Exclusive: Get to know Matthias Zimmerman

Matthias Zimmerman recently released his debut album with Sound Pellegrino, and it’s been gaining some serious attention in the underground dance world. We recently chatted with the talented producer and artist about his latest work.

Hi Matthias! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! You’ve recently released your debut album with Sound Pellegrino, and you’ve been an artist on their roster for a while now. What about SP drew you for your debut album release, (as well as all for all of your previous work)?

Thanks for your interest! I’ve been a fan of Sound Pellegrino ever since because of the forward thinking approach to club music and the open mindedness that Teki, Orgasmic and Emile have. All the early releases on Sound Pellegrino were inspirational to me. I loved the Harvard Bass, Para One, L-Vis, Noob, Renaissance Man, High Powered Boys (list goes on) EPs, so it felt natural to send them some demos.

Luckily the guys enjoyed those demos a lot and decided to release them exactly as they were, which resulted in my first EP “Isla Dub”. Both them and I were really happy how things turned out with the EP, so they asked me if I’d like to do an album for them.It was a pleasure for me to except their offer.

Your album is titled as your name, which is relatively normal for debut releases, but each track is also a name, which is not as commonly seen. Are these names significant? Do each of these names come with a story, and if so, are there a couple particular standouts you would be willing to share?

The names aren’t really significant for the listener, but rather for me, as I chose those names because of my experiences and memories.Maybe a track reminds me of a person I knew or a situation I lived through or even an imaginary thought that pops up intuitively during the process of production.
So those names I chose for the tracks have a very personal aspect. I really don’t want to be too suggestive verbally, but rather let the listener decide what a track evokes in her or him. For example “Luther” evokes an image of a very authoritarian and impulsive being who subjugates its environment.

Could simply be, as the narrative sound palette might suggest to some listeners, a silverback gorilla or a T-Rex.

Or you might think about Marlon Brando in “Apocalypse Now” or Klaus Kinski in “Aguirre – The wrath of god”.
But you can also go into a deeper direction and understand the jungle environment as an exploited society that doesn’t have the power to overcome its corporate leadership.
You decide.

I’m also really interested in the album cover. It’s explosive, but it’s also got an incredibly subtle side to it. Can you tell us about the design and its significance to the music? They go hand in hand, but we can’t quite put it to words ourselves…

Nicolas Malinowsky and Sebastien Michelini from Atelier Malinowsky built the whole island model from scratch, which is really impressive and I absolutely love what they did.
All the artwork you see on the cover and in the booklet are totally photoshop free, just photos.
The island artwork is, even if it’s quite colourful, a minimalistic visual introduction into the album concept with all the characters and circumstances in their diversity.

You’ve been in the music game for a few years now, but this is your debut LP. What would you say were your biggest challenges compared to singles and EPs?

I had never produced and recorded songs with established vocalists before the album, so working hand in hand with them was very challenging, instructive and fun at the same time.
There were also some demos that I wrote 5 years ago and that I had to “update” several times during the process, which got a bit frustrating in some parts.

I always love hearing what DJ’s are listening to, who are your current favorites that everyone should also be checking out?

Nathan Melja’s releases are always on point, then almost every Apron Records release is great, the Dreams EP on Nous Disques is amazing, the Rhythm Section EPs are fantastic, TRP is an artist worth following etc.etc. The list never ends, as always. But I’m becoming more and more obsessed with old Boogie/Disco/Funk stuff every day, so that’s what I mainly spend my time and money on to be honest.

Finally, can we expect tour dates/other releases coming up for the rest of 2016?

We’re currently working on a tour schedule, so there’ll be some news soon.
Concerning releases, there might be another vocal single from the album with a mindblowing remix in the near future…