“Where’s the drop?”: Skrillex takes a turn on new EP

Over the last couple of years, 24-year-old L.A. beatmaker Skrillex has emerged as the poster boy for ‘EDM’ at its biggest and brashest. “We can sell out gigs in the Bible Belt and it’s like a Metallica show,” he told Mixmag in 2011. “Girls taking their clothes off, moshpits, stage diving. Shit gets crazy out there.” With a “crazy” following also comes the flipside, and Skrillex’s legion of hecklers are among the most devoted around.

In the first days of 2013, the producer otherwise known as Sonny Moore has dialled it down a notch with the Leaving EP. The three-track offering is out there on the OWSLA label’s subscription service, The Nest, but YouTube has it too. The music has, of course, been instantly divisive. There’s the title track (“It’s speed garage!”; “It’s a Burial rip-off!”; “It’s his best release yet!”), the somewhat more hyped-up The Reason and Scary Bolly Dub, a remix of breakout single Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites that fans will recognise from Skrillex live sets. The Leaving EP closely follows a new video for Bangarang EP cut Summit, created by Perth collective Pilerats. So…who wants to drink the Kool-Aid?

If after listening you’re in need of a gnarly drop, look no further than this bit of mischief-making by Tiga and his Turbo Recordings stable in 2012. This was their message: “Recently, Skrillex posted Aphex Twin’s Flim, saying it was his favorite song of all-time. Unfortunately, his legions of discerning fans were upset by the track’s glaring lack of a drop. We gave Scottish prodigies Clouds two hours to “correct” this, and hopefully redeem AFX in the eyes of dubstepchildren across the U.S.”