This is just another suggestion but is it possible he has a fungal infection on his skin? Gizmo and Star started getting really doggy smelling feet and it turned out to be a fungal infection. They don't normally smell doggy at all. The vet needed to do a scrape to make sure. When you described it as smelling like feet, it made me think of it. At the time, their feet would stink within hours of having a bath.
I gotta agree, the smell of the Aloveen is beautiful. I love it, I also love it when people tell me how nice my dogs smell. They don't smell like dogs at all. Sometimes I have to use the Melaseb, and then I use the Aloveen Conditioner afterwards.
I think it's definitely better to cut them out as you find them. How do you cut them out? If you catch them early enough you can work them out with a comb and your fingers but you do need lots of patience.
When I find one that I really can't work out with my fingers, I will cut along the matt in the direction of the hair and then try and work it out. If you cut across and take the whole matt out in one go, you will end up with patches. It does take lots of time and it helps when your pooch will stay still for you. :D