In 2013, Skrillex partnered with Cliff Martinez for the Spring Breakers soundtrack, an ambient-skewing collection that displayed two brand-name artists collaborating on something subtle, novel and tasteful. The music honored their specific styles and signatures while spinning a new and interesting whole. More than 2014’s tepid and somewhat soulless Recess, Spring Breakers hinted at a vision of Skrillex as someone whose output might be deeper than the drop.
Jack Ü, the long-rumored EP and partnership between EDM heavyweights Diplo and Skrillex, is not like that at all. Instead, it’s roughly the sum of its parts—Skrillex’s frenetic drop-heavy monoliths paired with Diplo’s frequent attempts at world-music-curation and general boner for eclectic collaboration. While some of Jack Ü soars above reasonable expectation—the Kiesza collaboration “Take Ü There” and its equally energizing remix featuring Missy Elliott, for example—it mostly registers as a fun, low-stakes affair with its finger often too close to the button. Given that the surprise release was celebrated with a livestreamed 24-hour-party, it’s easy to call the collaboration a success, at least on its own terms.
This sort of project lives and dies by the quality of its features. Jack Ü finds the right people—Kiesza, AlunaGeorge, 2 Chainz (“Yeah I am the shit/ So I should have Febreeze on it”), ragga soca artist Bunji Garlin—and makes the collaborations memorable. “Where Are Ü Now,” in particular, builds around an effervescent Justin Bieber vocal that surprises in all of the right ways—I wouldn't be surprised to see Bieber use the song as an effective bridge to the more mature sounds he coveted on 2013's Journals. In general, Jack Ü is massive-sounding, stuffed to the brim with snares, clipped vocal samples, and colossal Skrillex-starter-set WUB WUB WUB bass drops, but Skrillex and Diplo carve out enough space for lower-key, fun-loving moments. Over nine tracks, there are definite misfires—the volatile throb of “Holla Out” scans as something that could live well on Clickhole while also reminding me of the fiendish “Left Swipe Dat” song—but Jack Ü ultimately gets its very specific job done.
Above all, this is maximalist party music that captures a specific moment in time. (Sample song title: “Jungle Bae.”) Jack Ü is nothing but a fount of stomping, outrageous EDM, the kind that basically serves as a security deposit for $75k-a-night residencies in Vegas. While Jack Ü doesn't exactly roll the ball forward, or do much else to make listeners rethink the principal actors here, it's dumb, loud fun from two architects of the dumbest, loudest fun of the 2000s.
