Jesse Kardon, better known by his alias Subtronics, is an American dubstep and riddim DJ and producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for his song "Griztronics", a collaboration with Michigan-based electronic music artistGRiZ that peaked on Billboard'sHot Dance/Electronic Songs at the No. 9 position in late 2019. Kardon peaked at No. 10 on Billboard'sNext Big Sound chart in September 2019. Kardon is known for his mixtape series Now That's What I Call Riddim. Originally released in February 2017, the series has grown to five volumes, with most containing mashups, exclusive mixes, and unreleased music as well as various riddim DJs and producers introducing themselves during interludes. The fourth alliteration, Now That’s What I Call Riddim Vol. 4, contains around 110 songs from a large number of artists. . A fifth instalment was released in January 2020. Kardon marked it as the last in the mix series and included songs by Skrillex, Excision, Doctor P and Boogie T.
Career
2017: "Revenge Of The Goldfish"
On April 28, 2017, Florida-based dubstep producer Midnight Tyrannosaurus collaborated with Kardon to release the song "Revenge Of The Goldfish" via Never Say Die's Black Label imprint. The song was released for free as part of Never Say Die's sixth Black Friday compilation extended play and sampled a speech originally by Klaus Heissler during an episode of the American animated sitcom American Dad.
On April 20, 2018, Kardon released his seventh extended play Wook Laser via Never Say Die's Black Label sub-label. The 4-track extended play was well-received, with it being described as encapsulating "everything that is right in riddim at the current moment" by an EDM Sauce editor. On July 6, Canadian electronic music duoZeds Dead and American DJ and electronic dance music producer Jauz released a remix album of their song "Lights Go Down". Kardon's remix of the song was featured on the album, alongside remixes from by Sikdope, Duke & Jones, Gentlemans Club, Jarvis, Lick, Sqwad, Awoltalk, and Spirix. In mid-August, Kardon's SoundCloud account was hacked and as a result, had various unreleased and private songs stolen and published by the hacker. Before, he had received a message from Los Angeles-based dubstep producer Megalodon, asking him to repost a song uploaded by an unfamiliar account. After privately messaging him, Megalodon told Kardon that he was hacked and soon blocked him. The same account later published a song by Kardon that was previously only accessible from his hard drive and private SoundCloud account. On October 19, American record producer Herobust released a remix album of his previous song "WTF". The album, titled WTF VIP + Remixes, featured Kardon as a remix artist. In November, multiple riddim producers had most or all of their songs removed from online audio distribution platform and music sharing website SoundCloud for wrongful copyright claims. Among these producers were Kardon, who had lost 23 songs due to these claims.
2019: ''Cyclops Army'', "Griztronics", and ''Wooked On Tronics''
On April 17, 2019, Australian dubstep producer PhaseOne released "Demon Hunter", a collaboration with Kardon, as part of his album Transcendency via Disciple. EDM.com's Phil Sclippa commented on the song whilst reviewing the album, stating that it featured Kardon's "insane sound design and riddim elements, along with some entertaining samples." On July 7, Kardon released his ninth extended play Cyclops Army via his record label Cyclops Recordings. The four-track extended play included the songs "Cyclops Army", "Glitch Fight", "They Call Me", and "Loopholes", most of which were previewed in the fourth volume of Kardon's mixtape series Now That’s What I Call Riddim. On July 23 Canadian producer and DJ Excision released a remix album based on his fourth studio albumApex. Kardon was featured on the album with his remix of the song "Vault". While reviewing the album, Jayce Ullah-Blocks of EDM Identity briefly touched on Kardon's remix, noting that he had retained elements from the original while "fully capturing Subtronics' diverse sound palate." On August 2, English dubstep producer Rusko collaborated with Kardon to release the song "Bounce" via the latter's record label Cyclops Recordings. The song debuted during Kardon's DJ set at Electric Forest Festival and Rusko's set at Camp Bisco earlier in the year. Writing for Dancing Astronaut, Chris Stack noted the song's influence from earlier dubstep works, utilising Kardon's "stellar syncopation and sound design" alongside Rusko's "signature elated wobbles and groove." On August 14, American songwriter and electronic producer GRiZ released his second extended play Bangers.Zip via Deadbeats. A collaboration between GRiZ and Kardon was released as one of the three songs featured on the extended play, titled "Griztronics"; a portmanteau of the two artists names. The song debuted during Kardon's DJ set at Electric Forest Festival. Writing for Dancing Astronaut, Chris Stack described the song as appealing even to "the most stubborn of dance fans". During October, the song became popular on video-sharing app TikTok, becoming the top trending song on the platform with over 259 million views in total. The song was associated with the hashtag #tastesdifferent, a similar wording to the song's pre-drop vocal "Ooh, this shit be hittin' different". On September 10, Quebec-based vomitstep producer Snails released "Snailclops", a collaboration with Kardon, via his record label Slugz Music. In the week of September 14, 2019, Kardon peaked at number 10 on Billboard's Next Big Sound chart. On October 2, Kardon released his tenth extended play Wooked On Tronics via his record label Cyclops Recordings. The extended play features 5 songs, including a collaboration with English music producerMoody Good.
