San Jose, CA · electronic · riddim · dubstep

SVDDEN DEATH

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Riddim's most theatrical figure — slow, mechanical, deliberately punishing drops, with the VOYD alias for when he wants to go heavier still.

SVDDEN DEATH is the recording name of Daniel James Howland, born in 1993 and raised in San Jose, California, before he relocated to Los Angeles. He grew up on Kraftwerk records and was introduced to dubstep in 2008 through Benga, Skream and Rusko. Before settling on his current sound he played guitar, bass and piano in metal, indie and jazz bands.

His productions sit inside riddim, the dubstep subgenre built on slow, repetitive, mechanical basslines rather than the busier design found elsewhere in bass music. Howland favours heavy low-end and stark rhythmic space over rapid sound design, and his live shows lean on horror and occult imagery, reinforcing the deliberately punishing character of the drops.

Early singles for the UK label Never Say Die Records, including 2017's "Prismatic", built his profile inside dubstep circles before the 2018 EP Junkworld arrived with collaborators including Subtronics. He has also paired with Somnium Sound, Borgore and AFK on riddim-leaning collaborations, and reached a wider audience through "Sell Out", a Marshmello collaboration that entered the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2019.

He also records as VOYD, an alias reserved for harder and more experimental material, and runs a label and event series under the same name, extending the SVDDEN DEATH world into releases and shows built around its heavier extreme.

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electronicriddimdubstep