Matan Zohar ( ; born 30 April 1990), better known by his stage name Mat Zo, is a British producer and DJ. Zohar released his debut album, ''

Damage Control In navies and the maritime industry, damage control is the emergency control of situations that may cause the sinking of a watercraft. Examples are: * rupture of a pipe or hull especially below the waterline and * damage from grounding (ru ...

'', via the

Anjunabeats Anjunabeats is a British record label started by producers Jonathan "Jono" Grant and Paavo Siljamäki of Above & Beyond in 2000. Initially exclusively a trance music label, around 2011 Anjunabeats started releasing primarily trance-edged hou ...

and

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

labels on 5 November 2013. His second studio album, ''

Self Assemble ''Self Assemble'' is the second studio album by British electronic musician Mat Zo. It was released on his own record label Mad Zoo, on 25 March 2016. It acts as the follow-up to his debut album ''Damage Control'' (2013), and consists of tracks ...

'', was released on 25 March 2016 under his own Mad Zoo label.

Early life

The son of artist Israel Zohar, and half-brother of Israeli singer Alma Zohar, Matan Zohar was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 30 April 1990 and lived in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

until the age of eleven before returning to his birthland. He was raised by his mother, Wendy Caron Zohar, a professional

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/composers, ...

who nurtured Matan's early love of and inclination toward music. His father, who was a

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

-born painter, gifted him a guitar at the age of eight which eventually shifted to him forming musical bands and playing with drums and bass. Zohar began to explore electronic music in his teens by self-learning music production with

Logic Pro Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI music sequencer, sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which ...

and taking inspiration from artists like

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre t ...

and

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

Career

Mat's releases on

have earned substantial critical acclaim, and his collaboration with

Porter Robinson Porter Weston Robinson (born July 15, 1992) is an American DJ, record producer, musician, and singer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Robinson began producing music in his childhood. He signed to Skrillex's record label Owsla, OWSLA at the age o ...

, " Easy", reached number eleven on the US

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart, and number one on Beatport. On 28 August 2013, Mat Zo announced the title and artwork for his debut album ''

'' as well as a teaser track called "Little Damage". ''Damage Control'' was released on 5 November of that year. It garnered immediate critical acclaim and established Mat as an extremely versatile artist who could produce electronic music of all types and genres.

Dancing Astronaut Dancing Astronaut is an American media platform founded in 2009 that primarily covers the electronic dance music industry. The website covers concerts and festivals, reports on entertainment news, reviews music, and publishes original content sy ...

called it "an inspiring and timeless artistic debut". The album went on to be nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for

Best Dance/Electronic Album The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards — a ceremony that was established in 1958 — to recording artists for quality albums in the dance music and electronica genres. Honors in several categ ...

. On 25 March 2016, Mat Zo released his second studio album titled ''Self Assemble'', which he speculated to be his "farewell to the DMindustry" due to his disenchantment with the

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

scene as of 2015. "This album is sort of my last send-off before I go and do other things in life. It feels like I’m ready to go and venture off into other realms," stated Mat Zo to

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

. As of January 2017, Mat Zo appeared to have changed his mind about retiring due to a "renewed sense of vigor and passion", and continues to tour and produce with his main name in addition to two new collectives; Kill The Zo with Kill The Noise and The Mary Nixons with

The Knocks The Knocks is an American electronic music duo consisting of Ben "B-Roc" Ruttner and James "JPatt" Patterson. They have released 3 full length albums Big Beat Records, Neon Gold">Big Beat Records (American record label)">Big Beat Records, Neon ...

. His earlier drum and bass productions are under the pseudonym MRSA on

Hospital Records Hospital Records is a British independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman (London Elektricity) and Chris Goss, and has grown in recent years to become one of ...

. He also has several unreleased tracks under the MRSA moniker playable through his Myspace account. Mat has also continued to produce occasional drum and bass releases under his current name, such as "Games" for ''UKF10'' and "Blessed Be Thy Name" for ''This Is MAD TOO''. Mat Zo revealed through a

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

"Ask-Me-Anything" on 6 July 2018 that he was working on a third studio album. He returned to Anjunabeats in the same year with the release of his ''No Words'' EP, ending his five year hiatus from the label. Mat Zo's "classic" trance and progressive sound within the EP were praised by critics. Mat Zo released his third album, ''Illusion of Depth'', through Anjunabeats in 2020. In 2021, his song "Colours (feat. Olan)" was featured in the racing video game

Forza Horizon 5 ''Forza Horizon 5'' is a 2021 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the fifth ''Forza Horizon'' title and twelfth main instalment in the ''Forza'' series. The game is set in a fictionalised r ...

Mad Zoo Records

Following the establishment of his own label Mad Zoo in August 2014, Mat Zo has focused his efforts onto expanding his label and creating a platform for upcoming artists. The first compilation on Mad Zoo, ''This Is Mad Zoo'' was released on 5 July 2019, which included 12 tracks from various artists including Mat Zo, himself. The second compilation, entitled ''This Is Mad Too'', was released exclusively on

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used ...

on 20 January, and on all other major streaming platforms on 24 January 2020. ''This Is Mad Too'' includes a total of 17 tracks from Mat Zo, Tsuruda, Rohaan, Acrillics, Gladez, Anti.Negative and others. A release party for the compilation was hosted by Bass Waffles in Highland Park, Los Angeles, on 26 January.

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (2013) * ''

'' (2016) * ''Illusion of Depth'' (2020)

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

, - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, ''

'' , rowspan="1",

, , -

References

External links

Mat Zo official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zo, Mat British people of Kazakh descent English DJs English electronic musicians English record producers 1990 births Living people English people of Kazakhstani descent English people of Israeli descent Musicians from London English trance musicians Electronic dance music DJs Anjunabeats artists Armada Music artists Astralwerks artists