More Monsters — no kidding
. Posted: September 28, 2011
OWSLA
Dillon Aubin
Electronica junkies were pleasantly surprised when Sonny Moore, former vocalist of From First to Last, left the post-hardcore scene to pursue his ambitions as a producer. Within two years, Moore managed to conquer the electronic scene under the moniker Skrillex. After releasing two EPs: My Name is Skrillex and Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Sonny established a new standard for dubstep and electro house music.
Unfortunately, Skrillex's June release More Monsters and Sprites fails to meet that same standard that was set by his previous work. Though it has great moments, the EP as a whole lacks the creativity that fuelled the music of his past releases.
Optimistically speaking, the first half of More Monsters offers exactly what Skrillex fans are craving. Tracks like "First of the Year (Equinox)" contain his signature squeaky voice and heavily distorted dubstep sequences.
More Monsters also demonstrates Moore's experimental approach to composition. Tracks "Ruffneck (Flex)" and "Ruffneck (Full Flex)" feature catchy, yet beautiful string arrangements and piano melodies. The fusion between these soothing elements of composition and the intensity of electronic dance music is a good reason to give the EP a quick listen.
The innovation ends there—the rest of the EP consists of remixes of tracks from Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites by Dirtyphonics, Phonat, The Juggernaut and Kaskade.
Skrillex generally excels at fusing multiple genres, but his producers can only seem to focus on one subgenre at a time.
What makes More Monsters even harder to listen to is that four consecutive tracks remix the same song, all borrowing the same melodies and instrumentation. This makes the second half of the EP predictable and overly familiar.
After listening to More Monsters in full, it becomes easy to question Moore's motives. His music earned him instant fame, yet he would rather release a compilation of other producers bastardizing his work. Three original tracks are not enough to keep his constantly growing fan base satisfied.
Overall, Moore's newest release seems rushed and poorly planned. More Monsters has a few moments worthy of attention for the average listener, but the rest is hardly worthy of being on the same CD.
By Excalibur Publications