Daniel James "Danny" Howland (born June 29, 1993), better known by his alias Svdden Death, is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based DJ and producer from

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. He is known for his song "

Sell Out Sell Out may refer to: * Selling out, the compromising of principles in exchange for success * ''Sell Out'' (Halfcocked album), 1998 *'' $ell Out'', a 1999 album by Pist.On *'' The Who Sell Out'', a 1967 album by the Who * "Sell Out" (Reel Big Fish ...

", a collaboration with American

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

artist

Marshmello Christopher Comstock (born May 19, 1992), known professionally as Marshmello, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. His songs "Silence", "Wolves", "Friends", " Happier", and " Alone" have been certified multi-platinum in several ...

that peaked on ''Billboard's''

Hot Dance/Electronic Songs The Dance/Electronic Songs chart has been published weekly by ''Billboard'' since January 2013. It is the first chart to be published that ranks the most popular dance and electronic songs according to audience impressions, digital downloads, s ...

at the No. 36 position in early 2019.

Early life

Howland grew up in San Jose, listening to

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

before being introduced to dubstep in 2008, listening to such artists as

Benga Benga may refer to: Ethnonym * Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea * Benga language, spoke by the Benga people * Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya Places Romania * ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...

Skream Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon. Skream was an early and influential exponent of the dubstep genre. After producing several singles, he released his first full-len ...

, and

Rusko Rusko () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipali ...

. He later moved to

and began producing

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 130 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aoki ...

, hip-hop, and

big room house Big room house or simply big room is a fusion subgenre of house music (notably progressive house and electro house) that gained popularity in the early 2010s. Characterized by its simple instrumentation yet complex structure, big room house soon ...

under a previous alias to work out his particular sound and style. He had experience playing in various

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

bands, usually playing the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, bass, and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Career

2017: "Prismatic" and ''Rott N' Roll Pt. 1: Remixed''

On June 2, English record label Never Say Die released Howland's song "Prismatic" as a single for their seventh ''Black Friday'' extended play releases on their ''Black Label'' sub-label. Bianca Silva of ''Bassrush'' praised the song as "effortlessly destructive in the best way possible", marking it as a song fit for mosh pitting.

2018: ''Junkworld'' EP, ''Voyd Vol. I'', and SoundCloud

On February 2, 2018, Howland collaborated with

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based dubstep producer Somnium Sound to release the song "Angel Style" through the record label

Buygore Yosef Asaf Borger ( he, יוסף אסף בורגר; born 20 October 1987), known professionally as Borgore, is an Israelis, Israeli Electronic dance music, EDM producer, DJ, singer-songwriter and rapper. He is the founder of the label Buygore R ...

. Writing for ''T.H.E. - Music Essentials'', Akshay Bhanawat described the song as a "sonic concoction" that was set to be an "instant classic in the world of dubstep" as well as the then-upcoming festival season, as the song had previously been played by various

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

disk jockeys A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

in their live-sets, including

Dirtyphonics Dirtyphonics is a French electronic music band from Paris, consisting of members Charly Barranger and Julien "PitchIn" Corrales. Their music style is based on dubstep, drum and bass, drumstep. In 2008, Dirtyphonics signed on Shimon's label Aud ...

Must Die! Lee Austin Bates (born July 2, 1991), better known by his alias Must Die (stylized as MUST DIE!), is an American electronic musician, DJ, and producer. Born in Houston, Bates is associated primarily for his music in the dubstep genre. Bates is kn ...

, Excision, 12th Planet,

Slander Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

, and

Snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastrop ...

. On February 16, Israeli electronic dance music producer and DJ

Borgore Yosef Asaf Borger ( he, יוסף אסף בורגר; born 20 October 1987), known professionally as Borgore, is an Israeli EDM producer, DJ, singer-songwriter and rapper. He is the founder of the label Buygore Records. Biography Yosef Asaf Bo ...

collaborated with Howland to release the song "Svddengore" (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words's Matthew Meadow heavily praised the extended play, stating that it was "easily one of the strongest dubstep releases of the year so far", noting its "crazy inventive"

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

and

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and individually reviewing the song "Caught in a Mosh" as being "incredibly unique" in its arrangement and sounds. ''This Song Is Sick'''s Langston Thomas premiered the song "Surrender", a collaboration with riddim producer

Subtronics Jesse Kardon, better known by his alias Subtronics, is an American dubstep DJ and producer from Philadelphia, United States. He is best known for his song "Griztronics", a collaboration with Michigan-based electronic music artist GRiZ that peaked ...

, writing Howland had taken his sound design "to the next level" and that the style of each artist "mix perfectly" in the song. On March 30,

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based electronic music producer AFK collaborated with Howland to release the song "BZZRK" via the record label Bassrush. Bella Bagshaw of ''

Dancing Astronaut Dancing Astronaut is an American media platform founded in 2009 that primarily covers the electronic dance music industry. The website covers concerts and festivals, reports on entertainment news, reviews music, and publishes original content sy ...

'' described the song as a "screeching, chop-heavy

riddim Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm". In the context of reggae and dancehall, it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the ...

tune", in colouration to the "blast heat" vocal sample used in the song. A 5-track remix extended play for the song was later released on December 5. On July 30, Howland self-released his third extended play ''Voyd Vol. I'', featuring three solo tracks and two collaborations with fellow producers MVRDA and SampliFire. Jordan Mafi of ''

Nest HQ Owsla (stylized in all caps) is an American record label and creative collective. It was founded by Skrillex, Tim Smith, Kathryn Frazier, and Clayton Blaha in 2011. Skrillex announced the label on August 17, 2011. The label's first release was P ...

'' stated that the extended play will stand as a benchmark of the dubstep sub-genre riddim, noting that the songs featured on it had been well-known

dubplate A dubplate is an acetate disc usually of 10 inches diameter, traditionally used by studios to test recordings prior to mastering for the subsequent pressing of a vinyl record, but pioneered by reggae sound systems as a way to play exclusive music ...

s that have previously only been heard by his collaborators as well as being prominently featured in his

live-set Live-set refers to any performance of electronic music that is generated live out of a bank of equipment or a laptop rather than a DJ mix, which is played from a pre-recorded medium, such as gramophone record, vinyl and CD with turntables or audio ...

s months before release. On September 14,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

-based "vomitstep" producer

released a 10-track remix album of his album ''The Shell''. The album featured Howland's remix of the song "Smack Up", featuring

Foreign Beggars Foreign Beggars were an English hip hop and dubstep group. Since their formation in 2002, the group's trajectory had seen them evolve from an underground hip hop group to an electronic crossover act. The group consisted of four artists individ ...

as vocals, alongside various other electronic dance music artists such as

Virtual Riot Christian Valentin "Val" Brunn (born 20 July 1994), better known by his stage name Virtual Riot, is a German DJ and electronic music producer. He has released seventeen extended plays and two studio albums, most notably his 2016 extended play '' ...

, Kompany, Kill the Noise, and

FuntCase James Hazell (born 29 July 1986), better known by his stage name FuntCase, is an English dubstep and drum and bass producer and DJ, from Bournemouth, England. Hazell first released drum and bass, under the alias DJ Dose in 2007, and in 2009 rel ...

. In mid-November 2018, multiple bass music producers had most or all of their songs removed from online audio distribution platform and

music sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...

website

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

for wrongful copyright claims. Among these producers were Howland, who had all of his tracks falsely copyright struck and removed from his account. Speaking in a statement to ''Your EDM'', Howland spoke on the matter, stating that "SoundCloud is ruining the dubstep community by allowing anyone to claim a song as their own and remove it from existence. Until they fix their takedown policy, I will no longer be uploading songs to this platform." On November 30, American

producer and DJ

released part two of the remixes to his song " Happier", with Howland being featured as the second song on the extended play, alongside

Jauz Sam Vogel, also known by his stage name Jauz ( ), is an American DJ and electronic dance music producer based in San Francisco, United States. He founded his own record label, Bite This, in 2017. Early life Vogel grew up in Northern Californi ...

, West Coast Massive, Matt Medved, Hikeii, and Tim Gunther.

2019: "Sell Out", "Ichor", and subsequent releases

On January 4, 2019, Howland collaborated with dubstep producers Oolacile and Ubur to release the song "Savceboys" as a free download. ''Bassrush'''s Chris Muniz called the riddim song "laser-focused and razor-sharp throughout each section" and sounds like it was not just designed to "showcase the vibe and sound of each producer but is determined to take listeners on a proper journey through the underbelly of this beast." On February 8, Howland collaborated with Marshmello to release the riddim track "

" via the latter's record label Joytime Collective. The track was marked as Marshmello's first collaboration with a "serious" dubstep producer to make a dubstep track, with Svdden Death being known as having "some of the heaviest sets around right now" as described by a writer of ''Your EDM''. Although the song did attract favourable reviews towards the song, such as ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'''s Kat Bein review of the song, Christina Hernandez of ''Dancing Astronaut'' gave the song a much more negative and critical review, describing its production as extremely "cookie-cutter" and that the song was simply "an easy cop-out to increase variety and maintain Marshmello’s hold over the EDM world at large." On April 19, Howland self-released the song "Ichor" featuring American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Ace Savage as vocals. ''ThisSongSlaps Brian Bonavoglia praised the song, stating that it served up "masterful production" and wrote that it sounded as if it was to simply "created to deliver devastating damage wherever it may make an appearance." On June 7, American dubstep artist Space Laces released the remixes of his extended play ''Overdrive'' via Never Say Die, with Howland being featured as one of the remixers alongside various other electronic music producers such as Kompany and

Gammer Matthew Lee (born 1985 in Northampton), known professionally by his stage name Gammer, is an English music producer and DJ. He is best known for his association with UK hardcore, of which he is described as an icon. He is also the co-founder of ...

. Writing for ''EDM.com'', Sarah Kocur reviewed Howland's remix of the song "Choppaz", noting it as one of the most distinctive on the extended play, writing that he gave the original song a "heavy twist for which he's known." On August 2, Howland self-released the single "Modern Sorcery" as a digital download, with Brian Bonavoglia of ''ThisSongSlaps'' noting the song as a "coveted" within the

bass music Bass music is a term used to describe several genres of electronic dance music and hip hop music arising from the 1980s on, focusing on a prominent bass drum and/or bassline sound. As one source notes, there are "many different types of bass musi ...

scene before its release and describing it as a "relentless chest-thumping anthem that was bred to destroy."

Artistry

Howland had stated that Svdden Death was a desire to do "more advanced things with production", specifically choosing to produce dubstep as the genre is "much more technical than other genres" and gives him more freedom in his production. Originally using Ableton Live, he later switched to

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

to produce music and moving away from software synthesizers Serum and Massive to Reason's Malström as he wanted to move away from digital audio workstations and synthesizers that are commonly used by other dubstep and riddim producers. Howland takes on a significantly darker, more metal-influenced style whenever he releases a ''Voyd'' project, leading some of his fans to see Voyd as a side-alias of Svdden Death. In an interview with ''Run the Trap'', Howland clarified that " oyd ismore of a continuation of like a darker and heavier style of my music. With Svdden Death I want to branch out and do more melodic stuff. I still think Voyd is the kind of music I get into when I'm mad or really stressed." Howland had been included in various "artists to watch" lists by several online electronic music magazines. ''Billboard Dance'' had listed Howland, alongside

Elley Duhé Elley Duhé (born February 14, 1992) is an American singer. Born in Mobile, Alabama, she is best known for her 2018 single "Happy Now" with Zedd, which was certified platinum in the United States, and her 2020 single "Middle of the Night" which ...

, Detlef, Kittens, and Artbat, in their August 2018 edition of "Ones to Watch". Writers for ''Your EDM'', ''Noiseporn'', and ''EDM Sauce'' had included him in their respective "artists to watch in 2019" lists, placing him alongside such artists like

1788-L 1788-L is an electronic music producer. He rose to fame in 2018 with a remix of Virtual Self's "Particle Arts" uploaded onto his SoundCloud account. Other releases following this include "Multiverse" (with 4AM) and a remix of Daft Punk's "Rinzler ...

, Kompany, Blanke, Tynan, Fytch and Wildlyf.

Discography

Albums and EPs

* ''Spelljam EP'', June 12, 2017 (Never Say Die: Black Label) digital download *''Junkworld EP'', February 26, 2018 (Never Say Die), digital download * ''Voyd Vol. I'', July 30, 2018 (self-released), digital download * ''Bzzrk Remixes'' (with AFK), December 5, 2018 (Bassrush), digital download * ''Voyd Vol. 1.5'', August 9, 2019 (self-released), digital download * ''Voyd Vol. II'', March 18, 2022 (self-released), digital download

As a featured artist

Charted singles

Other singles

Remixes

References

{{Authority control Dubstep musicians 1993 births Living people American DJs American male composers 21st-century American composers Musicians from California Record producers from California American electronic musicians 21st-century American male musicians