Matroda

When Idris Elba took the Coachella stage in 2019, one of the tracks he reached for was "Do You Remember House?" by Matroda — a Croatian producer who had been quietly building a catalog of bass-heavy, sample-driven house music since his teens. Born Matija Rodic in Varazdin, Croatia, in 1995, Matroda (a portmanteau of his first and last names) started on classical piano at age 11 before picking up violin, drums, and keyboard. By 2013, at just 18, he released his debut track "Some Strange Voices" and began carving out a lane between tech house, bass house, and the gritty, sample-flipping energy of early rave culture.

His breakthrough came in 2015 when he teamed up with Chris Lake to remix SNBRN's "California," a collaboration that put him on the radar of DJs like Diplo and earned heavy rotation across festival circuits. From there, Matroda built an unusually prolific output across multiple labels. Dim Mak became his most frequent home, hosting 18 releases including his ambitious 2019 project The RED Tape. Released in two halves (Side A in March, Side B in May) and later expanded into a 20-track deluxe edition, The RED Tape featured collaborations with Kaleena Zanders and Dances With White Girls and drew support from Diplo, Wax Motif, Jauz, and Afrojack. He also released on Monstercat (debuting with "Shut It Down" in 2018), Insomniac Records, Confession, Heldeep, and Hexagon.

In 2020, "Forget It" on Insomniac Records surpassed 10 million streams. The following year brought "Disco Tool," a collaboration with Bleu Clair that climbed the Beatport charts, and the launch of his own imprint, Terminal Underground. The label's first release was the Jack The House EP, and it has served as his primary outlet since. He produces in FL Studio, a detail that connects him to a generation of bedroom producers who built entire careers inside that DAW.

Matroda's live schedule has kept pace with his studio output. He has played EDC Las Vegas, Ultra Europe, Hard Summer, Shambhala, Beyond Wonderland, and Mysteryland, among others, and has sold out rooms at Brooklyn Mirage and Hollywood Palladium. In 2021, he ranked 25th on 1001Tracklists' annual producer chart. His 2024 EP Late Night Talks, released on Terminal Underground, featured seven tracks including collaborations with Martin Ikin, Dances, and TEKO. His fans coined the term "Matrodasound" to describe his production style: chunky basslines, chopped vocal samples, and a relentless four-on-the-floor pulse rooted in classic house but tuned for modern festival systems.