UPDATE: 2013 Grammy WINS:
- Best Dance Recording
- Best Dance/Electronica Album
Whoa, wait, I can't take this. We're actually going to hear something different from Skrillex? I feel like every album was just the same thing remixed a lot... oh WAIT, it WAS.
Come on, give me a break. Go read my other Skrillex reviews (there's two) and you'll see I'm just barely tolerant. It's not that the work is bad, it's just incredibly annoying sometimes. And yes, I like some electronic music, so don't assume it's that either. Eh, sorry, I'll get off my self-defensive box.
I do not, however, have much more to say, so let's get to this.
"Right In" takes us, well, right in. The beat's hot right away, and we're probably up and dancing if we cared enough to. But there's still these twist sounds throughout that turn me off of the song. It's just like too much loud electronic to handle all at once. That, and the small amount of vocal work that is there is at this horribly high pitch that can't really be that appealing to everyone. I can, however, imagine this being a hell of a lot of fun to mix on a board.
Second track is the title track - "Bangarang," and it features Sirah. First off, don't steal one of the best movie lines ever. Not for this. Second, if you're going to do it, having a group of seemingly very, very young kids in the background is creepy when you have a very mature sounding woman over it. Okay, in all honesty, it's not an awful track. The first minute or so was the part I'd deem a little creepy. The rest maintains this sort of cool beat that's worth hearing at least once. The first minute parts get mixed in later too, almost like a chorus, but hell, at least there's some form of structure.
We get all mixed up in what feels like a 90's flashback for "The Devil's Den" with Wolfgang Gartner. This is crazy. There's this electric machine gun sound throughout it that makes the song sort of scary. I don't know.. there's just something that totally doesn't sit right. If he's trying for something darker, then this is probably spot-on to what he wanted. It's a mix, but nothing that strikes any kind of appealing chord.
"Right On Time" with 12th Planet and Kill The Noise is basically this phrases repeated at various paces, accompanied by some beats that slow and quicken along with it. I would take just about anything else on the EP over this, as this is probably, to me, the worst kind of electronic music to hear. There's nothing that changes the entire time, and I just find myself waiting for it to be over, and not thinking much else. This is like a bad headache with no Advil in sight.
Sirah's back for "Kyoto." This is a little more tolerable, and it's almost nice to not be able to totally understand what's being said for a while. There's a cool breakdown part - "Yo, Skrill, drop is hard" that sort of makes the whole song worthwhile. Yeah, I'm a sucker for those drop moments. The turn off is the parts in-between those drops that just bores a hole through my damn head. Why are pitches so high up necessary to make a mix? The rest of the song, including the rap break, is so much better when that nonsense is gone. Sadly, it's damn impossible to tune out in the mean time. :(
"Summit" featuring Ellie Goulding has my mind just slightly more at ease. Things are still all sorts of distorted, but at least it's not at such a crazy high note that I can't even think straight. Even the beat feels better on this one. Of course, I'm saying that at about two minutes in on a six minute song, so there's still time. This is the most oddly calming electronic song I think I've ever heard. While I may not be a fan of quite a lot of his work, I have to give props where they're due - this one's really quite beautiful and enjoyable the entire way through.
Time to, with any luck, have our minds blown for the final track: "Skillex Orchestral Suite By Varien" is the bonus track for the EP, and it's just... gorgeous. It's epic and entirely frightening at times, as a choir comes in and sings in what I think is probably Latin, but I could be wrong. Meanwhile though, this piano and strings section are incredible. I would NEVER have associated this with Skrillex had I not been staring at it on the track listing in front of me.
Added to My Playlist:
- "Breakin' A Sweat"
- "Summit"
- "Skrillex Orchestral Suite By Varien"
I was definitely trying to give a lot of space to like these tracks, keeping as open of a mind as possible. Still, this is not my favorite artist ever, but at least it made things just a little more tolerable. The tracks were hit or miss, and the ones that missed were way off the mark. But it's done now, and we can officially move on.