By Tyler Hersko
It’s been awhile since I first listened to “Recess,” but the memory of its initial impact still sends shivers creeping down my spine. The pounding beats. The mesmerizing synths. The dance-inducing chant of our generation: “DO YOU WANNA FUCK? DO YOU WANNA FUCK? DO YOU WANNA FUCK?”
It’s been quite a turbulent decade for music. An influx of prodigiously talented innovators have graced the new century of sound, and it’s clear that things will never be the same. After all, who could forget when Nickelback unleashed its hard rocking masterpiece “All The Right Reasons” back in 2005?
Today’s artists are forced to constantly reinvent themselves if they wish to remain on top: if there’s anything that hip-hop genius Soulja Boy has taught us, it’s that only those capable of producing the most diverse beats and sensible lyrics can survive. And don’t get me started on music’s heavier varieties. True punk rock has undergone a renaissance of sorts since Simple Plan dropped the world’s one universal truth: “Shut up, shut up, shut up! Nothing you say today is gonna bring me down!”
But every now and then, something different comes along. Something special. The kind of once in a lifetime opus that not only transcends genre boundaries, but also manages to actively challenge preconceived notions of what music can be.
While electronic dance music prophet Sonny Moore has been involved in the music industry for quite some time now, it wasn’t until the musician began recording under the Skrillex alias that the truth became apparent: an EDM revolution was imminent.
Skrillex’s debut EP alone, packed with instant-classics such as the pulse-pounding thriller “Fucking Die 1” and the equally thought-provoking “Fucking Die 2,” singlehandedly cemented the artist’s status as an indelible visionary.
If Skrillex is the Pink Floyd of our generation—and few would argue otherwise—then the artist’s recently released “Recess” is most certainly a modern-day “The Dark Side of the Moon.” A new era of music is at hand, and Skrillex is here to usher you in.
Are you an addict for mind-blowingly intense rave starters that wouldn’t be out of place at the most brotastic of house parties? Maybe you prefer sublimely post-processed vocals—imagine a more auto-tuned version of Ke$ha being shoved through a paper shredder—followed by the most ragingly epic bass drops since whenever the last Blood on the Dance Floor or brokeNCYDE record came out?
Either way, you’ve come to the right place.
Album opener “All is Fair in Love and Brostep” immediately sets the serendipitous tone. Imagine the majestic, earsplitting screech you get when you turn an old television set to the wrong channel. Stretch it out for four minutes and dub a delightfully demented Jamaican impersonator belting out introspective rhymes like “We bad badder bad bad biddy biddy bad bad.” Masterful.
Indeed, “Recess’” only reasonable fault is that it may overwhelm the more dull-minded. Just look at “Try it Out.” The song’s sole, endlessly repeated lyrics, “Yeah! OK! Yeah! I’mma try it out, OK!” are clearly derived from Kantian ethics. The positive and uplifting connotation of “Yeah” is a clever play on Immanuel Kant’s theory that one should always act in a way that would benefit humanity. The affirmatives “OK” and “I’mma try it out” show the track’s selfless protagonist convincing others to act in similarly egalitarian ways. Unabashed genius.
Of course, Moore—who is a very cute girl, by the way—knows how to have a good time. “Recess” is hardly a plodding mess of philosophical ramblings.
Take LMFAO’s legendary “Party Rock,” for example. While an undeniable classic in its own right, it wasn’t without flaw. At times, LMFAO’s vocals were actually intelligible due to a criminal lack of orgasm-inducing overt digitization.
Furthermore, in a disgusting attempt to appeal to the mainstream, “Party Rock” contained a number of heinous beats and bass drops that actually made marginal sense in the overall context of the music.
You will find no such mishaps here.
Like any passionate artist, Skrillex understands that this kind of music requires deep contemplation. “Recess” is that rare breed of record that, while immediately accessible, rewards patience in droves. Think: the sensational sound of nails on a chalkboard carving through your earlobes for 46 minutes. Just with more sick bass drops.
The hypnotically repetitive synths on the awe-inspiring “Doomphy Poomp” conjure memories of a glitched “Pac- Man” game soundtrack. On the other hand, “Fuck That’s” haunting ambience makes me want to burn every copy of Massive Attack’s infinitely inferior “Mezzanine,” a heretical record that will never again sully my sense of quality music with its foul stench.
People, there’s a reason that The Grammys and MTV, perhaps the last true bastions of legitimate artistic expression, have lauded Skrillex with multiple end-of-year awards.
Only time will tell if historians will appropriately cite “Recess” as the epitome of human achievement. Until then, one thing is certain: there is no going back. Skrillex has started a revolution, and it’s hard to see how the budding artist can go up from here, at least until the release of the virtuoso’s next inevitable opus.
Tyler Hersko can be reached at thersko@ sagebrush.unr.edu.
