Matthew Herbert: one pig, dead and alive, Cafe Oto - review - Music - Arts

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This show, incorporating a discussion with food writers and a pig-based meal as well as a
re-creation of Herbert's recent One Pig album, was designed to stimulate discussion as well as saliva glands.

"It's up to you now whether you eat the pork," said the electronic composer after a set that had incorporated the grunts and squeals of his subject as well as the rustling of straw, the dripping of blood and the sound of saws on bone. There was a vague beauty, however, to the electronic washes of the early tracks. Harsh industrial rhythms took hold later on. As with the pig's life he documented, musically it was a pretty grim experience.

There was humour too. The sight of Yann Seznec leaping around his "Styharp" - a pigpen whose wires produced porcine noises when yanked and twisted - was hard to watch with a straight face.

Herbert succeeded in making us vividly aware of the source of our food, but also left us hungry for more.

Matthew Herbert
Cafe Oto
Ashwin Street, E8 3DL