Drew Daniel

Musician, writer, and academic Drew Daniel is best known for making heavily conceptual electronic music as half of the duo Matmos, and by himself as the Soft Pink Truth. First active with several hardcore punk bands and noise projects, he founded Matmos with partner M.C. Schmidt in the mid-'90s, and the pair have released over a dozen albums of provocative, often whimsical experimental music which frequently makes usage of unconventional sampling techniques. 2001's widely acclaimed A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure incorporated glitchy samples of surgical procedures, 2016's Ultimate Care II built a 38-minute continuous suite from the sounds of a washing machine, and 2019's Plastic Anniversary derived sounds from a variety of plastic objects. Concurrently, Daniel devotes his solo work as the Soft Pink Truth to explorations of dance music, though this also included tributes to his hardcore (2004's Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth?) and black metal (2014's Why Do the Heathen Rage?) influences. Daniel has written three books, including a 2008 edition of the 33⅓ series, focusing on Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats. Under his own name, Daniel has released collaborations with experimental artist John Wiese, including the glitchy noise of 2018's Continuous Hole and the aggressive tape manipulations of 2023's Through Mazes Running. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, he became involved with the city's punk scene as a teenager. He published a fanzine called The Conqueror Worm, and played in bands such as Crain and Cerebellum. He also participated in an experimental hip-hop collective called King G & the J Krew, along with musicians who would form post-rock groups like Rodan, Rachel's, and Shipping News. He recorded his first experimental works under the name Pope Lick, using a malfunctioning 4-track machine. Daniel attended U.C. Berkeley in California during the early '90s, and played solo noise gigs as Western Blot. He met M.C. Schmidt in San Francisco, and the two began making experimental electronic music together as Matmos, releasing a cassette titled In Lo-Fidelity in 1994. The two participated in the experimental collective Iao Core, and later formed the glitch project Disc with Kid606 and Lesser. Matmos released their drum'n'bass-influenced eponymous debut album on their own Vague Terrain label in 1997, followed by the electro-acoustic experiments Quasi-Objects (1998) and the country-inspired The West (1999), which crafted strangely funky rhythms out of the sampled sounds of household objects and acoustic instruments. Matmos reached a greater degree of exposure when Matador issued A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure (2001), which incorporated samples of liposuction and other surgical procedures. They also toured with Björk and contributed to her now-classic Vespertine and its heavily vocal-based follow-up Medúlla. In the meantime, Daniel branched off as a solo artist, exploring his preoccupation with dance music. Under the one-off alias Dry Hustle, he released the single "Do It Quite Sloppily," which clashed samples of Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" with the sounds of solid gold dropped onto silver. As the Soft Pink Truth, Daniel released more club-friendly (though still abstract) microhouse, starting with a series of EPs on fellow dance conceptualist Matthew Herbert's Soundslike label. Debut full-length Do You Party? arrived in 2003, while the project took on a different form with 2004's Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth?, which interpreted songs by punk and hardcore bands like Angry Samoans, Minor Threat, Crass, and Nervous Gender. The Soft Pink Truth took a break for over a decade, while Matmos continued releasing ambitious albums like 2006's The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast, which was dedicated to several queer figures throughout history. Daniel earned his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 2007. He relocated to Baltimore (along with Schmidt) and became an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University. He wrote for Pitchfork for several years, and his book about Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats was published as part of the 33⅓ series in 2008. Daniel's second book, The Melancholy Assemblage: Affect and Epistemology in the English Renaissance, was published by Fordham University Press in 2013. Following the release of Matmos' Thrill Jockey debut, The Marriage of True Minds, Daniel resumed activity as the Soft Pink Truth with 2014's Why Do the Heathen Rage?, which consisted of electronic covers of songs by black metal groups such as Darkthrone, Mayhem, and Hellhammer. The digital release Why Pay More? appeared in 2015, preceding another lengthy gap in between SPT releases. Matmos released Ultimate Care II, focusing on sounds derived from a washing machine, in 2016. Daniel collaborated with prolific noise musician John Wiese (Sissy Spacek, Bastard Noise) on the 2018 LP Continuous Hole, first issued by Gilgongo Records. Daniel and Schmidt celebrated the 25th anniversary of their romantic and musical partnership with the 2019 Matmos album Plastic Anniversary, created using samples of plastic objects as well as instruments made of plastic. In 2020, the Soft Pink Truth released Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?, an album which merged post-classical with ambient house, with the help of guest vocalists and musicians like Angel Deradoorian, Colin Self, and Sarah Hennies. This was shortly followed by Am I Free to Go?, a digital album of crust punk covers. Matmos released the sprawling triple-album The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form, which featured contributions from 99 guest artists, including Oneohtrix Point Never, Yo La Tengo, and Mouse on Mars. Clouded Shrine, a very limited 7" with Wiese, appeared in 2021. Matmos' Regards / Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer, a collage-like album based on the music of Polish composer Bogusław Schaeffer, appeared in 2022. Daniel's study Joy of the Worm: Suicide and Pleasure in Early Modern English Literature was published by University of Chicago Press. Two deep house-influenced Soft Pink Truth releases, the EP Was It Ever Real? and the full-length Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This?, both appeared later in the year. Through Mazes Running, Daniel's second glitch-noise LP with Wiese, was released by Difficult Interactions in 2023. Continuous Hole was also given a CD issue by Cold Spring the same year.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo