Mat Zo
Written By: BenGomori
Several times this year, we’ve been listening to a trance CD and stumbled across an absolute corker of a track, only to find the tracklisting and discover that once again, it’s that Mat Zo character. His name first cropped up on our radar last year, when Tiësto personally chose him to support his O2 Arena show. “Mat Who?” we cried, ignorantly. Not long after, those ever-sharp Anjunabeats types snapped him up to produce a slew of crisp, rousing, stunning productions like the rolling electro-trance of Synapse Dynamics and new track Nuclear Fusion. “Mat is one of the most talented young producers around today and we were instantly sure he belonged as part of the Anjuna family” says their label manager Jess. His work has all the emotion and power of trance but without the endless clichés and over-cooked sounds that still litter too much of the trance world. And like many of the scene’s best producers – he thinks most of the genre at the moment isn’t saying much.
And as if this rude form wasn’t enough, we just found out that he’s also behind the drum & bass moniker MRSA, now signed to Hospital Records and responsible for some incredible tracks at the moment like Chemicals (check it out on the new This Is Drum + Bass compilation), and even dabbles in some beautiful downtempo flavours. Being signed to arguably the biggest labels in both trance and drum & bass at the age of 19 is an incredible feat.
Depressingly prodigious, Mat Zo is one of the hottest properties in electronic music right now.
How and when were you first infected by dance music?
I was about 8 and I heard Daft Punk - One More Time on TV. I remember being mesmerised by the combination of harmony and rhythm. It was something completely new to me, and dance music still gives me that feeling.
When did you start making music / producing, and how long was it before you started making tracks that you were really happy with?
I've been making music since I was 2, but I started composing MIDIs at around age 11. My friend gave me a copy of Logic 5 when I was 13, and thats when I started making trance. I'm still never truly satisfied with my own music though, and it took me about 4 years before I got a sound I was happy with. Drum and bass wise, I'm still a novice and I'm constantly learning new things. I hope I'm never satisfied by my own music so I'll always have the motivation to to produce.
What have been your personal favourite tracks / productions so far?
If you have to make me choose, I'd say Synapse Dynamicson Anjunabeats. I can still listen to it and not want to die. I can't really say the same for most of my other stuff, but I guess thats the problem with becoming a producer full time. You have to listen to your own music so much you eventually hate it. There are other tracks which I like such as Subaquatic Dream and Different (a drum and bass track under my MRSA guise), but neither of them work well in a club. Don't get me wrong, I love making club bangers aswell.
Where does your name come from?
My real name is Matan Zohar so I 'did a Tiësto' and took the first few letters from each name and squashed them together. MRSA is my drum and bass/dubstep/breaks alias. Hospital Records needed me to come up with a name so... yeh, you get the joke.
Who would you most like to work with?
I think if I had the option I'd work with Johnny Greenwood or Thom York, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, and Hanz Zimmer. I could probably give you book of people but if either Johnny Greenwood or Thom York are reading this, give me shout!
What have you got in store for the coming months?
I'm gonna try and start writing an album. I don’t think it will be a typical EDM album, I wan't it to be available to people who dont listen to dance music, as well as clubbers. At the same time, I'll put out a few more trance and drum and bass singles so keep posted. I also have a few other ambitious plans. I got inspired by that BBC2 documentary where Goldie composes a piece of music for the Proms. Watching that, I was thinking how epic it would be to compose a score for and orchestra, or even a whole symphony!
What can we expect from one of your DJ sets or live sets?
It will depend on what mood I'm in. So don’t be surpirsed if you come to one of my trance sets and I play DnB at the end and sped up tech house at the beginning. I play whatever I think will sound good, and you'd be surprised how rich music can sound when you break down genre barriers.
If you weren’t a DJ/producer/artists, what would you be?
Broke! I cant think of any other profession I could live with, honestly.
Which other producers and DJs and artists do you really rate?
At the moment I'm really bored of most dance music. Some people like Mike Foyle, Breakfast and DJ Eco to name a few, are keeping trance alive for me. Noisia and Brookes Brothers are probably my favourite DnB names. I want to make my drums and basslines sound as crisp as Noisia's, then I'll feel complete as a producer!
Mat Zo plays The Gallery at Ministry Of Sound this Friday 2nd October in London.
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