Skrillex Releases Surprise New Album ‘Recess’ Via App

Earlier this week, Skrillex announced an upcoming U.S. tour to correspond with an app released last Friday titled “Alien Ride.” The app contained a folder with 11 hidden objects, which the Los Angeles EDM producer revealed Monday night as his debut full-length album Recess.

Skrillex: 8 Wild Nights and Busy Days With the Superstar

Fans who downloaded the app began to see songs unlock at 6:30 p.m. Monday, with a new song unlocking every 30 minutes. The full album isn’t officially released until March 18th, but is streaming on iTunes via “First Play” for one week.

While the surprise album ostensibly stems from Beyonce’s release last year, Tim Smith, Skrillex’s manager, told Rolling Stone that that earliest inspiration was Nine Inch Nails’ 2007 album Year Zero, which saw Trent Reznor scatter clues online and drop thumb drives in random spots around the world. “We were thinking of doing a sort of Easter egg thing,” says Smith. “But [Skrillex] is more direct than that. I didn’t want to confuse people or put them on a scavenger hunt.”

“We’ll probably make less money doing it this way,” Skrillex tells Rolling Stone. “It’s more about the fans.”

On Recess, Skrillex answers his critics directly on opening track “All Is Fair in Love and Brostep” (“It’s the hardest, most over-the-top, dope fucking brostep song ever,” says the producer) and enlists Chicago’s Chance the Rapper for the long-teased “Coast Is Clear.” “I want people who hear my music to feel like they’re on all these drugs, but they’re not on any drugs,” says Skrillex.

“Dance music is for fun,” he says. “It’s not something to fucking raise an eyebrow at. Stop taking yourself so seriously. People who stereotype genres, who say, ‘If you’re into this, you’re this kind of person’ – it’s almost racist. . . . You’re an artist – you might as well give something good.”

Skrillex featuring Chance the Rapper, “Coast Is Clear” 

After playing Winter Music Conference, Ultra Music Festival and Coachella, the Grammy-winning DJ will start his tour proper at Oklahoma City’s Zoo Amphitheatre on May 23rd before ending the tour with two June performances at Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre and a July set in Portland, Maine. Sydney duo What So Not and Los Angeles duo Milo & Otis will join Skrillex on all dates, with Dillon Francis and DJ Snake alternating as openers. The DJ revealed that the Denver shows will feature an expanded line-up, but has not announced any additional names yet.

Recess Tracklist

1. “All Is Fair in Love and Brostep” (ft. Ragga Twins)
2. “Recess” (ft. Kill The Noise, Fatman Scoop and Michael Angelakos)
3. “Stranger” (ft. KillaGraham from Milo and Otis and Sam Dew)
4. “Try It Out (Neon Mix)” (ft. Alvin Risk)
5. “Coast Is Clear” (ft. Chance The Rapper and The Social Experiment)
6. “Dirty Vibe” (ft. Diplo, G-Dragon from Big Bang and CL from 2NE1)
7. “Ragga Bomb” (ft. Ragga Twins)
8. “Doompy Poomp”
9. “Fuck That”
10. “Ease My Mind” (ft. Niki & The Dove)
11. “Fire Away” (ft. Kid Harpoon)