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Submerged - Before Fire I Was Against Other People

Rating

RIYL

Drum and Bass
Dubstep
Breakcore

Release Date

03/29/2011

Label

Ohm Resistance

Tracklist

1. Space Arabs
2. Nowhere To Hide
3. Transport
4. No One
5. Death Sentence
6. Borderguard
7. Rorschach
8. Before Fire
9. Alive
10. Dead

Electronic music is nothing new in the US and around the world. I’m sure everyone has enjoyed some kind of techno or house song in the past ten years, and the recent explosion of house in pop music only solidifies this. Most pop songs made in the past year or so have had some kind of house or techno sound to them, whether it is the new Britney Spears album or just another David Guetta song to infect the airwaves. Electronic subgenres such as drum and bass, dubstep, and breakcore are catching on in the US after being big in Europe for a few years now, and Submerged is just one of the many DJs that are pushing the genres past simple songs into actually composed music. It’s hard to find music in these genres that doesn’t sound like every other track released, though.

By now you’re probably wondering what makes Submerged different from all of the other garbage that people are throwing on Youtube and Soundcloud daily. Submerged is not new to the scene at all, founding his own electronic music label, Ohm Records, in 1999 and working with other producers from around the world to release their music as well as his own. He also doesn’t just stick to one genre of electronic music, releasing various projects in the past decade including the first album to combine drum and bass with jazz music. His second full length, Before Fire I Was Against Other People, is no exception to his style of music, being known for taking various electronic music genres, like drum and bass, breakcore, and dubstep, and making each track a completely different sounding song.

Songs like “Space Arabs” and “Nowhere To Hide” both use the music styling of dubstep, but they are two completely different sounding tracks. The first uses sci-fi sounds combined with an Arab sounding background (which the title of the song explains), while the second uses a low bass track combined with an African vocal sample. Throughout the album, Submerged isn’t afraid to stretch each separate genre of electronic music, using drum and bass in most of the songs, but still managing to sneak in concepts from other genres like breakcore. One of the best written songs, “Dead,” is an 8 minute odyssey through drum and bass and breakcore that has a vocal sample throughout the song screaming, “You were dead!” probably alluding to the fact that Submerged was attacked, robbed, and pronounced dead after spending five months in the hospital back in 2004.

While electronic music may be another fad in pop music, Submerged won’t be going anywhere. It’s evident from this release and the rest of his discography that he will continue to release music and keep repping the genre. Simply put, if you’re into electronic music, you’ll enjoy this. There isn’t much of an audience outside of the genre, but if you want to try something new, give this a listen. Submerged is one of the more talented producers out there right now, and this album is a perfect showcase of his talent.

--Dylan Newell

Author

Dylan Newell

Last updated: 05/31/2011 06:17AM