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MATYS
His real name is Mateusz Zontek. Born in 1990, grew up in Zabrzeg, a little village short way off the bigger town, Bielsko-Biała. His adventure with dance music began in childhood. Familiar with people dancing break-dance, at the age of 8 his interest and attention focused, instead of dancing, on music, to which older friends were training. Fascinated by energy sounds, he gives himself with passion over making made-up music album’s covers. Run Dmc, Davy Dmx, Afrika Bambaataa, Beastie Boys, Funk Master Flash, Arthur Baker – these are just some of his last idols: ‘I loved to listen those fast beats. The more ‘fat’ and energy, the better’. By the time. Everything has changed, when one day, somebody played album ‘Music For The Jilted Generation’, by The Prodigy.
Dark and aggressive hard hit of British band was a revelation for Matys. Since then he has been their ardent and devoted fan. Even more, he had never hid, that many inspirations and elements of his music style were drawn from freak trio from Shakespeare's homeland. After the discovery of a heavy, severe tone electric music appetite had increased and searches of equally strong strike had begun. Something, what would combine explosive beats with low, angry rumble. Until 2005 he found out music, which was able to provide it to him . In 2005 he found Drum’n’bass.
Making a decision, to became an active creator instead of being a passive listener, wasn’t a difficult or long process: ‘It was not a whisper of my inner voice, it was screaming within me. And every time I devoted my time to other things, I felt subconsciously that I’m losing it, wasting it. Since I can remember I have never responded to music passively. I’ve always been making some imaginations about it, or have been trying to make my own compilations, album’s covers, e.t.c.’. So there was not much needed to change passion into real shapes. That is why Matys initiated his first music experience in collective, Bad4you (2011), which was inspired by current trends in broadly defined bass music.
He founded Bad4you with a friend, Simon Waliczek. That was a colleagues initiative. Simon had produced rock music for a long time and began to try to create electronic music. ‘I’ve always loved this kind of sound, but I’ve never had enough willingness to learn how to make it. I was convinced that I am not made for this. I hadn’t got patience and thought you must have outstanding science abilities to be able to comprehend all these devices support. One summer I went for seasonal work by the sea. I fried fish there for 15 hours per day, without weekends. It was the first time in my life I have worked so hard. And then I thought, if I had put so much effort and had spent so much time learning how to deal with a computer programs maybe I could have discovered the seed of this ‘science’. When I got back home I learned the basics of music production and I suggested making collective with Simon.
At the beginning they played dj sets, after that, in 2012, they initiated playing live. It was a combination dj sets with live drums, guitar and rapcore-screamming vocals. They started to bring on heavy guitar riffs into the club music, which add to it rock coloring. They played before such stars as Dj Fresh, bar9, Matrix, Balkansky, Modestep, Document One, Zomboy. Their remixes were popular amid thematic portals - they gathered hundreds of thousands of plays. They captured the all Silesia clubs with their wild performances and shortly, thanks to an innovative live play, filled with unique productions they became headliners of the majority of events and they ruled in clubs all over the country. Their live acts left a lot of emotions behind, also among people outside the club music environment. You could say that they created a bridge between rock audience and electronic. Live performances attracted fan base of both species.
But the inevitable time of goodbyes came. Simon, unlike Matys, didn’t see a way of life in the music industry. After completing university, in 2015 they officially put an end to the project Bad4you, but remained friends. Since early 2015 Mateusz worked in father's company and at the same time studied music production. Work on the new material went very laboriously, it was hard for him to reconcile two - requiring a lot of time – activities. Slow tempo of work, due to continuous absorbing his attention from the family firm matters, has led to the implementation of a more risky action plan. In the second half of 2015 Matys made a decision about quitting current job and going to Netherlands: ‘I had a plan to work for a couple of months, return to Poland and focus on thr project only. I got back at the beginning of 2016 with small budget and I could give myself over the thing I love – music’. Finally there was enough time to devote himself to a producer craft and develop his own music taste at the smallest details.
The Call of Zulu
What happens when Drum and Bass beats meet dirty metal guitars? lt could be life- and-death struggle like between fire and water or Ahrirnan and Ormuzd. It could be also an unbearable mixture like beer and juice or sandals and socks. But this is not the case. Music from ‘Child of Contempt’ is original and consistent mix of different styles such as neurofunk, bass music or metal which gives in result a true powerful club banger!
Child of Contempt deals with dark side of force. It awakes deep, primordial energy that probably was permeating tribal music of our ancestors. Mantric vocals and nervous rhythms bring out from our deep unconsciousness memories of ancient violent rituals. This music is wild. It is like a hairy animal freed from the cage and furiously roaring towards the world.
In new Matys work we can recognize various inspirations. We hear in it the rage of Rage Against the Machine as well as Noisia's style of noise. Also Liam Howlett would find here his way of thinking of music (which is symbolized, as we know, by picture of David Guetta hanging out of the window). In addition this music is rooted in the same soil as Sepultura's ‘Roots’. All these elements together plus something unnamed gives in effect a real dynamite.
The sound on ‘Child of Contempt’ is fat and heavy like a hail cloud. Each track maintains extreme level of energy and each has very dense and dark atmosphere that is not easy to breath. But, above and beyond that savage noise, we can easily grasp unforgettable riffs and melodic phrases.
Matys on his debut doesn’t want us to contemplate the bright side of life. He reminds us that real life also consists of pain, anxiety and anger. To overcome his demons first, everyone has to face them. Music can be a battlefield there but also a weapon. So let drums rumble! Let the bass roar! The storm is coming.
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