Brooklyn’s newest sonic troublemaker, Non-Friction, isn’t easing into the scene, it’s flooring it. With its foundation in cheeky cuts, groovy gems, and slippery slappers made for dim rooms and delirious mornings, the label’s early output is as much about feeling as it is about finesse. Every track is a little reckless, a little raw, and undeniably real.
Helmed by cultural agitator and veteran tastemaker Matt FX, the label launched in September 2025 with four releases that stretch across geography and genre, from late-night Latin acid to dubby mirror talk, trance-tinged retrofuturism to minimalist dance-floor muscle. These aren’t just tunes; they’re time capsules of connection, creativity, and chaos.
In this exclusive feature, we asked the artists behind the first four drops to break down how the magic happened – the late-night sessions, the weird plugins, the basement philosophies, the vocal takes that somehow worked. Here, we’re treated to rare insights, creative sparks, and some seriously weird gear choices from Matt FX, Kristos, The Fitness, and Giorgio Beatsaface.
Matt FX & Dan Solo – ‘MIRA COMO BAILO’
“‘Mira Como Bailo’ was made in one night last September 2024 in the apartment I grew up in when Dan Solo was visiting New York on his way back from his most recent Los Eclipses tour. We used an acid plugin called ABL3 which I’ve only ever been recommended by producers born and raised in Detroit, and that’s actually my voice being modulated in the production! It’s so crazy, the track basically came out a year to the day of its release.”’ – Matt FX
Kristos, Mona Matsuoka & Matt FX -’ KAWASAKI’
“‘Kawasaki” was one of the first collaborations between Matt and I earlier this year that led to us working together on a ton of music at my studio both for ourselves as well as Mona Matsuoka and a few other new artists in development.
The bass is a dx7 – at the time I was really into throwing the ableton stock arp plugin on my bass lines, which is why you’ll hear some doubled notes in the riff. The beat came first; I think it was Matt who had the idea to find a sample of the word ‘Kawasaki’. Once we added that and the whooshing motorcycle sample the whole thing really started to come into focus, and Mona’s prose in the track’s outro sealed the deal.” – Kristos
The Fitness – MAKE IT STRONG
“‘Make It Strong’ was made in the depths of a Montreal basement alongside Lou Roots & Gabaghoul. It’s a quirky, dubby dance floor record that reflects the mood we were in at that particular moment. It’s half jibberish, with repetitive lyrics that you tell yourself looking into the mirror while washing your hands in the bathroom at the after party to make sure you make it to the end of the sesh!” – The Fitness
Maximum Flavour – ‘SAUTÉ’
“‘Technology has come such a long way from my humble beginnings. All these sounds, at our fingertips! It is just wonderful. Just fabulous. Matt recently showed me a genre called ‘Trance’ that happened while I was frozen away, and I immediately connected with its pulsating rhythms, a distant nephew to the music in the discotheques of old. Sauté was our first flirtation with this genre, a through-composed ride through the fire and flames!’” – Giorgio Beatsaface
Buy Non-Friction here