Skrillex is the top electronic dance music (more specifically dubstep) producer of 2011. In the past 3 years, starting from 2010 after the release of his first EP (extended play) titled 'My Name is Skrillex', Sonny John Moore (his real name) has been making an accelerated accension into the mainstream club scene and massive popularity with each successive electronic track.
Title track of Skrillex's first production, "My Name is Skrillex", with close to 8M views on Youtube as of 12 February 2012
On November 30, 2011, Skrillex was nominated for 5 Grammy Awards, one of which included Best New Artist. His later productions, 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' and 'More Monsters and Sprites' have enjoyed significant commercial success; the critically acclaimed title track and his many other equally well received tunes has earned him Youtube views that number in the tens of millions. On the 23rd of December 2011, Skrillex released his latest EP titled Bangarang.
Title track of Skrillex's EP, "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites", with a whooping 63 million views on Youtube as of 12 February 2012
PopConversation takes a look at how the creative people of the internet and Youtube are reinterpreting their favourite Skrillex dubstep tracks in cool and remarkable fashion.
1) Skrillex vs a Rock Band
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites live band cover by Pinnpanelle
Pinnpanelle is a 4 man rock band (Derek Song, Justin Conway, Jonah Wei-Haas and Nathan Navarro) that looks to create inventive music and covers by blending the heavy electric guitar riffs of rock music with the cold synthetic sounds of electronic tracks. The American band shot to fame after their brilliant sounding live band cover of Skrillex's extremely popular (63 million views) title track of his second EP, 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites'.
By far the most impressive part of their live cover would be the 'drop' (it's the part in dubstep music when the deep and overwhelming bass kicks in), which the band's bassist Nathan Navarro expertly replicates by waving a 'hot hand' back and forth in front of his bass guitar- the act of doing so looks inexplicably cool.
2) Skrillex vs Drummers
Cinema (Benny Benassi) drum cover by Jitrui
Singaporean drummer Jitrui was featured in Popconversation: The Most Entertaining Videos on Youtube (January); he makes our list once again for his effortless percussive delivery on Skrillex's dubstep remix of 'Benny Benassi- Cinema'.
It's not evident in his video, but the technically sound and characteristically nonchalant percussionist is using all four of his limbs to play the drums, his hands and feet move independently of each other to strike hi hats and step on pedals at a speedy pace to the tune of the track. Psychomotor win!
Bangarang (FT. Sirah) drum cover by COOP3RDRUMM3R
Coop3rdrumm3r (real name Casey Cooper) likes internet speak and drums- we're featuring him in our story for his latter trait. Casey Cooper starts his drum cover at 200kmph (we're sure this is not the right measure for drums, but it's a metaphor, so it would suffice), his varied percussive beats and stylish strokes matching the energetic pace of Skrillex's title track from his new single 'Bangarang'.
The 118,232 viewers (as of 12th February 2012) of his 4 minute clip are spellbound by his ariel drumstick maneuvers and dexterous striking of the many snares, bass, hi hats, cymbals and tom-toms that lay before him.
3) Skrillex vs a Beatboxer
Skrillex + Dubstep beatbox by Masta Mic
Masta Mic is a Russian beatboxer with a great sense of humor and he is a lot of fun to watch (as are all the people featured on our list). His loose dubstep interpretation of Skrillex's Rock n Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain) sees him skillfully emulating the different synthetic sounds of electronic dance music and heavy reverberant bass notes. The many viewers of his 2 minute long clip are impressed with the authentic electronic sounds emanating from Masta Mic and they suspect that he might be a transformer in disguise.
He must be half transformer
CammCam713 3 days ago 50 Likes
4) Skrillex vs a 3D Artist
Skrillex 3D logo speed art by Skillfile
This speed 3D graphic design by 15 year old german graphic artist Skillfile is a 5 minute long demonstration (time lapse of course, the actual project took an hour and a half to complete) of how even the people who work with graphic design software, keyboard and mouse instead of strings and percussions are giving their own take on their favorite Skrillex song.
Skillfile overlays Skrillex's 'Kill Everybody' on his snappy recording of the process of designing a 3 dimensional Skrillex logo- a clever move on the young artist's part to coax impatient viewers to listen to dubstep as they watch a masterpiece unravel in front of their eyes.
5) Skrillex vs Dancer
Reptile dance cover by willreyno94
Australian robot dancer and finger tutting tutor, Will Reyno, loves to make dance videos for the Youtube audience; ever since his viral dubstep dance cover of Skrillex's 'Reptile', Will has allegedly been bombarded by many lady admirers trying to add him on Facebook, however, Will has nothing to fear because he has the uncanny ability to transform into a mechanical dinosaur.
6) Skrillex vs Bollywood
As evident from this video, dubstep is surely and quickly making its way into India; the beautifully decorated clubs are packed with nimble footed dancers who move to the tune of Skrillex's "Rock and Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)". Not.
This amusing fusion of Bollywood and dubstep is the work of Hungarian Youtuber and gaming fan, kassh. He took 5 minutes to create the video and provided viewers many minutes of giggles.
Which of these Skrillex covers did you enjoy the most? Let us know in the comment boxes below!
---Discover Outstanding People and Remarkable Efforts---
By Herman Soh
