YOUR DAILY DOSE: MATTA: The Lost (INTERVIEW)

March 03, 2010

MATTA: The Lost (INTERVIEW)

Artist: MATTA
Title: The Lost
Release Date: March 8,2010
In The Store:
Buy this on 12"
Buy this as mp3

With their debut record, Matta bring the excitement back to dubstep. Shifting genres, adding weight, sharpening the production: this young duo come up with an immense three tracker that taps in a variety of style and unite influences into an enormous and coherent release. Not for weak sound systems, but clearly for all bass addicts.

First hearing them on Skism's: Never Say Die Vol. 2. MATTA's track "Hit The Switch," Just blew our minds, and knew these young fellas had something going on, so I did a bit research on these talented young cats, and actually we got to get a little one-on-one interview on MATTA and found some interesting things on them! Here is the interview with them:

Read more!

So like I had said we got to conduct a very short interview with both member of MATTA (J & Andy), yes that's right two geniuses behind Matta! here is how it went, enjoy,

Drop Doctors: Whaaaaat's up MATTA!?! Major shout outs from California!!

MATTA: What's up Doc's!

Drop Doctors: So let's start out with your guys name.

Matta- J & Andy better known as MATTA.

DD: Right on!, Where do find yourself on Goggle Earth? lol

M: lol London.

DD: Where are you writting from??

M: our Studio.

DD: Where the terror becomes! lol

DD: Okay on some serious business, When did you guys start producing? Where within the whole realm of music do you define your roots?

M: We started working together after going to Music College at the same place. We both had an interest in harder electronic music and both liked dubstep, it was a good medium between everything we liked and seemed open to experimentation. Our roots probably lie in a lot of things, drum and bass and early hip-hop are probably what we have in common. Individually it diverts to Breaks, deep / tech house and extends to metal and film scores.

DD: Very deep, Mad Respects. What production software do you use, if you mind sharing?

M: Currently using Logic with a few plug-ins. Its mostly software based but we have been known to throw a few live elements in.

DD: Man, you guys are real gifted!! lol

DD: On the other hand, A lot of people might ask or wonder if you guys spin vinyls?

M: Did do, then it all got a bit expensive to carry on. Nowadays it is easier for a lot of reasons to use CD's, even though the feeling of mixing on vinyl cant be beat. You can carry a lot more tracks with you to diversify your set if needs be, play brand new tracks in a set and on the whole it is cheaper. It is a shame though as vinyl has got the perfect bottom end for what we make.

DD: I hear you on that fellas. What has been like THEE BEST venue and/or sound system you've played on?

M: We have not really played that many places but we did have a go on Fabric London's system. Even the monitors beat most clubs main systems. That system has got to be the envy of most places.

DD: I bet it is, I feel like your rubbing it in my face!! haha We would like to experience something so magnificent like that! haha

DD: A lot of producers get stuck in a typical sound and struggle to move out of the box (which can be good or bad), are you guys aware of this when you start a new track? Or rather, are you guys conscious of what “your sound” is? How might you describe it?

M: We guess our sound is pretty broad. We do what we feel on any given day and the beauty of Dubstep is that it covers such a range of sounds that you’re able to make contrasting tracks without stepping out of the genre. Before we start a track we always try to get a central idea. This might be something we have in our heads or a sample we take from somewhere to base the track around because it is much easier when you have a solid starting point. We don’t think we have a particular sound, perhaps an overtone. Most things we do are meant to have an energy or emotion attached to them but can be interpreted by people in whatever way they like.

DD: Well said. What are some cats you would like to collaborate with?

M: We are currently working with LDZ (London Zoo) which was something we really wanted to try as they are really good rappers and we wanted to try out putting the 2 styles together.
Other people would like to work with would be Bjork, Flying Lotus, 16bit, Jakes, Kode 9, Rustie, Noah D, Skism, Distance, Instra:mental, Skream … the list could go on and on

DD: Some very great names there. What are your top five tracks to play out right now? Top five to just kick it to?

M: Top tracks to play out now would be:

1) 16bit “Panic”
2) 12th Planet “68”
3) Dubtek “Smoke”
4) Bare Noize “Filthy Lumox”
5) Jakes “3kout” (never leaves our side)

5 tracks to just kick it to:

1) J Dilla “Won’t Do”
2) Souls Of Mischief “ Make your mind up”
3) Ugly Duckling “Get on this”
4) The Detroit Experiment “Think Twice”
5) Roy Ayers “The Memory

DD: Niiiiiiice!! =) When you are crafting a new song, do you have interests in mind or do you try and get in the head of your typical listener?

M: We don’t really know what our typical listener is to be honest. We usually start with an idea and see how it progresses, then discuss it, let it rest for a day and come back to it with some more ideas and experiment.

DD: How did you guys come about Ad Noiseam and will we see more of you guys with them?

M: We had always been a fan of their stuff, they are extremely diverse and quality controlled with some great names on the label. We sent them a few tracks by post, always remember to send it by post to Ad Noiseam! They then got in touch asking what we were doing with certain tracks and it all progressed from there. Hopefully you will see more from us on there.

DD: Will you guys conduct any type of remix contest for your new tunes; Inquisition Part III, Suicide Stutter, and Mass?

M: Never really thought about it. It would be really good though to get peoples interpretations and see what they did with the parts.

DD: Most definitely it will!! How do you keep your upbeat louder style of dubstep and not sound cheesy as unfortunately a lot of that style has developed into?

M: We are very self critical. If there is anything we are unsure about we try to come back to it later with a fresh set of ears and make a decision then.
We know a track can easily descend into something cheesy with one false move so we stay conscious to the fact.

DD: Tell the readers a crazy story that happened during a set or at a show you guys attended.

M: As we said we have not DJ’d that much as Matta, but one set we had at 333 in Shoreditch, London was pretty bad. We were DJing at a Breaks night and were in the room downstairs. We firstly had a rock band on before us who emptied the dance floor better than the cleaners, we were then meant to go on unbeknown to us we are competing with one of the biggest breaks acts upstairs at a breaks night! We did not stand a chance. Half way through our set one of the previous DJs came up to us and said she liked our stuff and then pointed towards the dance floor saying that someone else seemed to really like it. Thinking OK well at least someone likes it, I looked out and saw it was just my mate, very drunk, practicing his martial arts…

DD: Haha Anything else to tell the Drop Doctor readers out there?

M: Check out our other bits on
www.myspace.com/mattamusicuk
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL01hdHRhT2ZmaWNpYWw=
Also forthcoming bits on Heavy Artillery, Artz Of War, Komod O Dragon etc.

Big Ups to the DROP DOCTOR FAMILY!

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT THE LOST EP.