MUST DIE!

MUST DIE! crafts explosive dubstep and electro-house productions marked by elaborate arrangements and infusions of trance, drum'n'bass, hardcore, plus an array of further styles. Since the early 2010s the project has maintained high output, teaming on tracks with Zomboy, Getter, and Datsik; its 2014 album Death & Magic, released via Skrillex’s OWSLA imprint, included appearances from the Ragga Twins and Tkay Maidza. Later singles such as the hardstyle-driven “BLISS 2K” (2019) and the acid-trance-colored “SORROW TECH” (2021) extended the sound into denser, more turbulent territory and formed part of the second album, Crisis Vision.

Houston native Lee Austin Bates launched the duo Street Lurkin in 2010 before issuing solo work under the MUST DIE! name starting in 2012. Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak label put out the album Vines, which blended dubstep, drum’n’bass, and electro-house, while additional EPs surfaced on Rottun Recordings and Subhuman. London’s Never Say Die issued the two Fever Dream EPs in 2013, initiating an extended association with the imprint. The 2014 OWSLA sublabel Nest release “Survivors,” a Zomboy collaboration, preceded the full-length Death & Magic on OWSLA proper, which was followed by remixes of the singles “Hellcat” and “Imprint” (with Tkay Maidza).

Returning to Never Say Die, MUST DIE! delivered the 2015 Neo Tokyo EP and thereafter routed all material through the label. The 2017 EPs Forever Digital and Hyper Future (with Eptic) appeared next; after a quiet 2018, some of the project’s most aggressive and intricate work emerged. The 2019 tracks “BLISS 2K” and “CHAOS” ranked among its most streamed releases, with further singles including “HELLBURST” (2020) and “SORROW TECH” (2021) sustaining the pace. The wide-ranging, high-impact second album Crisis Vision arrived in May 2021.