Mia Matsumiya
Matsumiya, in 2015
Matsumiya, in 2015
Background information
GenresAvant-garde music
Experimental music
Occupation(s)Instrumentalist
Instrument(s)Guitar, violin, viola
Years active2001–present
LabelsTzadik Records

Mia Matsumiya is an American violinist who is a former member of Kayo Dot, Gregor Samsa, and Tartar Lamb. She has also performed on albums with Daughters and Ghastly City Sleep. In 2015, her Instagram account chronicling the sexual and other harassment that had been directed toward her on social media during the past ten years received international attention.

Biography and early work

Originally from Needham, Massachusetts, Matsumiya attended the Commonwealth School in Boston for high school. After high school, she attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she left to pursue music.[citation needed] Standing at 4'9" (145 cm), Matsumiya would often hide in band lockers in middle school and in newspaper racks in later years.[1][2]

Bands

Matsumiya made her debut on Kayo Dot's 2003 album Choirs of the Eye, as well as their discography for the next ten years.[3] She later appeared on Gregor Samsa's album Rest, and an album with Tartar Lamb.[4][5] In 2009, she also appeared on Maudlin of the Well's Part the Second.[6]

Discography

Matsumiya, in 2006

With Maudlin of the Well

With Kayo Dot

With Gregor Samsa

With Tartar Lamb

Filmography

Instagram account

In 2015, Matsumiya created the Instagram account called "Perv_magnet", where she uploaded sexually harassing and sometimes violently threatening messages that she had received from men over the past ten years. According to Matsumiya, the project was created to highlight the abuse and misogyny that women face online, as well as the racism she faced. However, she received a small amount of criticism from people who claimed that she uploaded the examples to brag about receiving "compliments", an accusation which she denied.[7][8][9][10] In a 2014 interview with Bearded Gentlemen Music, her former Kayo Dot band member Toby Driver alluded to stalkers that she faced.[11]

Personal life

Matsumiya has a daughter, Kira, born in 2016.[12]

References

  1. ^ Taylor, Jeremy (21 April 2010). "Mia Matsumiya – Rock Violinist, Contortionist, Legal Dwarf". Willing to Be. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  2. ^ Guillermo, Emil (4 November 2015). "Meet the Woman Behind 'Perv Magnet,' a Project Documenting Online Harassment". NBC News. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  3. ^ Fynes, Conor (7 October 2012). "Kayo Dot – Choirs of the Eye". Prog-sphere. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Gregor Samsa (3) – Rest". Discogs. 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Tartar Lamb". Discogs. 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  6. ^ H., Keelan (15 May 2009). "maudlin of the Well". Sputnik Music. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  7. ^ Bahadur, Nina (9 October 2015). "How One Woman Is Using Instagram To Call Out Gross, Creepy Men". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 November 2015. Pretty much most of my life now, I've encountered Asian fetishists, pedophiles, stalkers, racists, and who-knows-how-many unsolicited sexual comments. ... It had gotten to the point where someone would send the most scathing, racist, violent thing to me -- like rape or death threats -- and I would barely have a reaction.
  8. ^ "The woman posting hundreds of offensive messages online". BBC News. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  9. ^ Evans, Olivia Lace (22 October 2015). "Violinist highlights a decade of online abuse". BBC News. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  10. ^ Wang, Yanan (21 October 2015). "A female violinist exposes 10 years of lewd, fetishizing messages from men online". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  11. ^ Maye, Phil (29 October 2014). "Interview with Toby Driver of Kayo Dot". Bearded Gentlemen Music. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Mia Matsumiya (@mia_matsumiya) • Instagram photos and videos".

External links

Kayo Dot
Authority control databases: Artists
Categories