The “remix companion” to
Skrillex’s successful EP
Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites actually features two new tracks, including the opening highlight “First of the Year,” which wonderfully shifts from the cute kind of fluff
Boards of Canada might appreciate to a grinding dubstep monster threatening to turn the woofers inside-out. “Ruffneck (Flex)” is a dancehall-meets-jungle slammer in that
Major Lazer style, then four mixes of the previous EP’s title track finish things off with the best ideas coming from remixers
Phonat (bringing back the sound of IDM in its heyday) and
Kaskade (turning this stuff into bleepy, blissful house music). Shame the man’s debut album got stolen along with his laptop, but this tides things over nicely. ~ David Jeffries