Mondanile was born as Matthew Anthony Mondanile. He attended Ridgewood High School with two of his future Real Estate bandmates, Martin Courtney and Alex Bleeker. Mondanile auditioned the former to join his high school band as a bass player but opted for an older schoolmate with a car, while the latter learned how to play Pixies songs from Mondanile, along with taking guitar lessons together. After graduating from high school, Mondanile attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts where he studied literature, history and art.
Career
Ducktails
While studying in Massachusetts, Mondanile became involved in the local music scene, where he would book shows for his campus and join a number of bands, including Predator Vision with future Real Estate drummer Etienne Pierre Duguay. After a stint in Berlin to work on his thesis where he became acquainted with musicians such as James Ferraro, Spencer Clark and Steven Warwick, Mondanile became influenced by their method of quickly recording music on cassette and releasing it. Upon returning to the U.S., Mondanile recorded what was to become the first Ducktails release in one day, and released it the next by giving copies of the tape to friends. Upon graduation, Mondanile moved back into his parents' house and continued writing and recording Ducktails material there.
Real Estate
Mondanile kept in touch with high school friends Martin Courtney and Alex Bleeker while each of them had moved away from Ridgewood for college, and would send each other music that they had been working on individually. During a summer break, they formed Lese Majesty with Mondanile's Massachusetts acquaintance Etienne Pierre Duguay for the purpose of being the touring band for Julian Lynch, another high schoolmate of Mondanile, Courtney and Bleeker's. When Mondanile and Courtney moved back to Ridgewood in summer 2008, they starting writing and recording songs which formed the basis of what would become Real Estate. After recording several songs, they were eventually joined by Bleeker and Duguay. Real Estate released their self-titled debut album in 2009 to critical acclaim, with Mondanile in particular gaining praise for his distinctive guitar work. Two subsequent albums, Days and Atlas, brought the band further recognition. On May 25, 2016, Real Estate announced that Mondanile had left the band, and "will continue to focus his creative energy on Ducktails." Mondanile later admitted that he enjoyed working with on his own again. "It’s way easy for me to just do anything I want and not have to do the lame stuff I would have to do with them. Like, play a crappy jam band festival in Arizona.”
Personal life
In October 2017, Real Estate stated that Mondanile's departure was due to allegations made against Mondanile of "unacceptable treatment of women." Prior to the band's statement, Mondanile had denied the allegations. As a result of the allegations, Ducktails tour dates in Asia and the U.S. were cancelled by the promoters. In a statement issued by his attorneys, Mondanile apologized for his inappropriate behavior. He also accused Real Estate of violating the "leaving agreement" he signed upon his dismissal that "prohibits both him and the band members from making any negative or derogatory statements about the other, or that may negatively affect the other’s reputation and career," claiming the band came forward not to "protect the victims" but "to protect the band's commercial viability." Mondanile was previously in a relationship with Julia Holter, who also contributed to Ducktails' fifth studio album, St. Catherine. In the wake of the allegations, Holter divulged her own past experience with Mondanile, calling him "emotionally abusive to the point where I had to have a lawyer intervene and was afraid for my life."
