19. Skrillex
Even though DJmag interviewed him only a few weeks ago, we weren't able to track down Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex, in time for his Top 100 interview this year. The fiercely independent dubstep/glitch/electro/bass music DJ/producer seems to be on a perpetual tour of North America, and we weren't able to reach him to tell him that he's the Highest New Entry in the Top 100 DJs poll this year. Still, we guess he'll hear soon enough.
In the last 12 months, Skrillex has appeared as if from nowhere to make the most dramatic entrance onto the worldwide DJ scene. Name-checked as having had the biggest breakthrough impact by everyone from French houser Martin Solveig to psy-trancer Skazi, he was originally the singer in gothic emo-indie band From First To Last. A Warp Records fan, he released his first EP as a free download before some of his early tracks were put out on Deadmau5's label Mau5trap. 'Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites' was the first dubstep track to top Beatport's main all-genre chart, and he has since made a massive impact with his DJ shows in the last year or so.
Born to hippie parents and still only 23, Sonny's debut in the UK at multi-genre night Spectrum in London saw clubbers stage-diving to his full-on glitchcore, while he's attracted band-style moshpits at various other gigs in the States. He produced some tracks for nu metal muthas Korn recently, a natural extension of his metallic dubstep power, and he's just embarked on a project with the surviving members of The Doors for the Re:Generation project in the US of electronic musicians working with legendary artists from music's history.
Skrillex has recently set up his own Owsla label, named after an organisation of rabbits in one of his favourite childhood books, Watership Down by Richard Adams. The first releases were scheduled to be by US electro-houser Porter Robinson and Bristolian dubstepper Koan Sound, while he has been on his Mothership tour lately with the Foreign Beggars, DJ Aero & Tommy Lee (ex-Mötley Crüe) and more. Already being booked into a shed-load of rock festivals for summer 2012, we’re all going to be hearing a lot more of Skrillex next year.
