Kraddy

Early life

Matthew Kratz grew up in Albany, New York. He was given the nickname "Kraddy" from a high school friend long before he started making music. He attended the University of Delaware.

As a small child Kraddy claims he was fond of polka music, and his "first loves" musically were Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. He also listened to Genesis, and stated "I grew up in New York was always listening to hip-hop," such as Mos Def, Public Enemy, and KRS-1. He has also quoted The Pixies, The Pharcyde, My Bloody Valentine, Method Man, and The Rolling Stones as some of his favorite musicians, in particular Rob Zombie and Trent Reznor.

Early career (1996-2005)

In 1996 Kraddy moved to San Francisco, Northern California, where he interned in music production at Bruce Leighton's DataStream Studios. Leighton introduced Kraddy to Logic Audio. Kraddy began learning audio engineering for hip-hop, but was soon introduced to Aphex Twin's I Care Because You Do, which helped redirect his interest towards electronic music. He was first inspired to buy decks and begin mixing drum and bass and hip hop after seeing the Triple Threat DJs in San Francisco. According to Kraddy, "when I was [first] spinning records, I loved the Scratch Pickles, and the X-Men, and DJ Shadow...all the DJ heroes of the 90’s were big inspirations for sure."

He soon co-founded the drum and bass crew The Stress Collective. As a producer he began making "New School Breaks," and his first release was the vinyl single "Wiggiddi" on Muti Music in 2002. With the Stress Collective he released "HiphopJungleHardcore," a mix tape that fused the three genres. According to Kraddy,

"For me it was never about pressing some genre style, it was always pulling together this from this or that from that, like hearing Si Begg and Tipper when I was a breakbeat DJ, and also what Fuel Records was putting out back in the day really blew my mind, and Squarepusher and the mix between all the early Warp stuff was really influential."

Kraddy soon moved on from drum and bass and began producing so-called "glitchier" music. He at times played with the Terpsichore Group, which threw underground parties in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

He released his first solo album, Truth Has No Path, in 2004 on his own label Refiner Records. The album was an electronic compilation of his music from the last five years. By 2005 he had moved to Muti Music, a record label in San Francisco, and also had releases on Bless Records. Kraddy released The Illegal Album in 2006, which was a collection of remixes he had written. He also released an instrumental version.

The Glitch Mob (2006-2009)

In 2006 Kraddy co-founded The Glitch Mob, a five-piece electronic music group within the burgeoning Los Angeles bass-driven 'beat' scene. After gaining attention along the West Coast the group toured various festivals worldwide. This group is considered one of the originators of the genre "Glitch-hop," a genre utilizing intentional glitches or stutters in the electronic sound, and largely based on the work of Richard James of Aphex Twin.

Solo releases (2007-present)

He had his first breakthrough solo hit, "Android Porn," in 2008, and left The Glitch Mob in 2009 to go solo. "Android Porn" went on to be licensed for shows such as America's Best Dance Crew and America's Got Talent, and the trailer for the 2012 film Step Up 4. A remix EP of the track was later released on Equinox Records in 2010.

In November 2010 he released his first solo EP, Labyrinth, which he wrote, produced, and performed entirely by himself. The Labyrinth Remix Project, featuring remixes by Robert Koch, DLX, and other DJs, was released February 8, 2011.

He released the album Anthems of the Hero in November 2011. The album was produced by Ross Robinson, with Jon Theodore on drums and Cody Votolato on guitar. The album's track "Black Box" was later used by ESPN in a game promo. At this point he had his own sub-label, Minotaur, under the underground LA label Alpha Pup.

The EP Moment of Truth was released in summer of 2012. His remix of the Rob Zombie track "Superbeast" was hand-picked by Zombie to appear on the remix album Mondo Sex Head, and he has released a number of other official remixes.

He's performed worldwide at venues including Burning Man, Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival, and South by Southwest. He toured throughout the United States in 2012, and as of 2012 is based in Venice Beach, California. Artists he's performed alongside of include Bassnectar, Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy, Sound Tribe Sector 9, among others such as Big Gigantic.

As of 2011, he uses Logic Audio, along with a bass, a guitar, and a midi keyboard.

Albums

Singles

Official remixes

Compilations