Matt:Scratch

Matt:Scratch

Matt:Scratch is a breakcore and gabber producer and DJ from Guildford, Surrey, who grows up in the Home Counties in the UK. The act is described as an alter ego built around amen breaks, gabber kicks and fast, aggressive rhythmic ideas. The name comes from early home-recorded promo CDs that were often so scratched they would not play.

Early music and training

From a young age, Matt is trained in oboe, French horn, guitar and piano. He begins writing and producing his own music early on, working under the alias Purple Mist on material that includes weird sound-scape electronica, breakbeat, house, trance and acoustic music. He also listens widely, with interests including Slipknot, Slayer and Jean Michel Jarre.

Education and early projects

After finishing boarding school in 2004, he studies at ACM Guildford. There he forms a metal band called Fate Preordained in order to keep his vocal work going, but smoking affects his ability to perform as a vocalist and the band breaks up. He leaves ACM in 2005 with a higher national diploma in contemporary music production and the ability to mix on vinyl.

Scratch, Scratch n Sniff and style

The Scratch project begins in 2007 or 2008. In mid-2008, Matt:Scratch becomes homeless and spends a couple of years moving between friends’ sofas and squats around Guildford. In February 2009 he moves into the Mothership and shifts from drum and bass into an acid techno phase under the direction of Zac Braincandy, also known as New Age Tramp, forming the duo Scratch n Sniff. He then starts combining the dancefloor impact of drum and bass and techno with the speed and heaviness of metal, settling on breakcore and gabber hardcore. His sound is associated with amen break use, glitchy percussion, heavy gabber kicks and wobbly sub bass.

Influences

He names Shitmat, Life4Land, Bong-Ra and Venetian Snares among the artists he aspires to.