[7/10]
Skrillex a.k.a. Sonny Moore is no stranger to the world of album releases, having released two albums with former emo band From First To Last, but Recess sees him dip in to the world of LPs for the first time under his new moniker. A full length album has been hotly anticipated since he seemingly single-handedly took over the dubstep scene in 2010. His EP releases since have garnered a lot of respect in the scene as he has refined his style with so much popularity that it is clear to see his influences in many popular artists today.
Recess is a continuation of Skrillex’s blend of his typical bass drops and electronic dance music which is so definitive and catchy that it has reformed the way that a lot of dance and club music is seen. There is a very clear experimentation with new styles throughout the album, breaking the mould of the ‘dubstep’ tag he has been assigned with songs such as ‘Stranger’ which incorporates various percussion instruments, and ‘Ease My Mind’, which is a slower-paced, more gentle song with softly-sung vocal tracks before bringing in a catchy drop. However, it’s not just limited to these tracks; each song on the album offers something different to the others.
There are plenty of samples throughout the album, for example Fatman Scoop’s ‘Be Faithful’ is sampled in the titular song ‘Recess’, which I believe is the stand-out song on the album due to it’s feel-good aura and the sample giving it the catchy bass dropping that Skrillex uses so well in his singles. He has also collaborated with some rather big names for songs such as ‘All is Fair in Love and Brostep’ and ‘Ragga Bomb’, two songs in which he worked with The Ragga Twins to produce some mindblowingly catchy melodies. The songs and contributing artists suit each other perfectly: the songs they are incorporated on all have varying styles with small hints of underlying typified Skrillex beats, which is just an indication of the vision that Skrillex had with this album.
There are a few songs on the album that aren’t really in line with the others, such as ‘Doompy Poomp’ and ‘F*** That’. They fall into the category of Skrillex’s more experimental songs on the album, which of course means they offer up something different to the usual hard-hitting, room-shaking tracks that we are used to from the dubstep master. ‘Doompy Poomp’ is an odd track to pigeonhole, it starts off rather unpromising, however turns out to be a nice, chilled electronica track which – although out of place – isn’t something to condemn him for. Similarly, the track ‘F*** That’ starts off in the same way, but doesn’t seem to pick up the baton and ultimately becomes a difficult song to enjoy fully because of it.
Overall, Recess is a very successful album in the sense that it showcases even more of what Skrillex is capable of. It doesn’t necessarily contain the chart-topping tracks from previous EPs that introduced a large majority of the music world to dubstep in a roaring blaze of fire and wobs, but due to the fact that the album varies its musical style considerably, it means that there is likely to be something for everyone, and for this it is definitely worthy checking out.
