Hi. I'm going to keep this simple, because I'm a performer not a writer. So this is just to let you know a little bit about myself.

Mattie Safer is my real name. I sing, play bass and keys, write songs, produce and DJ. I was born in Washington DC in December 1980, and lived there until I was 18, when I escaped to New York City, where I've lived ever since. I've been playing music in one form or another for about 17 years. I moved to New York to study jazz at NYU. I dropped out after a year because I wanted to take a shot at making my own music. And that's what I do.

Within a month or so of moving to New York I joined up with a band called The Rapture. If you heard of me before, that's probably how. We were all new to the city, young and hungry for music, nightlife, fun, whatever. I had grown up listening to Junkyard Band, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads, Mary J Blige, The Meters, Jay Z, Born Against, Curtis Mayfield, Aaliyah, Slick Rick, The Pixies, Cash Money, Jungle Brothers, Brand Nubian, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, etc... Now I found myself sneaking into Centrofly, APT, Passerby, Volume and other spots diggin' on Cajmere, DJ Assault, Felix The Housecat, Masters at Work, Jacques LuCont, Playgroup, Munk, DJ Technics, Miss Kittin & The Hacker, Detroit Grand Pubahs and all other sorts of other underground shit I was hearing on the dancefloor.

Out and about we linked up with a couple of guys who owned a studio and called themselves the DFA. We hung out together. We spent too many nights at Plant Bar DJing, talking shit, sleeping on each others' floors. Eventually we made a single together called "House of Jealous Lovers" that for a moment seemed to take over the world. Along the way we released several more singles, an EP ("Out Of The Races And Onto The Tracks"), a couple albums ("Echoes" and "Pieces of the People We Love") and toured incessantly across 5 continents. As the band began making its way around the world I started linking up with some of those producers and collaborating with them, DJing in clubs over there. I had a couple of club nights nights in New York while we were home between tours, and we always spun at our own after parties when we were on tour.

As I mentioned above, people know me best for my work with The Rapture on singles like "House of Jealous Lovers," "Sister Saviour," "Whoo! Alright, Yeah--Uh Huh" "No Sex for Ben" and "Pieces of the People We Love." I've also sang/played on records by Tiefschwarz, Headman, and Kaos (and I have some other things in the works...) and produced/remixed artists like Spank Rock, Annie, Greenskeepers, Williams and more. And I've made a couple mix CDs with the Rapture along the way, (the illegally released "You Are Here" and 2008's inaugural release for the !K7 series "Tapes"). I'm not the most prolific dude out there, but I get it done.

Basically, I love making music, I love dancing, I love performing and I love being in the studio. I get to do this shit for a living, and that's the greatest thing in the world. Hopefully I will continue to be blessed with the opportunity to create, and hopefully someday we'll get a chance to get together and celebrate it all. Thanks for reading...

Love, M

Lindsey Caldwell, aka DJ Lindsey, has high standards, both for herself and for the songs she plays. The one question she asks of music is “Does it hold up to all these classics that I love?” Nostalgia is a handy tool, especially when prompted by her mix of standards and more obscure tracks, but it’s too dull of a concept around which to base a DJ set. Lindsey has an intergenre naturalism, blending styles and eras effortlessly to create a flow of songs that is beholden not strictly to one sect of the musical spectrum, but that bind smartly by mood and unaffrontable goodness.

Her long running Negroclash night at APT—at which she shared the decks with the likes of Afrika Baambaata, Mantronix and Larry Heard, along with her partners Duane and DJ Language—was the foundation for this logical mix, emerging in the sad wake of electroclash and coming to life alongside early residencies of Metro Area and James Murphy, the night “evolved into a celebration of the African-American contribution to electronic music,” Lindsey says.

Her definition of electronic, of course, was ever-expanding, including early house music, 80s New Wave, Pop, R&B and golden era hip-hop. She’s been exploring that era of rap, ’88 to ’98 at her current weekly night, with her husband DJ Myles, The Hump. The Hump was recently awarded People's Choice: Best Party by Paper Magazine. From time to time she is even called on by Prince to DJ private events and most recently a charity concert.

Parallel to her DJ career’s growth, Lindsey worked for places like Rockstar Games, Girlie Action PR and FADER magazine, participating in all facets of musical creation and business. She has sung back up vocals for the Rapture and Beans, and released a 12-inch single with DJ Language.

She is a resident at Tribeca Grand, has played PS1’s Warm Up alongside Lovebug Starski and has been featured in Lucky, Italian Vogue and The New York Times. She currently works with old friends at Opening Ceremony, and was recently counted amongst men.style.com’s “Women of Style,” a perfection reflection of her refined but playful sensibilities, musical and—like all well-rounded DJs—otherwise.