Barely Alive

Formed in Great Barrington, Massachusetts by Matthew Meier and William "Watt" Watkins, Barely Alive has since 2013 developed a bass music approach centered on dubstep, riddim, trap, and electro house, with dense, highly chopped productions where dry rhythms, aggressive bass, and references to video games and internet aesthetics intersect. The duo initially emerged with singles and remixes released on labels such as Dirty Duck Audio and Adapted Records, before joining Disciple Records in 2014 for the EP Lost in the Internet. Barely Alive then released on Disciple, OWSLA, Monstercat, Bassrush, and Killed It!, while evolving their sound from frontal dubstep to more melodic tracks and crossovers with glitch-hop or moombahcore. Their discography includes the albums We Are Barely Alive (2015) and Odyssey (2018), as well as several EPs, including Domain (2017), Lost In Time and Multiplayer (2019), Computer Love (2021), Feel The Panic (2022), and Casket Case (2023). Barely Alive also participates in a scene of regular collaborations with artists such as Virtual Riot, PhaseOne, Modestep, Samplifire, Kompany, and Zomboy. On stage, Watt mainly handles the live performance while Meier remains more focused on production.