Shitmat

Shitmat is the performing name of Henry Collins, a UK breakcore artist from Brighton. The act is a solo project, although the listed members are Shitty and Hicky. Shitmat’s work sits across breakcore, electronic, IDM, mashcore and raggacore, with a style built from the Amen break alongside gabber, plunderphonics, jungle and drum and bass.

Style and approach

Shitmat is associated with a crossover audience that includes listeners outside breakcore, including heavy metal fans. The music uses humorous samples that are unusual in serious drum and bass contexts and often leans into deliberate clichés. The term “Mashcore” is used for this approach.

Releases and themes

Since 2004, Shitmat has released eight EPs and six studio albums on Planet Mu and Wrong Music. The second album, Full English Breakfest, helps define the early breakcore and mashup scene by combining jungle blast beats, gabber influences and ragga vocals. A track from that release, “Agricultural Ardcore,” is built around the theme tune to the UK radio soap opera The Archers.

The KillaBabylonKutz EP centres on ragga-jungle clichés, with each track based on the same ragga sample. The Lesser Spotted Burberry EP plays on UK chav subculture and references brands such as Burberry and Argos. In live performance, Shitmat often wears a Burberry baseball cap, extending the same parody.

Other activity

Shitmat is a co-founder of Wrong Music, a collective and record label based in Brighton.