Gig Review: Mat Zo at Club Royalty, Mumbai

One of the most quick-witted DJ’s and an immensely talented producer of the Dance Music fraternity, Matan Zohar aka Mat Zo returned to India this week to begin his much anticipated ‘Damage Control World Tour‘. Not exactly referencing his hilarious ‘ghee’ remarks (that sent most of us ROFLing) but Mat Zo’s brilliantly curated set certainly satisfied our Dance-buds, as he served audience members present at Royalty, Mumbai his own special seven-course feast of beats & bliss!

Born in an artistically gifted family, it was when presented with a guitar at the age of 8 by his father, Matan started his course towards musical harmony. Pursuing his musical interests as a drummer and bassist, Matan then found his earliest influences from the sounds of Daft Punk & Chemical Brothers. It was then when his musical inclinations began to gradually shift towards electronic music. By age 13 he was producing music and by 16, he was DJing. He began to produce music in London and was beginning to get noticed by prominent producers. But it wasn’t before mid-2007, when industry heavyweight Tiesto hired him to remix “Driving To Heaven”, and the remix appeared on Tiesto’s internationally recognized “In Search Of Sunrise 7″ CD compilation. Over the years, Mat Zo has gained tremendous support by the world’s top DJs, including Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Above and Beyond, Markus Schulz, and Airwave. He has numerous releases out on such labels as Intuition, Armada, and Anjunabeats, and continues to produce varied electronic music, ranging from drum and bass, to trance and progressive house. His tracks are difficult to characterize as he as always displayed an open minded approach to his productions, experimenting and fusing various genres to create new sounds. At the young age of 23, the future looks very bright for this young producer/DJ’s career as his re-portiere already boasts of a plethora of music, that would make any of his contemporaries gladly acknowledge his incredible talent.

Currently travelling on his inaugural artist album tour, entitled ‘Damage Control’, Mat Zo sent airwaves on social media when he announced he will begin his world tour with his beloved India. Continuing his wonderful trend of an annual visit to India, Mat Zo gave his Indian fans much to cheer about by putting four Indian cities first on his list! Meanwhile, his album, which features previous singles like “The Sky,” “Easy,” and “Pyramid Scheme,” is sure to defy any genre limitations and conceptions of popular versus underground as Mat Zo’s knack for experimentation and production skills could transcend that debate all together.

Submerge, who were hosting the event, had aptly decked up the venue with additional visualization screens and colorful backdrops across the ceiling. The mood was bright and energetic, as the colorful screens and light sculptures added a sense of adventure and dynamics – much like the music we were about to savor. The night began with a moody set by the young and talented Arjun Shah aka AJ. AJ-who started his DJing career at the tender age of 15 himself, spun out some chunky deep house and tech house tunes before moving into some progressive house and electro. With tracks like Thomas Schumacher’s “Every Little Piece (Hot Since 82 Remix)” and Prok & Fitch’s “Here Comes The Noise” he had certainly ‘got the groove on’ with the crowd. And when he dropped the jungle sounds of Franky Rizardo’s “Bumba Meu Boi (Original Mix)” and the alluring melodies of Pleasurekraft & Format B feat. Chris The Voice’s “Coltrane” any members still waiting by the bar, now gradually shifted towards the dancefloor.

Quite like an underground club usually has it, a candid dance battle too ensued, as two energetic members could not contain themselves too the groovy double delight of Jay Lumen’s “Not LIke that” and “Get Ready” . We’re pleased to report that there were no losers as everyone celebrated the dance battle with Fedde le Grand’s “Metrum”! AJ further exhibited his fine console talents as he churned out Sean Finn’s re take of the famous “Show Me Love 2K12 (Crazibiza Remix)” before playing the surrealistic Faithless’s “Sun To Me (Mark Knight Co-production)”. The crowd got into playful wooting with Criminal Vibes’s “Song 2″ and Adrian Lux’s “Teenage crime (Axwell Henrik B Remode)” while Prok & Fitch’s “The Tribe” got them back to dancing! Meanwhile, Submerge Director Nikhil Chinapa then appeared on the decks introducing AJ to the merrily-dancing crowd. With heavier tracks such as Franky Rizardo & Roul and Doors“Blackout (Original Mix)” and the awesome double team of Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano’s “Lethal Industry” and “Ultronic” any and all members of the audience left standing by joined in with the ceremonious jumping as the crowd looked amply warmed up for the headlining act of the night.

As the clock struck 20 minutes past midnight Mat Zo took to the decks with a broad smile as he kicked of his ‘Damage Control’ tour! Starting off his hectic schedule with the calm synths of Pryda’s “Layers”?seemed to be a golden move, but things got very interesting as the vocals of Dajae’s “Everyday My Life (Acappella)” came into play! Those melodic riffs and the comforting vocals was a masterclass edit! Following it was Eric Sneo & Chris The Voice’s fantastic “Shut Up & Dance (Original Mix)” and the powerful Bang La Decks’s “Kuedon” . Then kicked in the bass with Alex M.O.R.P.H. & Jerome Isma-Ae’s “Bang!” followed by the melodic Gary Caos vs Lazy Rich & John Dahlback “Soul Power Insomnia 74 (Mat Zo Mashup)”.

Mat Zo was clearly feeling as adventurous as the Indian cuisine he had been tweeting about as he quickly shuffled through tempos and pitches as he dropped the massive and emotional mashup of his recent collaboration with Chuck D vs. Above & Beyond’s “Pyramid Scheme (Club Mix) vs. Walter White”?. With those characteristic riffs of Heisenberg and the funky counterparts, the crowd were completely uplifted to another realm! The playlist began to get naughtily electro as tracks like Young Rebels & Francesco Diaz’s “Damascus (Dada Life Remix)” and Wolfgang Gartner’s “Menage A Trois”made a quickfire appearance. And when Anjunabeat’s scorcher “Bird is the word” by Norin & Rad came on with the ethereal John Christain’s retake of the immortal “Flight 643″ and our own flight towards ecstasy was now unstoppable.

Playing his classic collaboration with Russian powerhouse performer Arty “Rebound” and the incredibly calm London Grammar’s absolutely fantastic “Hey Now (Arty Remix)” , one got the sense that Mat was slowly going to take the foot off the pedal. But, alas, it was not to be as Walden’s “First Day (Ivan Gough & Jebu Remix)” (was dropped to a haplessly happy crowd! Revisiting classic times with Mark Knight & Funkagenda’s “Man With The Red Face (Hardwell Remix)“ things took a turn for the bass-t when Mat Zo dropped the club anthem “LRAD” by Knife party. Following that with a scorching mashup of Wolfgang Gartner vs. Chris Lake & Michael Woods vs. Chris Lake & Marco Lys’s “Nuke vs. Black Thong vs.La Tromba (Chris Lake & Nom De Strip Remix)” and the reinstating Maor Levi & Pierce Fulton’s “Wanna Be (Club Mix)” , Mat then played another creative masterpiece mashup as he combined Wippenberg vs. GTA, Henrix & Digital Lab “Pong vs. Hit it”.

Moving on to the Trance genre, he dropped the eagerly awaited Cosmic Gate’s “So get up“ and a mind bending mashup of classic with contemporary with Orjan Nilsen vs. Martin Garrix “La Guitarra(Marcus Schossow remix) vs. Animals”. Esitva’s nerve wrenching “Dinodrums (Original mix)” was being served to us when in the most sudden of transitions of the night, Mat dropped a widely-varying-cross-genred mashup of Steve Aoki & Chris Lake & Tujamo vs. Deadmau5 vs. Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford “Boneless?vs. Strobe?vs. Sun & Moon (Acappella)”. More Deadmau5 was in store for as he dropped his collaboration with Greta Svabo Bech “Raise Your Weapon (Madeon Extended Remix)”. But anybody who doubted Mat Zo’s fantastical ability of being a top notch DJ, was silenced shut as he dropped a colossal mashup between The Prodigy vs. Hardwell’s “Breathe (Zeds Dead Remix)?vs. Spaceman?”. The wide range of genres within that mashup itself was enough to give one the hint of variety tried and tested on us through the course of the night!

As we were being taken on a whirlwind journey of genres, one quick glance at Mat Zo told us he was right at home with this audience! Beaming from ear to ear, occasionally raising his arms and fearlessly turning those reverb and delay knobs, Mat was truly with family! With the delightful “England“ by Anjunabeats golden boy Andrew Bayer, he then added a slight loop till he achieved a BPM which would well cross 150 in order to drop the wild and unstoppable Kill The Noise’s “Rockers (Brosafari & UFO! Remix)” . And just as he raised the BPM, he gradually bought it down masking it under DJ effects till he crashed down the epic Dada Life’s “Kick out the Epic motherf**ker” . Following that was a double whammy of mashup with Zomboy vs. Porter Robinson feat. Jano’s “Raptor vs. The Seconds” and Fedde Le Grand vs. Tommy Trash’s “Rockin’ N’ Rollin’ (Togglehead Remix)?vs. Monkey See Monkey Do (Tommy Trash Re-Edit)”. We then turned to celebrate as Mat played Axwell & Sick Individuals Ft. Taylr Renne’s “I Am“back to back with the club rocking“Aphrodite” by Kryder before unleashing his fantastic fusion of Inpetto vs. Benny Benassi pres. The Biz’s “Girls & Boys?vs. Satisfaction (Dada Life Remix)”.

The energy through the course of Mat Zo’s set was so continuous that it was hard for us to believe that we were nearing the end of his awesome set. With the happy sounds of “The weekender” by Carliwe made way for the eagerly awaited Porter Robinson & Mat Zo “Easy” only to have it delightfully mashed up with Firebeatz & Schella’s “Dear New York?”. Ending his stellar set with a delightful combination of his collaborative effort with Arty vs The Temptations “Mozart vs. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg(acapella)” and the ever enchanting Reflekt feat. Delline Bass’s “Need To Feel Loved (Adam K & Soha Vocal Remix)”, Mat Zo faded away those precious vocals of “…i need to feel loved…” as he gently took us hands of the deck, almost reluctant to leave! The crowd, sensing his urge to continue, began to vociferously call out for “ONE MORE!” And a beaming Mat Zo simply could not refuse! So he dived into his laptop and provided the perfect fairy-tale ending to the magical night with his beautiful collaboration with Linnea Schossow’s “The Sky (Club Mix)”.

At about quarter to three, Mat Zo finally stepped away from the decks as Nikhil Chinapa approached the decks, visibly in awe of the phantasmal set he had witnessed. And surely enough he went to state how he had just heard, ‘probably one of the finest sets of the year…simply for the wide range of genres Mat Zo played tonight!” And on that note, the night came to a close as Mat Zo’s Damage Control Tour kicked off and we were left with only one response to his stellar set. ItsMatness!