Skrillex Book Club: Volume 3 - More Monsters and Sprites (2011)

[hprara]

Image by bepmp3

Time for the the third instalment in the "Skrillex Book Club".
ICYMI, we're taking a listening journey through the discography of the great Sonny Moore and sharing some of our thoughts along the way.
Last week, we looked at Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

This week we move on to...

More Monsters and Sprites (2011)



As one would imagine, it's incredibly difficult to follow up a release as game-changing as 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites', and (imo) this EP proves that. There's not really a lot I can say about this one. No real anecdotes aside from having it on my iPod as a kid. It was definitely in rotation but for one reason or another just not as memorable as whatever else I was listening to at the time.

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. Just...pretty underwhelming. Yes, "First Of The Year" is iconic, one might even say genre-defining. And I do still like it. But (at least for me) it suffers from the same overplaying that kept me from revisiting the last EP's title track for so long. I do think the Ruffneck tracks are at least a little underrated though. I like the dubbier route that "Ruffneck (Flex)" tries but it just ends up kinda meandering. "Full Flex" however, outshines it in like every way. That one rules. It's always funny when a defining part of a track like the strings on this one just ends up being something flipped from a sample pack. The remixes are also just...fine, I guess. I don't think the remixes on either this or the last EP are really anything to write home about but these are pretty forgettable. The Phonat Remix is kinda neat I suppose. The Kaskade one is like 80% build-up and tooo looooong.

Overall, it's not bad, it's not good, and I don't have much to say about it other than that.

Now it's your turn!
What are your thoughts on this EP? Do you love it/hate it? Have you even heard it? (if not, go listen, the image is a link to it's RYM page)
Speak your mind!

[gauze_]

this ep was mostly a first listen because i only ever really listened to first of the year because it had a music video. i dont why i was like this as a kid i only listened to this track and its because it had a music video and thats it. that being said first of the year is super good still. i agree that it suffers from being overplayed but it to me has one of the best drops of this era of skrillex, top 5 for me at least. i also burst out laughing when i turned this ep on because i havent listened to this track in a long time so my latest memory of the song is this jerma ytpmv so i just saw him appear in my vision like a hud element. as for the rest of the songs i have a lot less to say. ruffneck flex is fiiine, just sort of meanders around and is a fun tune to listen to but theres better skrillex on this ep. probably the worst original on here but that doesnt mean its bad the others are just way better. ruffneck full flex is where its at between the two. i checked this one out a couple years ago after someone recommended it to me and i feel the same way i felt about certain tracks on the original ep, like "damn i was missing out on this for a DECADE???" high frequencies my beloved. ive never listened to any of these remixes for the same reason as i stated with the original ep. i just didnt care if it wasnt skrillex so none of these ever hit my ears. listening to them now, yeah i didnt really need to check any of them out other than the phonat remix. that one was actually seriously interesting and i enjoyed it a lot. honestly contender for best track on the ep but doesnt quite make it. i cant believe the dirtyphonics remix is like considered the best one i found the first half super boring and the second half slightly less boring but not enough to carry it. i dont care enough about the juggernaut remix to talk about it and i dont want to talk about the kaskade remix.

this ep is good but definitely doesnt hold as well as the original scary monsters but who really expected it to? more than half the ep is remixes its not exactly the bright shining star of his ep discography like the original and bangarang are. for what it is its good and has remained that for over a decade now and i can admire its consistency as (mostly) good music

best track: ruffneck full flex
worst track: scary monster and nice sprites kaskade remix

[RAW_]

Even though some of Skrillex's most iconic tracks are on here, I always kinda end up forgetting this EP exists. That's partly because Bangarang would release the same year and blow this out of the water. First of the Year (Equinox) is probably the second-most iconic song in Skrillex's main catalog right behind Scary Monsters and for good reason. The song has an incredible drop, but the buildup to the drop is pretty underappreciated in my opinion. The drums, crowd cheers, and especially the "CALL 911 NOW!!!" add so much texture and life to the song. The strings on the outro are also very nice. I'll also take a moment to begin talking about another aspect of the Skrillex catalog that I believe to be just as iconic as his songs: his weird as hell music videos. If you asked someone who had never seen the First of the Year music video to predict what happens in it after listening to the song, literally nobody would be able to guess that it would be about a pedophile getting killed by a kid with telekinetic powers Eleven-style.

Ruffneck (Flex)'s existence has always perplexed me. It's fine on its own I suppose, but there is genuinely no reason to listen to it when Full Flex exists. I guarantee there is not a single person on planet Earth who thinks Flex is the greatest Skrillex song ever made. I mean, its literally in the title. Hmm, do i want to listen to the boring version or the epic version? Decisions decisions. Anyways, Full Flex is amazing. Its basically Flex with an actually interesting drop instead of just background noise. Another crazy music video, this time with a mall Santa crashing tf out. Does that mean Full Flex is technically a Christmas song?

Like the previous EP, this one also includes some remixes. They're all remixes of Scary Monsters, and like that EP, I have very little to say about them. If I had to choose a favorite I'd probably say the Dirtyphonics remix. Its basically just a DnB version of Scary Monsters, but its pleasant. The other remixes are whatever.

In conclusion, I really really really wish I was talking about Bangarang right now.

[bepmp3]

i was never ready for the Ruffneck bass.... i'm gonna write my scary monsters thoughts but imma get this one out of the way first because it's easier and i like procrastinating. coming off of scary monsters, the vibe i get from this ep was that skrillex felt the need to get more out after achieving his newfound success and stardom. i was gonna say the budget increase was noticable in the music through all the live drums and orchestral elements but... those are all probably just samples lol. anyways, First of the Year (Equinox) feels like another step in even further refining his early Brostep sound, with the added fun of doing it in a 6/8 swing. this song always felt like the non-canonical sequel to Scary Monsters to me: it has similar structures with the vocal chopping, the funny youtube sample drop, the slower tempos and the same grotesque growl sounds. Scary Monsters and First of the Year have always been sisters in my headcanon. i never noticed the crowd cheering in the background of the drop until now?? one more thing i'd like to add is the vocal chops which are self-sampled from the early Sonny Moore song "Equinox". i always found it funny that he put (Equinox) in the title as a nod to the original. he still does that to this day (voltage [see you again])!

as you could imagine i don't really have any much to say about Ruffneck (Flex), i could tell it's skrillex having a hand in the early UK dubstep sound but at this point he's mastered Brostep so hard that you can't really look back y'know. he actually does this with far better results in Quest For Fire but that's way further down the line i'm getting way too ahead of myself. Ruffneck (Full Flex) is where it's at baby – i feel like Flex is a big lead up to this song where he takes the established dubstep backbone and starts adding his lil twitches and growls and wobbles and giggles. my brain will always associate this song with the santa crashout music video and i will always see those kids screaming whenever i hear the high pitch segments of the drop.

i was gonna touch upon those music videos but raw gladly did so for me. those music videos to me are iconic and a core part of this era of skrillex and partly the reason why he seemed so cool and awesome to me as a kid! imo they perfectly, like almost exactly matched the energy, the coolness and weirdness of his music. i do wonder tho if people would fly with the First of the Year video today because of the subject matter and how unseriously it takes it. it is VERY of its time but like hey the bad guy gets defeated and the girl gets away unharmed.

SKRILLEX BOOK CLUB OFFICIAL YOUTUBE PLAYLIST!!♡ WATCH ALL THE MUSIC VIDEOS IN ORDER AS WE MOVE THROUGH! SANTA CRASHES OUT!! IS THAT 2HOLLIS?? YES THAT IS 2HOLLIS!! WHAT THE FUCK IS POTATO WILL EAT YOU #3 AND NO NAY BYE?! CHALLENGE KANYE WEST IN THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE!! YES! OH MY GOD!! FUNNY PORCUPINE!!

[hprara]

Ruffneck (Full Flex) is where it's at baby – i feel like Flex is a big lead up to this song where he takes the established dubstep backbone and starts adding his lil twitches and growls and wobbles and giggles.

yeah, i kinda feel this way too. almost like one big track.