AGEN
Aigues-Mortes
Albi
Alençon
Apt
Aubenas
Avignon
Besançon
Béziers
Biarritz
Bidart
Bordeaux
Boulbon
Bouzigues
Caen
Carnac
Castelnau-De-Montmiral
Castres
Chalon-Sur-Saône
Chorges
Clermont-Ferrand
Frontignan
Grenoble
Grisy-les-Plâtres
Guzargues
Hyères
L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
La Baume-Cornillane
La Grande-Motte
Lanester
Le Barcarès
Le Havre
Le Mans
Limoges
Loriol-du-Comtat
Lyon
Marseille
Méribel
Montpellier
Nantes
Narbonne
Nîmes
Paris
Peray
Perpignan
Poitiers
Rennes
Roquebrune-sur-Argens
Roubaix
Rouen
Roujan
Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers
Saint-Raphaël
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Sète
Solliès-Pont
Strasbourg
Torreilles
Toulon
Toulouse
Troyes
Valence
Vauvert
Vesoul
Vierzon
Acqui Terme
Alassio
Alba
Alessandria
Alghero
Altamura
Aprica
Arenzano
Ariccia
BARBERINO DI MUGELLO
Barga
Bari
Bolzano
Bordighera
Borgaro Torinese
Bressanone
Brindisi
Budoni
Cagliari
Campobasso
Capri
Capriccioli
Carbonia
Cassinetta di Lugagnano
Cassino
Castagnole Monferrato
Castel Volturno
Castelfranco Emilia
Castelsardo
Castiglione del Lago
Catania
Catanzaro
CHIOGGIA
Città di Castello
CONVERSANO
Corato
Corigliano d'Otranto
Courmayeur
Cuneo
Desio
Domodossola
DONNAFUGATA
Ercolano
Faenza
Favignana
Florence
Foligno
Fontanafredda
Francavilla al Mare
Frosinone
Genoa
Gozzano
Grottaglie
Guidonia Montecelio
Imperia
Jesolo
L'Aquila
Laigueglia
LAINATE
Lecce
Legnano
Lissone
Loano
Locorotondo
Madonna di Campiglio
Marano Ticino
Marina di Ginosa
Martinengo
Marzamemi
Massa Lubrense
Matera
Milan
Mirano
Modena
Modica
Montalto di Castro
Montecatini Terme
Montella
Montemarano
Monticchio
Naples
Nocera Terinese
Noto
Novara
Nusco
Oristano
Otranto
Padua
Palermo
Perugia
Pescara
Petrosino
Pietrasanta
Pisa
Pistoia
Poirino
Porto Cervo
Prato
Puntone
Quarrata
Ravenna
Ripalimosani
Roccavignale
Rome
Roseto degli Abruzzi
Ruvo di Puglia
Salerno
Saluzzo
SAN DONATO MILANESE
San Giorgio Canavese
San Michele Vecchio
Sannicandro di Bari
Sanremo
Santa Margherita Ligure
Sardegna
Saronno
Sassari
Scalea
Scicli
Sesto Fiorentino
Sperlonga
Squillace
Strevi
Taranto
TERAMO
Terni
Terracina
Tolentino
Tonengo
Turin
Tradate
TRAPANI
Trieste
Turi
Udine
Uliveto Terme
Valdengo
Valtournenche
Varazze
Varese
Vasto
Venice
Verbania
Viareggio
Vigevano
Vimercate
Albufeira
Alenquer
Almancil
Alturas do Barroso
Amora
Baleal
Barreiro
Beja
Caixas
Cambeses
Candal
Cascais
Coimbra
Costa da Caparica
Esmoriz
Estômbar
Famalicão
Faro
Ferrel
Figueira da Foz
Gaio-Rosário
Geres
Guimarães
Lisbon
Madeira
Marinha Grande
Mondim de Basto
Nazaré
Oeiras
Palmela
Porches
Portimão
Porto
Quarteira
Seixal
Serrazes
Setúbal
Sintra
Sra. Da Hora
Torres Vedras
Viana do Castelo
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Alicante
Almeria
Arrecife
Avilés
Baqueira
Barcelona
Basauri
Benalmadena
Benidorm
Bilbao
Burgos
Cádiz
Castelldefels
Ciudad Real
Corralejo
Denia
Elche
Formentera
Fuengirola
Fuerteventura
Gijón
Girona
Granada
Huelva
Huesca
Ibiza
Jávea
Lanzarote
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
León
Lloret de Mar
Madrid
Málaga
Manresa
Marbella
Maspalomas
Menorca
Mogán
Murcia
Oviedo
Palma de Mallorca
San Sebastián
Sant Josep de sa Talaia
Santander
Segovia
Seville
Sotogrande
Tarragona
Tenerife
Toledo
Torre del Mar
Torremolinos
Valencia
Valladolid
Vigo
Vinaròs
Vitoria
Zaragoza
0 followers
Mathew Jonson really is one of a kind. He's developed one of the most distinctive voices in electronic dance music: when you hear one of Jonson's tracks, you almost immediately know it's his. And yet there's no mistaking any given track for another. His music offers a rare fusion of populist intensities and nuanced musicality. With a keen understanding for the needs of the dancefloor and the universal laws of house and techno, he's thrown out the rule book time and time again, sneaking tricks learned from electro and even drum'n'bass into minimal clubs, and loading up his B-sides with tracks that do what they damned well please. (No kick drum? No problem.) His standards for sound and presentation are exacting. Both on stage and in the studio, Jonson's fealty to analog equipment and real-time play—as opposed to mere playback—serves as a standardbearer for a kind of electronic music that goes way beyond the drag 'n' drop world of digital composition. Jonson has always been eager to get his hands dirty, and the music reflects that in gnarled bass sequences and long, intuitive lines. His sounds have serious teeth. And despite his quick ascent through the ranks of the techno elite, Jonson hasn't just stayed personally grounded. He's devoted much of his energy to supporting his own close musical family, both in the groups Cobblestone Jazz and the Modern Deep Left Quartet, and with his Wagon Repair label, which he cofounded with Jesse Fisk, Graham and Adam Boothby, Frank Meyerhofer and Konrad Black. He studied classical piano as a kid, plus jazz drumming, and played drums in a marching band —thus laying both the melodic and the rhythmic cornerstones of his music today. (Plenty of musicians claim to be "classically trained," of course, rendering the phrase all but meaningless. But here's something you might not have known about Mathew: he's actually begun studying piano again, which suggests a musical seriousness that's rare in the world of auto-didact button-pushers. Thanks to his father's work with sound technology, he also got his hands on synthesizers at the age of 9. By the time he discovered hip-hop as a young teen, he was recreating its electro-based beats on his own rudimentary setup at home. It was in Victoria, when he was 19, that Jonson met up with the crew that would help guide his musical trajectory: Tyger Dhula, Danuel Tate and Colin de la Plante, who were playing and DJing parties around the area. The four started playing in clubs together, an early version of the group that exists today as Cobblestone Jazz and the Modern Deep Left Quartet. (The Modern Deep Left Quartet was the original name for the foursome; after de la Plante moved to Montreal, the remaining trio carried on as Cobblestone Jazz.) "It was all improvised," says Jonson of the group's early days. "We never really worked in the studio, we would just meet at the nightclub and jam. That's how it started. We did that for quite a while, and then it morphed into a residency at a club, once every two weeks." To keep it interesting, they would invite other musicians—on trumpet, violin, bass, sax, and rhythm sections—to join them. After de la Plante left town, Cobblestone Jazz began focusing its efforts more squarely on the dancefloor, moving away from purely improvised sets to include composed and rehearsed passages. And Jonson gradually began honing in on his own sound, both in his productions and his DJ sets, inspired by a deeper, weirder sound that had begun filtering into the city's techno parties. His first record, in 2001, was the first release on the B.C. label Itiswhatitis, appropritately titled "New Identity." Another followed in 2002, and in 2003. That year, he also made his first appearance on Perlon, "Alpine Rocket"—a track he recorded alongside Luciano during his first trip to Europe. And then, suddenly, Jonson was everywhere: Itiswhatitis, Sub Static, Arbutus, Kompakt, M_nus—and every track an anthem. "I had all that music kind of saved up," says Jonson, "and then, just by chance, released it all at the same time. People criticized me for it, said that it wasn't a good idea. But it worked out for me. All the tracks did well. I wasn't saturating the market with bad music." He's right there. In 2005, Jonson co-founded Wagon Repair, and it's been a blur since, a nonstop series of tours and recordings, solo and with his bandmates. Crucially, he moved to Berlin. Here, he and de la Plante—who moved over at the same time—have set up Cobblestone Jazz' European headquarters, providing not only the launch pad for European tours but, more importantly, the control center for the group's recorded activities. The studio is jawdropping, frankly: a semi-circle full of gear, from old workhorses like the 808 and 909 and SH-101 to unique beasts like their Cwejman and Roland System 100m modular system. Tate's Rhodes piano anchors one corner of the horseshoe, and everything feeds into a massive desk where tracks are mixed and recorded in real-time. Jonson makes his own music essentially the same way—only with two hands instead of eight. Those two hands have come up with some remarkable material. Having perfected his brand of earthshaking epic with tracks like "Marionette," "Return of the Zombie Bikers" and "Symphony for the Apocalypse," Jonson has increasingly turned his efforts towards more personal, introspective music. He hasn't left the clubs behind—his new album, Agents of Time, features a number of tracks that are as hip-windingy wily as anything he's produced yet, full-on tracks like "Girls Got Rhythm" and "Thieves in Digital Land." But he's also taken advantage of the longplayer format to stretch out and indulge darker moods and slower tempos. "I like to have phrases that sound like they're major, but then they go minor when they turn around," explains Jonson. "You think that you're in a happy place, but suddenly you're not. I like playing with that tension. When I look at the music I've made, the best music is always music that can stimulate any kind of emotion. It's more like a key, towards opening up whatever is inside of you -a gateway" You can expect him to be unlocking even more emotions soon—ones you may not have even known you had—when he ramps up with Midnight Operator, a collaboration with his brother Nathan Jonson, aka Hrdvsion. With Nathan also based in Berlin, the two are finding common musical ground, expanding upon the platform they established with their lone, 2007 EP for Wagon Repair as they begin work on an album. "Obviously, you can look at what I do with my label and the bands I have, to see what's important to me," says Jonson of keeping it in the family, so to speak. "I'm lucky because I have so many friends who are strong musicians. We can all feed off of each other. You know, when you're doing music, it's such a personal thing. To have an outlet with the labels to be able to release our music, and be able to all stay together, I think there's a lot of strength in that. Everybody is stronger as a group." – Philip Sherburne
Articles, news and mentions about Mathew Jonson
Mathew Jonson
Business & Organizers
Go out
Events
Popular venues
Artists
Top headliners