Skrillex, Fred Again.. and Four Tet have a different purpose in mind
When it's time to party, they will party hard.
Dear Looper,
You may be aware that Skrillex dropped a pair of new albums last month. They mark a return to the main stage for the dubstep wunderkind, who spent the last few years relatively out of the spotlight (though still producing tracks for the likes of Beyoncé, FKA Twigs and Justin Bieber). The first of the batch, Quest for Fire, is one of the best party records to come from an American producer in recent memory, a delectable spread of house, techno, juke and the wubs that first gained his notoriety.
I’m mainly impressed by all he’s learned in the nine years since his first album, Recess, and his unbridled support for the artists that inspire him and contribute to these new projects. There are collaborations with Mr. Oizo, Joker, Aluna, Eli Keszler, 100 gecs, Porter Robinson and a crew of other producers and vocalists. Such transparency, to me, is rare in the electronic world, where the question of what a producer actually produces always lingers in the background. Those vocals, samples and flourishes had to come from somewhere, right? Skrillex is properly recognizing this, and his new music is better for it.
Which brings me to what I really wanted to write about.
If you linger inside any electronic music spaces, you may have heard that Skrillex and two of his friends and features on Quest for Fire, Four Tet and Fred Again.., took over New York City to celebrate the release of his album. They held two massive “pop-up shows,” including a late-minute party at Madison Square Garden and a set for the Lot Radio at Times Square, which drew quite a crowd under the rainy and overcast skies. (The trio did a similar run of shows in London earlier in the year.)
This partnership has confounded the Electronic Music Community, delighting fans and bothering some critics and other DJs/producers. Most of the ire is drawn toward Fred Again.., a distinctly non-distinct producer whose lanky figure, arched shoulders and irritatingly chipper face are always in the wrong place at the wrong time. His familial connections to British nobility and Brian Eno have also frustrated people suspicious of his quick ascent in the music world. And then there is the name “Fred Again..”, a moniker so drab and senseless it disrespects both his work and the people who have to think about him.
And still, if you watch the Lot Radio performance, you’ll see that he holds his own against the heavyweights beside him. He’s less interested in bass drops and sonic debauchery than he is in the romantic expressions of house and disco music. His DJ selections are a delicate counterweight to the more aggressive energy that Skrillex attracts. I’m not sure it's enough to excuse his obtrusive mannerisms behind the decks, however, especially when three is more than a crowd inside a tricked-out school bus. His involvement in his own tracks can also be misleading. He mixes in “danielle (smile on my face),” a gorgeous single from his new album that egregiously disregards the original source, 070 Shake’s “Nice to Have,” and the drum and bass signatures of Four Tet, who himself tweeted that he wrote the entire track.
Four Tet and Skrillex, meanwhile, have played together in public for years now. I still remember when they announced their first couple of back-to-back sets, watching fan videos on YouTube to clue out exactly what songs and influences united them. Then I saw it for myself at the FORM music festival in Arcosanti, an experimental community in the Arizona desert. Four Tet and Skrillex held a midnight rave in the middle of a field, spinning for hours and inviting people up to the stage. I could tell Four Tet was intrigued by Skrillex and wanted to see what tracks would complement his freewheeling spirit. What the set may have lacked in cohesion, it gained in a shared understanding over the power bass can have on the body.
Four Tet’s lessons and creative mentorship with Skrillex ultimately pay off in dividends on Quest for Fire. You can hear it in its long list of collaborators, in its turn toward fast-paced house and techno, in its innocent and constantly shifting rhythms. It’s in their one collaboration on the album, “Butterflies,” where harp plucks and glitchy vocal samples from Starrah refract light and joy across the dance floor.
“It’s not that deep—we’re just here dancing together,” Skrillex told the crowd at Madison Square Garden, according to The New Yorker.
The Skrillex/Fred Again../Four Tet Experience may be disruptive, confusing, slaphappy and at times evens sloppy. I imagine this is how it must feel to play in Times Square, in the rain, to a sea of bodies jumping and singing in front of you. There’s credibility and respect to be found behind that DJ booth, too.
Until next time,
Miguel
P.S. My friends and I hopped on stage during the Four Tet B2B Skrillex set at Arcosanti and danced well after dawn. Skrillex blew through a whole pack of cigarettes, Four Tet through an entire quesadilla. I took a swig from a bottle of Patrón the former was passing around. It was 2016, and it was a party.