Matthew Nelson (born 22 April 1967 in

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England), better known as DJ Slipmatt, is a British

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

producer and DJ. He was one half of

breakbeat hardcore Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave or oldskool hardcore) is a music genre of the very early 1990s that spawned from the UK rave scene. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In ad ...

group SL2, who had a 1992 UK hit with " On a Ragga Tip".

Biography

In 1988, while working as an electrician and courier, Nelson obtained his first turntables and started playing hip-hop and house. He then founded a pirate radio station named "Raw FM" in London's East End, and in 1989 began his professional DJ career as DJ for the Raindance rave event. His first music production was in 1989 where Slipmatt collaborated with DJ Lime forming SL2. The single, "Do That Dance", was released in that same year. This was followed by the number 11 UK chart hit "DJs Take Control" / "Way in My Brain". The follow-up single, " On a Ragga Tip", reached number 2 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in April 1992. As a result of their chart success, the band were propelled into the media spotlight and made appearances on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' and other television shows. SL2's chart success continued with a remix of "Way in My Brain", which made the top twenty in the UK chart. Amidst the chart success, Slipmatt cemented his name on the rave DJ circuit and was a regular at major Fantazia and Dreamscape events. In 1993, Nelson set up a new project, the SMD series (Slip Matt's Dubs). The first release, ''SMD#1'', sold over 10,000 copies, with a further three installments following in the series. A compilation album collected these recordings. 1994 saw the release of "Breaking Free" and "Hear Me" on Slipmatt and Lime's own Awesome Records imprint, the former being embraced by

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

and rave DJs alike. The tracks were later remixed by

DJ SS Leroy Small (born 27 August 1970 in Leicester, England), better known as DJ SS, is a British drum and bass DJ and record producer. Biography SS started out as a hip hop and rare groove DJ in his home-town of Leicester, and was originally kno ...

(Formation Records) and DJ Seduction (Impact Records) respectively. By 1995, Slipmatt's DJ sets had veered strongly towards the tougher hardcore genre and Nelson set up Universal Records to represent this burgeoning style. Releases from Force & Styles (as A Sense of Summer), DJ Sy & Unknown, DJ Demo and others followed. The tracks "Breaking Free" and "Hear Me" were again remixed, this time by Ramos & Sunset Regime. As Slipmatt, he has compiled and mixed several albums, including ''United Dance Anthems 1 & 2'' and ''Moondance True Rave Anthems''. Slipmatt's remixes include many remixes for Ministry Of Sound and various well known and established record labels. Since 1994, Nelson presented his own radio shows on

Kiss 100 Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol an ...

as well as numerous other stations over the years. Nelson has played in the US, Australia, Thailand, and around Europe. He has DJ'd at Ibiza's

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

, Es Paradise, Eden, Summum, and most of the San Antonio West End clubs. In 2003, Slipmatt's track, "Space", peaked at #41 on the UK Singles Chart. Slipmatt has DJ'd at Fantazia, Raindance, Moondance, Dreamscape, Pleasuredome, Hardcore Heaven, Dance Concept, Helter Skelter, One Nation, United Dance, Uprising, Dizstruxshon, Alderney Bunker Parties, World Dance, Slammin Vinyl, Glastonbury,

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festival relocated to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset. The event was organ ...

, O2 London & thousands of raves over the years.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1967 births Living people English DJs English electronic musicians English techno musicians Hardcore techno musicians Breakbeat hardcore musicians English record producers English drum and bass musicians People from Loughton Musicians from Essex Electronic dance music DJs