DANCEiSM

I had the privilege of seeing the premiere of the documentary “RE:Generation” featuring Skrillex, Pretty Lights, Mark Ronson, The Crystal Method, and DJ Premiere last week and I must say it was pretty damn good. Each DJ was assigned a genre of music and had to orchestrate a song based on said genre. Luckily each DJ had the help of some pretty bad ass OG musicians – Skrillex had the help of the last remaining members of The Doors; Mark Ronson had the help of Erykah Badu and Mos Def; and so forth. Here’s what each genre each artist had:

• Skrillex – Rock
• Pretty Lights – Country
• The Crystal Method – Rhythm and Blues
• Mark Ronson – Jazz
• DJ Premiere – Classical

There was a Q & A afterwards and all the artists came down and were interviewed by NPR’s Jason Bentley. They discussed the artistic process and what is was like for them to work with such great legends and essentially make music that was somewhat different than what they are used to. Especially Pretty Lights, who admitted he was not excited when he learned he was given country. (who would be?!) Skrillex provided the metaphor of making music to sex – “It’s very intimate,” he said and proceeded to explain what he felt as the cameras were in the studio recording everything he did. Overall, everyone agreed they were honored to have been a part of the project and they all congratulated each other for the work they did.

The documentary has a limited theatrical release: today February 16th and next Thursday the 23rd only so check out http://www.regenerationmusicproject.com/ for times and locations. You definitely do not want to miss this! (FYI it’s showing at the Grauman’s Chinese Theaters in Hollywood!)

DOWNLOAD All the songs including “Breaking a Sweat” by Skrillex below!