Drew Daniel (b. 17 July 1971) is an American experimental musician based in Baltimore, Maryland. He is best known as ½ of the acclaimed electronic duo Matmos and solo as The Soft Pink Truth. Daniel is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Before joining the JHU English Department, Drew Daniel taught Renaissance literature, critical theory, and aesthetics at San Francisco Art Institute and University of California, Berkeley. He also held seminars at Tate Modern, CalArts, Princeton, and Harvard University. Born and raised in Kentucky, Daniel grew interested in punk rock as a teenager, publishing "The Conqueror Worm" DIY punk fanzine at sixteen and later participating in local bands, including Crain (2) and Cerebellum (4). Drew performed his early solo noise gigs as Western Blot while attending U.C. Berkeley in California. From 1992 to '94, Drew Daniel studied English literature at the University of Oxford in Britain, receiving his Bachelor's from Brasenose College. In 2007, Drew earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley with a doctoral thesis “I Know Not Why I Am So Sad:” Melancholy and Knowledge in Early Modern English Portraiture, Drama, and Prose.
Around 1992, Daniel formed Matmos with his partner Martin Schmidt. The duo gained prominence and numerous accolades, with international tours and 12 full-length studio albums released on their private imprint Vague Terrain, Matador (1999–2008) and Thrill Jockey (since 2012) — and numerous EPs, collaborations, and side projects on other prominent independent labels. Drew and Martin played together in "occult avantgarde" band IAO Core and released several records as Disc with Miguel Depedro/Kid606 and Lesser. In 2001, Drew Daniel started The Soft Pink Truth solo project dedicated to techno, house, and other "club music" genres, which often records electronic covers of notable British/American hardcore, crust punk, and black metal bands. Under the SPT moniker, Daniel released several EPs and two full-length albums on Matthew Herbert's Soundslike label and is currently on Thrill Jockey's roster. The Soft Pink Truth also self-published two digital "name-your-price" releases via Bandcamp.
In May 2018, Daniel's first-ever album under his real name came out, Continuous Hole LP recorded with John Wiese and released by Arizona-based Gilgongo Records. Their second collaboration followed in July 2021, with a limited edition Clouded Shrine 7" on John's label Helicopter. As a solo artist, Drew Daniel produced remixes for a wide range of artists and bands across genres, from Björk, Roots Manuva and Grizzly Bear to Smyglyssna and Otto Von Schirach. He collaborated with Horse Lords, Negativland, Steven Stapleton/Nurse With Wound and many other renowned musicians and composers.
Drew Daniel wrote three books: "20 Jazz Funk Greats" (2008) for Continuum's 33 ⅓ series (an essay on Throbbing Gristle's eponymous album), followed by "The Melancholy Assemblage: Affect and Epistemology in the English Renaissance" (2012) at Fordham University Press and his latest manuscript, "Joy of the Worm: Suicide and Pleasure in Early Modern English Literature" (2022) published by University Of Chicago Press. Daniel was also a contributing writer to Pitchfork Media and authored liner notes on multiple records, from People Like Us, Patrick Cowley and Zeena Parkins albums to 30th-anniversary reissue of Love's Secret Domain by Coil.
