Welcome to this week’s second part of Split Record Review, following Henry’s disdain toward the new Skrillex album, “Fuck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not!! <3.” Released on April 1, the internet expected a meme album from the artist that helped define 2010s meme culture with bombastic dubstep music, yet the project is a legitimate effort.
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I still love electronic music — even wild stuff like gabber — though the dubstep ship has sailed. Growing up on the soundtrack to “Forza Horizon” led me down the electronic dance music rabbit hole, and my playlists became populated with every Deadmau5 and Skrillex song around.
Needless to say, the intrusive thoughts compelled me to give this a shot and get Henry on board. I’m happy to report back that an itch has been scratched by this tongue-in-cheek record, complete with radio-style narration.
“Spitfire,” sharing its name with the legendary Porter Robinson song, raises expectations that Skrillex and rapper Hawaii Slim deliver on. Skrillex’s distinct dubstep sound fires at all cylinders after every bass drop, while the last section uses short soundbites to carry the momentum forward.
“Things I Promised” is a one-minute buildup to the wicked “Recovery” featuring Space Laces. Skrillex must have booted up a drill and let that puppy run for the abrasive moments on the track, but the high-pitched vocals yelling “1, 2, 3” ease the insanity and up the fun factor.
It’s bizarre that the two songs are packaged as separate, though. In fact, almost every minute on the album is segmented into a song, no matter how most songs on the record all segue into each other. To not get too far ahead of myself, many songs could’ve been scrapped or fused with other ones and that would’ve likely benefited Skrillex’s streaming numbers.
Jónsi from post-rock band Sigur Rós somehow makes an appearance on “Look At You,” yet he can barely be heard. “Gulab XX” intentionally buries the featured artist, Naisha, low in the mix. The beat starts as boom bap-inspired before the structure unfurls, but the rhythm stays intact.
On the 30-second “Hold On,” we get a 2025 rendition of “Damn son, where’d you find this?” by the album’s narrator, DJ Shadoe Haze. The song should’ve continued because the dubstep was getting good. The following “See You Again VIP” tries some progression yet evaporates into nothing just 50 seconds in, making it a complete skip.
The same can be said for the two-minute “Korabu,” featuring six artists besides Skrillex himself. The buildup of quiet vocal samples and ambient noise is boring, only to result in an anticlimactic dubstep drop, culminating in the all-encompassing question: Why?
“Redline Dash” is thankfully more developed, led in by manipulated vocals saying, “Contraband with a bag full of cash / Empty street for a redline dash.” The digitized sound calls back to his early 2010s output, urging one to remember the artist behind “Bangarang” is still up to the same old shenanigans.
“Ultra Intro” may as well have been the lead single for this record that dropped out of the blue, with a sound so generic even for Skrillex that it could’ve become a mainstream hit, at least on electronic radios. Steve Aoki has credits on this one, which makes all of that add up.
Until this point, the contributions by DJ Shadoe Haze are pretty lackluster compared to the narrations by DJ Drama and DJ Swamp Izzo on recent albums by rappers Westside Gunn and Playboi Carti, respectively.
However, Haze drops some gems on “Biggy Bap” including “I have Skrillex trapped in my basement / Play this at full volume or I’ll put him in the hole” and “This beat drop has been seized by Atlantic Records and has been replaced by silence,” to which crickets start to chirp.
“Mosquitotouille,” along with its impeccable name is batshit crazy with what sounds like creative samples of the Raving Rabbids. “DNB Ting” is not great by drum n’ bass standards, but the shift in style is welcome now that we’re past the 30-song mark.
As a San Diego native, the shoutout on “San Diego VIP” is welcome, especially since it faintly sounds like Skrillex’s hit from 2011, “Kyoto.” After the underwhelming “Voltage,” the final song sees Haze reciting the names of all the featured artists in an uninspired manner, leading one to wonder if this album was made with any purpose or if Skrillex just wanted to get out of his contract with Atlantic Records as soon as possible.
Given the relatively short 46-minute runtime, it wouldn’t hurt to listen to this if you’re inclined to try dubstep again in 2025. Skrillex’s music got very soulless with his 2023 albums, so it’s nice he’s having fun with it now, but go into this one knowing that not many new songs will be added to your dubstep playlist, if you still have one from back in the day.
How can a “music journalist” be so misinformed? We’ve had this conversation about Skrillex for 15 years man. He makes Brostep, not Dubstep, and he’s fully embraced the label ever since the opening track of “Recess”. Then you guys say shit like “the dubstep ship has sailed”, completely ignoring the UK dubstep scene (MEDi, System Music, Innamind, White Peach, etc.) and the massive resurgence in Dubstep, Brostep, and 140 bass this decade. Overall, a poorly-researched review that doesn’t justify its conclusion.