Skrillex

Sonny Moore started out as the frontman for L.A. hardcore outfit From First to Last, but ravers know him by the explosive, abrasive music he records under the name of Skrillex. Though sometimes affiliated with dubstep’s wing of American upstarts, his music actually has little in common with the spacious, dubwise beats of London’s basement raves. Stuffed with careening synthesizers, industrial-strength drums and helter-skelter digital effects, it favors jagged edges over meditative bass. The 4/4 beats and cascading riffs have just as much to do with trance and electro-house, so it’s no surprise that Skrillex’s first big exposure came through Deadmau5’s Mau5trap label. Ultimately, Skrillex is an artist who cannot be pigeonholed; on tour and on record, Moore has a massive, growing draw among American fans of electronic dance music. He may be a divisive figure for genre purists, but he’s also a good barometer of EDM’s rapidly evolving Stateside tastes.