Mattie Barbier is an LA based musician and sonic researcher focused on experimental intonation, noise, and the physical processes of their instrument. Their playing has been described by the LA Times as being "of intense, brilliant, virtuosic growling that gave the striking impression that Barbier was dismantling the instrument while playing it," by the Wire as “exploring the nooks of instrumental tone far beyond the reach of most mortals,” and by the New Yorker as being a "diabolically inventive trombonist-composer."
Mattie engages in collaborative relationships with a range of musicians including Michelle Lou, Weston Olencki, Catherine Lamb, Kevin Drumm, Kaori Sazuki, and Katherine Young. As an interpreter they have given premieres by and collaborated with a broad spectrum of composers including George Lewis, Liza Lim, Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Jacob Kirkegaard, Jessie Marino, Scott Walker, and Sarah Davachi.
Mattie is a member of RAGE Thormbones, gnarwhallaby, wasteLAnd music, wildUp, and is an active soloist on low brass instruments and bagpipes. They teach at CalArts and Los Angeles City College (LACC).
Mattie has presented work for the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Monday Evening Concerts, LA Phil's Green Umbrella, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Spor, Bludenz Tage zeitgemäßer, Indexical, Frequency Festival, RedCat, and Issue Project Room, as well as presenting lectures at CalArts, UCSD, Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, and DePaul. Upcoming festival appearances include performances at Kalv, Borealis, Tectonics, and Donaueschingen and they have been in residence at Harvard (HGNM), UCSD, Stanford, Princeton, UCSC, Columbia, NYU, and UCLA. Mattie has released work on Carrier, Populist, Mode, Hat Hut, Innova, Faux Amis, New Amsterdam, and Kairos Records. Additionally, they have released a technical manual for trombonists on the production and integration of lip multiphonics and split tones.
Mattie has made work for the Factory Seconds Brass Trio, Aperture Duo, WasteLAnd, gnarwhallaby, the San Francisco Exploritorium, RAGE Thormbones, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, SASSAS, Machine Project, LACMA, and the Getty Villa, as well as in collaboration with holographer Tristan Duke and digital media artists DanRae Wilson and Tom Leeser.