Yo, listen, you hear that?
OG, pioneer, 1 of 1, legend, producer Skrillex just capped off perhaps his most eventful weekend of all time.
On January 1 of this year, Skrillex dropped a not so cryptic social media tease seemingly forecasting the release of not one but two albums in 2023.
Still, the simple acronym razz left a lot to interpretation.
Then, after dropping multiple chart-topping singles over the past month, Skrillex announced that his new album ‘Quest For Fire’ would drop on Friday.
‘Quest For Fire’, Skrillex’s sophomore solo album, marks his first solo album release in almost a decade.
Upon its release, the highly-coveted, long-awaited album has still somehow already seemed to exceed its lofty expectations.
The album release on Friday was just the beginning.
Skrillex followed the drop with a surprise pop-up school bus b2b2b (or b3b, if you will) with fellow producers Fred again.. and Four Tet. The set took place on Saturday in the middle of Times Square in New York City. The atmosphere was electric.
It should be said that this pop-up came after the trio already played two b3bs in New York at smaller venues: the first at Good Place in Brooklyn on Tuesday and the second at LPR in lower Manhattan on Thursday night.
Three shows and one album drop still wasn’t enough.
The small run of New York shows and the ‘Quest For Fire’ album drop all served as this sort of elongated pre-party for the deliriously anticipated Madison Square Garden show, which sold out in minutes.
The MSG set took place Saturday night, with Skrillex, Four Tet, and Fred again.. b3bing for an impressive, unprecedented five hours.
Although held in the massive MSG, it was much more of a boiler room vibe than the mainstream big room set that one would have expected. No visual board, just a table with a dj board, speakers, lights, and the trio of producers. The simple set up seemed to add to the room filling immersion of each individual banger track, which seemed to envelop the entire audience song after song. The trio had the crowd in a chokehold from show start at 7 pm till the midnight curtain call. Porter Robinson and Sebastian Ingrosso even made appearances for their collab tracks with Skrillex and Fred again.., respectively.
It was an exclamation point to the momentous week; the energy, atmosphere, and excitement were palpable, almost something tangible that you could reach out and touch.
Oh to have been a fly on the wall of MSG on Saturday night. FOMO pervades…
Still, Skrillex wasn’t done.
In one of the most baller moves of all time, Skrillex dropped a second album, ‘Don’t Get Too Close’, during the MSG show.
This album complements ‘Quest For Fire’ quite nicely. The two have distinctly different styles but still maintain a somewhat cohesive theme. Skrillex’s evolved, refined bass production skills are put on full display in ‘Quest For Fire’, which is much more of an edm album. ‘Don’t Get Too Close’ is more of a modern, mainstream hip-hop appeal to the masses, but still with Skrillex’s distinct production flair and vision. Both automatically have rendered chart-topping tracks, and house multiple songs that you’re going to be hearing all spring and summer.
Both albums also boast a whole host of big name assists, with artists such as Peekaboo, Kid Cudi, Trippie Redd, Swae Lee, Justin Bieber, Porter Robinson, Flowdan, and of course Fred again.. and Four Tet featuring.
Also included is some credited production from Virtual Riot and ISOxo, among others.
If all that isn’t enough, an album tour announcement seems almost imminent after this past week. This is likely just the beginning of Skrillex’s mark on 2023. It’s only mid-February, but we may already have our artist of the year.
For up to date information on all things Skrillex, follow him on social media, or check out his website: https://www.skrillex.com/
