Submerged (DJ)

Submerged
Birth name Kurt Gluck
Genres Drum and bass
Experimental
Occupation(s) DJ, bassist, record producer, label owner
Years active 1999–present
Website Ohm Resistance on Facebook

Submerged (alias of Kurt Gluck) is a Brooklyn-based DJ, bassist, founder of Ohm Resistance and co-founder of Obliterati, American avant garde drum and bass and experimental music labels, and a prolific multi-genre electronic music producer, first notable for his work with Grammy Award-winning bassist and producer Bill Laswell in creating drum and bass - jazz fusion projects including their band Method of Defiance,[1][2][3][4] and The Blood of Heroes.[5]

In drum and bass, Submerged has pushed the boundaries of the genre beyond dance music through jagged free-form breakbeat structures, historic fusion collaborations with non-drum and bass musicians including Bill Laswell, Pharoah Sanders, Buckethead, and others, and on confrontational artwork.

Submerged performs onstage as a DJ and as a bassist[6] and is a member of avant garde bands incorporating drum and bass beats and live sound manipulation, such groups including Painkiller and Bill Laswell's project, Method of Defiance. Submerged has also performed live with groups including other artists such as Milford Graves, John Zorn and Toshinori Kondo, and artists Mike Patton and Dr. Israel.

Submerged has played venues across North America, Europe and Asia, including Russia, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Kazakhstan, and the UK.

He toured with Scorn in 2011 across Europe.[7]

Background

Gluck was born in Rosedale, Queens, New York. His father was a Brooklyn police officer and his mother an architect.

Gluck played clarinet and bass clarinet in his school jazz band and symphonic band. “I always took band classes because I loved playing music. I had my own metal band in high school. I wrestled (folkstyle) for four years varsity, but I was really into music. I listened mostly to metal. I didn’t start to get into electronic music heavily till my summer after high school. My favourite bands were Slayer, Napalm Death. Godflesh was huge to me, also.”

In 1999 he founded Ohm Resistance, a collective of musicians and DJ’s on two continents, which was also a label that released progressive Washington, DC artists including Sinthetix, Impulse, Kiko, MC Mecha, and Skynet. For one year, Ohm Resistance threw a Wednesday weekly called Tangent at the U-Turn club.

Submerged moved Ohm’s headquarters to Brooklyn in late 2002 to facilitate global distribution of its releases. In 2003 he co-created a second label, Obliterati, to pursue the darker and more experimental roots of Ohm Resistance.

In 2003, Laswell met with Submerged to discuss working together and said he owed John Zorn a record. Submerged came up with eight compositions to which Laswell added more music and live bass. This first historic drum and bass-jazz fusion collaboration by Bill Laswell and Submerged, “Brutal Calling,” was released on Zorn’s Avant label in the first half of 2004.

In 2005, Laswell and Submerged as Method of Defiance released a 9-track album, “The Only Way to Go Is Down,” on Sublight Records.[8]

In 2007, Method of Defiance released an album called Inamorata, a fusion of drum and bass and jazz music, with the collaboration of many artists from the drum and bass and jazz scenes.[9][10]

Alex Henderson of All Music Guide described Submerged's Violence as First Nature (2008) double-CD release as "forceful, abrasive, confrontational stuff" and compared his work to "industrial rockers like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, and the Revolting Cocks (as well as hip-hop agitators Public Enemy)."[11][12]

In April 2010, Submerged project The Blood of Heroes released its self titled debut on Ohm Resistance - a collaboration project featuring Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, Napalm Death) and Bill Laswell, with beats from Submerged and End.user and vocals from Doctor Israel, described in an album review as follows: "Post apocalyptic soundscapes and de-imaged electronic beats backed up with heavy guitar and bass. Features live drumming from KJ Sawka and Balazs Pandi, and sound design from film sound architect M. Gregor Filip. Powerful anthemic tracks collide with vicious drum n bass beatdowns and intersperse with breathtaking synth beauty and Aphex Twin style mezzed beats. The soundtrack to post-solarflare humanity!"[13][14]

Discography

Albums

Mixed Albums

Ohm Resistance releases

References

Notes

  1. ↑ JazzTimes.com Inamorata Bill Laswell's Method of Defiance
  2. ↑ Pikadon Live
  3. ↑ TheMorningNews.org Bill Laswell's Method of Defiance
  4. ↑ One of Most Prolific Musicians Bill Laswell Forms Super Group Method of Defiance with New Release, All About Jazz, May 24, 2007
  5. ↑ Toneshift review of The Blood of Heroes CD "Remain"
  6. ↑ post by Submerged on a Dogsonacid.com thread
  7. ↑ http://themoscownews.com/arts/20110310/188481788.html
  8. ↑ Submerged feature on Dogsonacid.com, April 24, 2007
  9. ↑ Drumandbass.ru review of Inamorata
  10. ↑ Tracklist at Discogs
  11. ↑ All Music Guide review of Violence as First Nature as published at barnesandnoble.com
  12. ↑ Review of Violence as First Nature, The Omega Order, 2008
  13. ↑ Review of "Remain," The Blood of Heroes, Toneshift: Extraordinary Sounds as Heard by TJ Norris, June 18, 2011
  14. ↑ Review by Dave Wedge, Limewire blog, April 29, 2010
  15. ↑ http://www.silent-watcher.net/billlaswell/discography/m/theonlywaytogoisdown.html
  16. ↑ http://progressive.homestead.com/progbeats.html#anchor_239 Progressive.homestead review of Violence of First Nature, 2008
  17. ↑ "15 Questions to Mick Harris/Scorn," interview re: "Stealth" (released by Ad Noiseam in Europe), by Tobias, Tokafi (German music journalism Web site), January 15, 2008
  18. ↑ Boomkat.com review of End.user's "Left"
  19. ↑ Dogsonacid.com review of You Need Therapy release by Technical Itch
  20. ↑ http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/news/sst-stepping-thru-shadows "SST - Stepping Through Shadows," Q&A with SST, Knowledge Magazine, 2010

Sources

External links