Matthew Herbert

Matthew Herbert is a DJ like no other, an endlessly creative whirlwind of musical energy who eats up the world he inhabits only to spit it out through unique electronic records. His discography would make every other producer who relentlessly pursues a narrow music field ashamed. Kitchen items, human skin and hair, the sound of thousands of people biting apples, the sewers of Fleet Street have all ended up being fed through the sampler that Herbert treats as a tool to deliver his philosophy that the world around us is the instrument to be recorded and manipulated.

Herbert’s most audacious album to date, 2011’s One Pig, followed a pig throughout its life from the sty to the slaughter house by using drums made of pig skin and other instruments made of its bone. The genuine warmth and intelligence of this and all his records allows it to transcend mere gimmickry and his greatest asset is his ability to push the boundaries whilst remaining a fundamentally great listen. It is an absolute treat to find such an extraordinary DJ being caoxed North to play and it is to the credit of La Cheetah that they have pulled it off. [Neil Murchison]