Earlier this year, fresh from his production work on Patrick Wolf‘s The Bachelor, Matthew Herbert announced that he would be making an album charting the life of a pig. Yes, a pig. 

On the Herbert Pig blog, the politically-driven field recordist, Big Band leader and all-round electronic music pioneer conveyed the following staccato message:

"in 2010 i will release a record entitled ‘the pig’ [current title One Pig]

it will be made up entirely of sounds made during the life cycle of a pig.i will be there at its birthduring its lifepresent at its deathand during the butchery process.its body will then be given to chefs new and oldthere will be a feastit will all be recordedand then turned in to music"

Several months then passed while Herbert awaited the birth of his piglet. Well, on Saturday 15 August the doomed little porker was born at Monkshill Farm in Kent, and Herbert was of course in attendance with camera and audio recording equipment; the picture below is of the newly arrived litter. "My pig is the one with the dark triangle on the rear right rump where it was bitten by its mother," he explains. 

The hardier souls among you can watch video footage of the birth as well (why you’d want to, we can’t imagine). 

Herbert is no stranger to the world of food, having previously worked with the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra and produced the album Plat Du Jour, an angry but witty response to food consumption and marketing in the western world featuring such snappy numbers as ‘The Truncated Life of A Modern Industrialised Chicken’. 

As if One Pig wasn’t enough food for thought, Herbert is also working on an album called One Club. It’s a "club record", but not in the way that you’d think. A note on the official Herbert site reads:

"[One Club] is made out of a club and everyone in it. it will be released early 2010.The recording of this album will be made entirely at the robert johnson club in frankfurt on september the 30th.

from 8-10pm every single person there will be invited to make noises. there will be various microphones placed both outside and inside the club (including the toilets) to capture everything.

The name of everyone who attends will be listed on the record (unless anonymity is preferred) and will receive a free promo copy of the record when it’s finished.

there will probably be cameras there too, so be prepared to be documented.

everyone is welcome to come along."

Herbert will also play a short DJ set at Robert-Johnson on the night.

Oh, and there’s more: our man has been working with Antony Hegarty on live recordings of Antony & The Johnsons‘ Crying Light; recorded results are likely to surface at some point in the near future. He’s also been producing the new album by Big Band staple Eska Mtungwazi and is writing original music for a production of Horvath’s Judgement Day at the Almeida theatre in London.