Pendulum take the controls at Matter

Friday night I moseyed on down to Earstorm, the first in a series of nights curated by DnB-slash-rock badboys Pendulum. (No info on the next events as yet, but Matter assure me there'll be two more this year).

I love Matter, I really do - despite the fact it's full of home counties girls in party dresses and strappy heels; despite the fact it's in the arse-end of nowhere; and despite the fact that the top floor could do with turning the volume up... a lot. I still traipse there all the time because it pulls these ridiculously sick lineups out the bag.

Nero's dubstep and DnB set in the main room was a total stormer, and proved the duo are as natty on the decks as they are in the studio. I think I'm in love.

In room two, scratch master DJ Craze - the proud owner of six gold Technics decks, the lucky bastard, having won the World DMC Championships three times - also smashed it. He's obviously cottoned on to dubstep, but we caught some trademark hip hop and jungle styles too, which rocked.

Sinden dropped a mix of tech and tribal house, electro, two-step swagger and booty bumpin' riddims. It was good, fun, catch-all - but not enough to keep me going for a whole hour, especially when competing against Pendulum, who were giving a taster of their new album on the main stage.

Next, DnB man-of-the-moment Sub Focus tore it up, but sadly his set featured the low point of the night: an MC with 'Put your hands in the air' tourettes, which was super, mega, utterly annoying.

Talking of annoying, I'm thinking of starting a petition for a ban on mosh-pits at DnB nights. Where the hell did that trend start? I'm showing my age when I say, it wouldn't have happened in my day...