Skrillex unloads his arsenal through a jack-o-lantern at Day Of The Dead

by: David Klemow Nov 7, 2013

This year Skrillex took a relative breather, but it seems he’s never been harder at work. As this year winds down, the label head and ultra-successful producer has a remarkable year of pushing the boundaries in his rear view mirror. His successes this year include the acid techno onslaught the Dog Blood side project with Boys Noize brought to main stages all over the country, the promising new partnership with Diplo called Jack U, a residency in one of Las Vegas’ newest clubs, all of this before his set at Hard’s Day Of The Dead weekend festival, where he premiered a slew of new brain rattling, bass packed new music. Along with an interview with Rolling Stone, the OWSLA overlord has made it crystal clear that he is still hungry, and Skrillex will be back with a ruthless appetite in 2014.

With momentum slowly building behind Skrillex again as the year comes to a close, Sonny is alluding to a colossal surge of new material and exciting new collaborations to look forward to moving into the year to come. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sonny opens up about his set at HARD and his close, personal connection with the festival. The City Of Angels’ celebration of Day Of The Dead was the perfect stage to solidify his statement, as Skrillex delivered a set marked by unparalleled energy, riddled with new tunes that gargle and grumble through hard bass drops, laced with blaring sirens, and tidal waves of wobble. The set was full of brand new material and electrified the crowd of unsuspecting fans, berating them with bass music previously unheard. His selection contained a handful of new original music and a showcase of remixes and bootlegs of favorites like “Kyoto” and “Bangarang.”

Commanding an eager crowd perched atop an enormous jack-o-lantern shrouded in white smoke, the “most famous haircut and glasses combo in the music business,” unleashed an arsenal of thumping, pounding premieres, most of which were remenicent of Skrillex’s distinct form, yet boasted refined and fresh new style. As the OWSLA-naut himself put it, “the same fabric, but a new coat, a better coat.”

The new music teased in his set incorporates classic Skrillex elements of dark, hair raising bass, deep kicks, and magnetic intensity all at the intersection of where dance hall, dubstep, electro house, and trap music all meet. His opening song began from behind a dark backdrop, and as the music breaks, the backdrop falls and the mayhem begins. The opener is rumored to be called “Too Much Power,” and kicked off an animated, high octane set as the Skrillex of old blasted his constituents with a hard dubstep tune. He picked up right where he left off last year. The closing effort is a dark, melodic ballad; it’s “DJ Ease My Mind” by Niki and The Dove. Los Angeles’ favorite son instructs his crowd to raise their hand as the bass drops. Fire bursts into the sky as the song delivers soothing lyrical samples to the tune of blitzing sirens and waves of head splitting bass. An emotional wrap up to a flawless comeback set.

The smoke settled, and as the festival crowd dispersed, one thing was certainly clear: Skrillex is coming into the new year fully prepared to maintain his dominance and raise the bar as one of dance music’s most prolific producers and performers.