Matador is a revolutionary live artist with a shining reputation for versatility, whilst his outstanding technical knowhow means no compromise on quality. This year sees the launch of a slew of exciting new creative projects as the Dublin-born producer and RUKUS label boss upshifts his talents by several gears, emerging from solid success both touring and releasing to a newly re-energised blast into the spotlight.
This year adds a new live show, and releases in new areas such as a streamed ambient album and a white label vinyl series, to his already packed resume.
The live show Matador, aka Gavin Lynch, is working on in his beloved tech-heaven studio for this year will feature live vocals and keyboards in a new body of work, with a combination of analogue, digital and modular technology. On top of that, he releases his first ambient album, ‘95BPM – Music to Fill the Space’ in June. The two-hour LP will be available exclusively via streaming on all platforms, while he also plans a vinyl-only venture; his upcoming ‘Cyclone’ series will see him release his own tracks on a limited run white label vinyl. His RUKUS imprint isn’t being left out, with a new release from the boss this summer as well as showcasing others’ talent.
Also planned is a collaboration with original material dropping on Richie Hawtin’s newly revived Plus 8 imprint. Already this year, his collaboration with ARTBAT, ‘Apollo 11’, has been a runaway success, following a fruitful year of similar partnerships, remixing Stephan Bodzin and Ninetoes’ ‘Finder’.
Matador’s breath-taking explosive live shows result in packed crowds. His schedule for 2019 has already included Ultra Festival, Sonar Istanbul, a run of South America shows, with a US tour, Amsterdam Open Air and many more TBC, adding to his record of appearances at the likes of Awakenings, Tomorrowland, Sonus Croatia, Output, DC-10, Stereo Montreal.
A celebration of Matador’s much-respected engineering chops and Dublin studio has just appeared in a Future Music 9-page feature. He has been an ambassador for Richie Hawtin’s PLAYDifferently Model 1 analog DJ mixer since 2016. In the same year, he won the DJ Award for Electronic Live Performer, having consistently featured in RA’s Live Artist poll top twenty.
Playing to ecstatic thousands at sold out shows worldwide is a far cry from his early years. Raised on Motown, progressing to Guns N Roses, Pink Floyd, Orbital, Kasabian..., the teenage Matador was inspired by electronic giants Richie Hawtin, Adam Beyer and Jeff Mills. After learning his musical trade, he was boosted from underground DJ status when Hawtin snapped him up for his label.
Matador will also be combining his two loves, music and cooking, by hosting a dinner in LA for music industry guests where he will curate the menu and present his new ambient LP.