DJ OF THE WEEK 4.1.13: MAT ZO

Matan Zohar, known to the world as Mat Zo, was born in London, England in 1990 to a family bursting with artists. His father Israel Zohar, is an extremely successful artist who was once commissioned to paint an official portrait of Princess Diana. His mother is a professional violinist. Two of his brothers are filmmakers, another an architect, another is also a successful artist. His half sister, Alma Zohar is a successful Israeli musician. This sure does explain a lot.

Of course, Mat Zo’s talent isn’t entirely due to his genes. His parents made sure he took up an instrument at an early age, his father presenting him with his first guitar at age 8. By the time his family moved back to London when Zo was 11 (they had been living in Cleveland, Ohio soon after Zo was born) he was playing drums in a jazz band and bass for a rock band. But it was the sounds of another genre altogether, one he first caught a whiff of back around the time his father had given him that guitar, that caught his attention. The introduction came via the song ‘One More Time’ by Daft Punk, and from that moment he has been hooked to electronic dance music.

Mat Zo claims to have begun making music at two, but admits it wasn’t until he was 11 that he began in earnest by composing on computers. At 13 he was introduced to Logic 5 and soon was going full steam, methodically and famously poring over every note before allowing any of his productions to see the light of day. Even till this day, he’ll be the first to tell you he finds it hard to listen to his own music and sometimes even cringes at his earlier works. Eventually the day did come and his music did make it to the masses. His life hasn’t been the same since.

From his first single ‘Exodus,’ when he was just 16 years old to the many productions that make up his quickly growing discography, Zo has been on a tear. Tracks like ‘Pay Attention,’ ‘Mozart,’ ‘Rebound,’ ‘Silver Lining,’ ‘24 Hours,’ ‘The Lost,’ ‘Satellite Dynamics,’ ‘Superman,’ and his latest ‘The Bipolar EP’ show that this young phenomenon does in fact have quite the future ahead. At least his peers seem to think so.

Currently just 23 years old, Mat Zo is known and loved throughout the world for his ability to easily switch between genres. He is a big fan of Trance but then is throwing down hard with Drum and Bass the next. Wherever and whatever he plays any where in the world, the crowds go crazy. Zo has been considered one of the hottest young talents since before he was 18 by many of the biggest DJs in the game such as Above & Beyond and industry trade publications such as on DJ Mag, which placed him at the #66 spot of their Top 100 list in 2009. Zo was 19 years old.

Despite all the accolades, Zo maintains that humble nature that would keep him from sharing his music with anyone when he was just a kid living with his parents and doing chores. He continues to work hard at improving his lot and doesn’t take his fame and fortune lightly. He thanks the powers that be for his youth, because as he sees it, it means he has that much more time to learn from his elders and continue improving on his skills. Something he intends on doing his entire life, which telling by his genes, should be a long and prosperous one.