Matt Martians is one of the most quietly essential figures in contemporary neo-soul and alternative R&B. Born Matthew Robert Martin on September 12, 1988, in Atlanta, Georgia, he is a co-founder of The Internet alongside Syd, a founding member of Odd Future, and one half of the production duo The Jet Age of Tomorrow with Pyramid Vritra. Since launching his solo career with The Drum Chord Theory in 2017 on Three Quarters Records, Martians has built a deeply personal body of work that rewards patient listeners. If you love discovering songs that exist just outside the mainstream spotlight, this list was made for you. These are the 20 best Matt Martians songs, drawn from his strongest solo releases: Going Normal (2021), Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar (2021), and Matt’s Missing (2024).
B Like That
Matt’s Missing (2024, 5th Echelon Jet Repair Co.) opens with this groove-forward track, and it wastes absolutely no time announcing Matt’s intentions. “B Like That” floats over a loose, syncopated funk beat that feels effortlessly spontaneous while being meticulous in its construction — a signature Matt Martians paradox. The vocal delivery here is airy and conversational, like he’s singing to someone across a table rather than into a microphone. Lyrically, it circles the familiar Martians territory of romantic pursuit, but the production’s bubbly bass pops and clipped percussion give the whole thing a playful urgency that sets the tone for the album perfectly.
Rushback
If you need one song to introduce a skeptic to Matt Martians, “Rushback” might be it. The track moves with a restless, almost nervous energy — drum loops that shift slightly off the grid, synthesizer lines that feel like they’re always about to resolve but never quite do. Released on Matt’s Missing in January 2024, it was quickly cited by listeners on Album of the Year as one of the record’s best moments, and it’s easy to hear why. There’s a propulsive quality here that mirrors the tension of wanting to revisit something — a feeling, a person, a version of yourself — that may or may not still be there when you arrive. The mix is clean but intimate, made for headphones late at night.
Perfect Warning
“Perfect Warning” is the kind of track that lodges itself deep in your brain without announcing itself. Pulled from Matt’s Missing, it operates with a refined minimalism: a few carefully chosen synth tones, deliberate rhythmic space, and vocals that hover at the edge of audibility in a way that feels intentional rather than lo-fi. This is Matt Martians as maximalist in restraint — every element earns its place, and the absence of clutter makes each layer feel larger than it is. The production philosophy here draws from his years shaping The Internet’s sound on Ego Death (the Grammy-nominated 2015 album), where atmosphere did the heavy lifting.
Play
At over three minutes, “Play” is one of the longer tracks on Matt’s Missing, and it earns every second. The song builds gradually, layering vocals and instrumentation with the patience of someone who knows exactly where they’re going. Martians uses extended chords — a technique he’s cited as central to his keyboard-based production approach — to create harmonic tension that the song never fully releases, leaving the listener suspended in a kind of pleasurable uncertainty. This is the track you put on when you need music that thinks for itself, music that doesn’t demand active attention but rewards it deeply when given.
The Reason
“The Reason” sits near the center of Matt’s Missing and functions as something of an emotional anchor. Where some tracks on the record lean into abstraction, this one has a directness that cuts through — the chord progressions are warmer, the vocal presence more assured, the overall mix sunnier without losing any of the introspective character Martians is known for. It’s a reminder that beneath all the psychedelic and neo-soul texture, there’s a songwriter here who can write plainly about what something means to him and have that plainness feel like a gift rather than a limitation.
Bassline
The title says everything. “Bassline” does exactly what it promises: it leads with a low-end pulse that commands your body before your brain has a chance to process anything else. From Matt’s Missing, this is the most club-adjacent track in Martians’s solo discography, though calling it a club track would be a disservice — it’s too textured, too personal for that. The way the bass sits in the mix against the higher synth harmonics shows genuine production sophistication, the kind of craft that comes from years in the studio building beats for artists across the Odd Future universe. Put this one through your car speakers at full volume and you’ll understand immediately.
Best Girl
“Best Girl” is one of the most emotionally open moments on Matt’s Missing, a track where Martians steps back from production showmanship and simply delivers a song about valuing someone completely. The vocal harmonics are stacked beautifully here, creating a lush, layered texture that feels like warmth made audible. His keyboard work on this track has a Rhodes-adjacent quality — that vintage electric piano warmth that has defined neo-soul from D’Angelo through to The Internet — and it grounds the track in a tradition while still sounding entirely like himself. This one hits differently when you’re listening to it with someone who matters to you.
Don’t Even Think About It
This closing stretch of Matt’s Missing contains some of the album’s most introspective material, and “Don’t Even Think About It” is a strong example. The title reads like a warning — to someone else, or perhaps to himself — and the track carries that weight without becoming heavy-handed. Martians wraps the emotional complexity in production that remains light and melodic, letting the contrast between upbeat instrumentation and more guarded lyrical sentiment do the work. It’s a technique he’s deployed throughout his career, and it’s particularly effective here, where the breezy arrangement almost distracts you from how much is being said underneath it.
ADHD Anthem
Opening Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar (December 2021, 5th Echelon Jet Repair Co.), “ADHD Anthem” announces the EP’s tone immediately and forcefully. The track moves with a jittery, syncopated energy that feels genuinely lived-in — not a stylistic affectation but a real description of how Martians’s mind works when it’s fully engaged. The production is sharp and fractured in the best way, with rhythmic elements that seem to dart in multiple directions simultaneously. It’s worth noting the resonance with Kendrick Lamar’s “A.D.H.D.” which famously sampled a Jet Age of Tomorrow track — Martians has always had an affinity for capturing that restless mental frequency in sound.
Come See What I Saw
At just one minute and thirty-nine seconds, “Come See What I Saw” is a snapshot rather than a full narrative, and it’s all the more striking for that brevity. From Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar, this track functions almost like a musical short film — impressionistic, urgent, and deeply visual in its imagery. Martians constructs a sonic scene and then steps back, trusting the listener to fill in the gaps. The production carries a wistful quality, like the feeling of trying to describe something beautiful to someone who wasn’t there. Among his many fans who discovered The Internet through Ego Death, this track from his solo catalogue tends to generate strong reactions on first listen.
Need Nobody
“Need Nobody” from Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar is exactly what the title suggests: a track rooted in self-sufficiency, delivered with a calm assurance that never tips into arrogance. The production here is spacious, letting individual elements breathe rather than crowding the mix, and the vocal performance matches that energy — relaxed, unhurried, certain. There’s a philosophical thread running through much of Martians’s solo work about independence and inner resourcefulness, and “Need Nobody” is perhaps the purest expression of it. It sits comfortably alongside the introspective strain of neo-soul that has made this era’s alternative R&B so resonant with younger listeners.
Dance Shoos
The name might be a playful misspelling, but the feeling this track delivers is completely sincere. “Dance Shoos” from Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar is the most purely joyful thing in Martians’s solo catalogue — an invitation to move, wrapped in tight percussion and bright melodic stabs that make standing still feel like a moral failure. Running under two minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome; it just arrives, does its work on your nervous system, and leaves you wanting more. If you’re building a playlist for a house gathering or a drive with the windows down, this belongs near the top. For the best listening experience, pair it with quality headphones that can handle tight low-end response.
Bored of Everything
At just over a minute, “Bored of Everything” from Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar says more in its brief runtime than most artists communicate in five minutes. There’s a delicious irony in how engaging a song called “Bored of Everything” actually is: the production is restless, always shifting, never settling into a groove long enough for the feeling of boredom to actually take hold. Martians uses this structural trick to make a point — the song enacts its own theme. It’s a kind of conceptual wit that you don’t often find in instrumental and vocal production, and it makes the track far more interesting than its short runtime might initially suggest.
Win the War!
The exclamation point in the title is not decorative. “Win the War!” from Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar carries genuine urgency, a charged, forward-moving energy that distinguishes it from the more introspective tracks surrounding it on the EP. Whether Martians is talking about a personal struggle, a creative battle, or something more abstract is left productively ambiguous — the production does the emoting, with punchy rhythms and tense harmonic choices that feel like a fist raised against something. It’s one of the most viscerally satisfying short tracks in his catalogue, the kind of song that makes you sit up straighter when it comes on.
Can’t Believe It
Going Normal (April 2021, 5th Echelon Jet Repair Co.) opens with this track, and it’s an immediate statement. “Can’t Believe It” captures the feeling of being caught off guard by something wonderful — or perhaps something painful — and not quite having the language to process it yet. The production reflects that disorientation beautifully, with melodic lines that seem to circle back on themselves and a rhythmic foundation that stays just loose enough to feel unsteady. As an opening track, it works because it drops you into a feeling before you’re ready, which is exactly what genuine surprise does.
Happiness Inside
If there’s a single track on Going Normal that demonstrates Matt Martians at his most emotionally generous, it’s this one. “Happiness Inside” is suffused with warmth from the first bar — the chord voicings are open and resonant, the tempo unhurried, the overall mix enveloping rather than sharp. It represents the neo-soul end of Martians’s spectrum, drawing from the lush, orchestrated tradition of artists like Erykah Badu while retaining the personal, hand-built quality of his independent production. This track is exceptional on earbuds during a morning walk — the kind of music that makes ordinary moments feel significant.
Stampede
“Stampede” earns its name. From Going Normal, it’s one of the most rhythmically dense tracks in Martians’s solo work — layers of percussion that build a controlled forward momentum, like watching something large and unstoppable move with unexpected grace. The production here shows his background as a drummer and keyboard player simultaneously, with polyrhythmic elements that reveal new details across repeated listens. It’s worth paying close attention to how the bass and drum elements interact on this track; the interplay is genuinely sophisticated and rewards the kind of focused listening that quality earbuds built for detail retrieval make possible.
Killer California
This track from Going Normal is perhaps the most vivid piece of place-writing in Martians’s solo discography. “Killer California” has a quality of late-afternoon light to it — warm, slightly hazy, tinged with the particular melancholy of a beautiful place that also demands something from you. The production draws on the psychedelic soul tradition that Martians has explored throughout his career, with synthesizer textures that blur the line between ambient and melodic. Having relocated from Atlanta to Los Angeles as part of the Odd Future collective, Martians has a genuine autobiographical relationship with the city that bleeds through the music.
God Said It’s Ok To Fall (feat. Charlie Myers)
This is the emotional centerpiece of Going Normal, and arguably one of the most important songs in Martians’s entire catalogue. The feature from Charlie Myers adds a vocal dimension that lifts the track considerably, with their contributions woven into Martians’s own melodic framework rather than sitting on top of it. The core message — that falling, failing, and being broken are not things to be ashamed of — is delivered with a gentleness that makes it land far more powerfully than a more assertive approach would allow. The production is among his most careful and considered work, with every element in service of the emotional core. It’s a stunning piece of songwriting.
An Eater
Going Normal closes its main run with this track before the Mercury Retrograde outro, and “An Eater” functions as a kind of interior monologue set to music. The production is abstract and deliberately difficult to categorize — somewhere between neo-soul, psychedelic funk, and pure sound design — and the effect is of music that doesn’t want to be pinned down. Martians has described Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar, his solo album from the same year, as his first project with no features or outside co-production, and that same spirit of total authorial control permeates this track. “An Eater” rewards patient, repeated listening on headphones more than almost anything else in his catalogue.
Bonus Tracks: It would be incomplete to discuss this list without mentioning “Blazin'” and “Mercury Retrograde” from Going Normal — two tracks that round out that album’s vision beautifully. “Blazin'” brings a warm, amber-toned groove that feels like the best kind of evening wind-down, while “Mercury Retrograde” functions as an outro that leaves the listener in a contemplative, suspended state. Both represent the atmospheric, unhurried side of Martians’s artistry that his core fanbase loves most.
Frequently Asked Questions
What albums are the best Matt Martians songs from?
The songs on this list are drawn primarily from three releases: Going Normal (April 2021), Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar (December 2021), and Matt’s Missing (January 2024). His debut, The Drum Chord Theory (2017), and his sophomore effort, The Last Party (2019), also contain strong material including fan favorites like “Baby Girl” and the Steve Lacy and Mac DeMarco collaboration “Pony Fly.”
Is Matt Martians a member of The Internet?
Yes. Matt Martians co-founded The Internet alongside Syd in 2011, initially releasing Purple Naked Ladies on Odd Future Records. The band’s 2015 album Ego Death was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album, and Martians served as producer, keyboardist, and songwriter across all of their studio albums.
What genre is Matt Martians music?
Martians’s solo work sits primarily at the intersection of neo-soul, alternative R&B, and psychedelic soul. His production style draws from jazz-influenced harmony, funk-derived rhythmic sensibility, and synthesizer-heavy arrangements that reflect his background as a keyboard player and beatmaker. Rate Your Music and AllMusic both categorize his work under neo-soul and psychedelic soul.
How is Matt Martians connected to Odd Future?
Matt Martians is a founding member of Odd Future (OFWGKTA), the Los Angeles hip-hop collective that launched the careers of Tyler, The Creator, Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, and many others. He and Pyramid Vritra formed the production duo The Jet Age of Tomorrow within the collective, and their track The Knight Hawk was famously sampled by Kendrick Lamar on A.D.H.D.
When did Matt Martians release his most recent album?
Matt’s Missing was released on January 12, 2024, through his own imprint 5th Echelon Jet Repair Co. The 10-track album contains many of the songs featured in this list, including Rushback, Perfect Warning, The Reason, and Bassline. It was preceded by an accidental early release in December 2023 before being officially issued the following month.
What is God Said Its Ok To Fall about?
God Said Its Ok To Fall from Going Normal is a track exploring themes of vulnerability, grace, and self-forgiveness. Featuring Charlie Myers, the song delivers a message of emotional permission — the idea that struggle, failure, and falling apart are not signs of weakness but natural parts of being human. It stands as one of Martians’s most lyrically direct and emotionally generous moments in his solo catalogue.