Herbert

Herbert is an electronic music act from Santa Cruz, active from 1994 to 2001. It is the project of Matthew Herbert, an electronic music producer who works across house, downtempo, experimental music and electronica, and who is known for challenging the conventions of the genre.

Aliases, labels and releases

Since 1996, Herbert releases music on a range of record labels under several aliases, including Doctor Rockit, Wishmountain, Radioboy, Mr. Vertigo and Transformer, as well as under his own name and with his Big Band. He also runs Accidental Records. Across this work he releases more than ten albums of self-written, produced and performed music.

Found sound and political themes

Herbert begins making music with found objects while studying Drama at Exeter University in the 1990s. Early examples include recordings made from bottles, books and pepper pots. He later extends this approach to recording places and experiences, treating the sampler as an instrument on releases by Doctor Rockit and Herbert. His style becomes more explicitly political on The Mechanics Of Destruction, where he samples objects from McDonald's and The Gap as a protest against corporate globalism. That CD is distributed free at concerts and as a free download, and is never sold in shops.

Big Band work and collaborators

Herbert’s 2003 Big Band album Goodbye Swingtime combines the political focus of Radioboy with the song-based structure of his Herbert releases. It is recorded with sixteen musicians from the British jazz world, including saxophonists Dave O’Higgins and Nigel Hitchcock and bassist Dave Green. On stage, the band is joined by long-term vocal collaborator Dani Siciliano, and sometimes by Arto Lindsay and Jamie Lidell.

Collaborations, remixes and performances

Herbert works with Björk and produces albums by Róisín Murphy, Dani Siciliano and Barbara Panther. He also remixes Moloko, R.E.M., Perry Farrell, Serge Gainsbourg, Yoko Ono, John Cale, The Avalanches and Cornelius. His performances include appearances at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals, Paris’ Pompidou Centre, Tokyo’s Blue Note, Sonar and Glastonbury, and he supports Björk at the Hollywood Bowl.

Film and television music

He also provides music for film and television, including original music for Kristian Levring’s The Intended.

Later themes

Herbert’s album Plat du Jour addresses world famine.