dominant force in EDM in the mainstream for the past few years, and has put out
a rather substantial amount of singles and EP’s, Recess is the long-awaited debut album from the dubstep producer.
Skrillex’s brand of bass, noise, and drop heavy dubstep has been a polarizing
entry in the EDM community; raving fans praising it as the future of electronic
music and naysayers condemning it as mindless noise, pandering to the lowest
common denominator – referring to it as “brostep.” With much hype built up,
Skrillex has finally released a full length debut.
If
Skrillex is aware of a derogatory term that describes his style of music, and
then places it in the title of one of his songs, like on the track “All Is Fair
in Love and Brostep,” it is clear that he is in on the joke. “Recess” is not
meant to be looked at like an Aphex Twin album, or a record of the sort – its
primary function is to be enjoyable, fun music. Despite this, however, there are
some moments that display a flash of brilliance. One main improvement over
Skrillex’s past recordings is that the bass-drops that he puts forth – the key
element of his music – now possess a more musical quality. Skrillex on many of
the tracks on Recess, possesses heightened musicality when he does drop the bass;
rather than just being obnoxious, there is a clear sonic progression - like the track
“Try It Out,” one of the album’s high points. On this track, and many others on
the album, Skrillex has also evolved past the simple exposition-to-drop format
that almost all of his former songs followed; while there is still a clear
pattern on his works, he has moved beyond a simple A-B form to a sort of A-B-A’-B’
form. On Recess, tracks such as “Dirty
Vibe,” “Try It Out,” and “Ragga Bomb,” Skrillex manages to bring intensity and
unique flair to the music that hints at a promising direction for the producer.
Tracks
such as “F**K That” also bring an interesting twist on the music, focusing on
less of an intense drop, and instead are more interested in bringing unique sounds
and frequencies to the listener, with more percussion and wubs, and a squeaky
synth over it that provides an interesting, and surprisingly enjoyable experience. Not all
experiments on Recess work, however; “Stranger,”
while an interesting piece of dance-pop, is slightly obnoxious and
underwhelming. “Ease My Mind,” a Nikki and the Dove’s remix, is equally
underwhelming, with Skrillex bringing very little to the table in terms of it being a remix; very little distinguishes it from just being a generic remix. Skrillex also has a
high profile feature from Chance the Rapper on the track “Coast is
Clear.” Skrillex struggles to find a voice on it, however; it’s
difficult to tell who the dominant presence is, whether one is listening to a
Chance or Skrillex track, and overall the song is bland and uninteresting. The
absolute worst experiment on the record is the song “Doompy Poomp,” an attempt
to dabble in glitch music that comes off as laughable, obnoxious, and
unassuming.
While
Skrillex does grow with this release, bringing some variance to the
table and putting out some genuine dubstep bangers, it feels that Skrillex let
some potential go to waste here, and overall Recess feels like a transitional record, waiting until he genuinely finds some facet of his style that will elevate him over his “bro-step”
peers.
6/10
Favorite tracks: “Try It Out,” “F**K That,” “Ragga Bomb,” "Dirty Vibe"
Least Favorite Track: “Doompy Poomp”
