澳门六合彩图库

Why do we need music any more? Why do we need songs about love? What is the purpose of music? These are some of the questions that producer, writer and pioneering electronic musician Matthew Herbert tries to address on his new record The Shakes. Herbert has always been an agent provocateur but you get the feeling that The Shakes is some kind of catharsis for him. 鈥淔or me it鈥檚 the feeling and state of heightened emotion somewhere between excitement and fear鈥�, he says. 鈥淲hen I聽started writing music, I聽did it because I聽could and because I聽liked it. As I聽get older these reasons become less compelling. At a聽time when inequality is rising to unprecedented extremes and when the system we have created is designed to destroy rather than nurture, music鈥檚 propensity to noodle inconclusively can seem unhelpful at best. Who needs diversion when action is required? However, music can鈥檛 only and always be a聽call to arms, it can also tenderize and engulf when comfort is needed. The Shakes is an attempt to find a聽middle ground between those two positions.鈥�

Matthew Herbert has almost been here before. Born in 1972 and educated at Exeter University, Herbert may have overseen production duties for artists such as Roisin Murphy, Micachu, Merz, Hejira and Rowdy Superstar whilst re-mixing over 200 artists (ranging from Quincy Jones, REM and Serge Gainsbourg to Bjork and Mahler) but it is for the extraordinary range of his work as an artist and sound innovator that he is best known. Herbert has scored more than ten feature films including Kevin Macdonald/Ridley Scott鈥檚 2011 film Life In A聽Day (for which he received a聽prestigious Ivor Novello nomination), a聽score that utilized an 80-piece orchestra and adapted sounds sent to him by the public. His work has also included scoring ballet, fashion shows, television programs and theatre and his music has been presented on Broadway, the National Theatre, the Almeida and the Royal Court.

Matthew Herbert has recorded under several names including Doctor Rockit, Wishmountain and The Matthew Herbert Big Band and it was under one of these monikers 鈥� Wishmountain 鈥� that he began recording using everyday objects such as pepper pots, video-cassettes and crisp packets. He released a聽series of EPs under the name Herbert and these were brought together on the 1996 album 鈥�100lbs鈥�. In 1998 he released 鈥溾�橝round The House鈥�, a聽Deep House long player that again used domestic objects as part of its soundscape but it wasn鈥檛 until 2001 that Herbert would commandeer the zeitgeist and produce a聽defining work. That work 鈥� 鈥楤odily Functions鈥� 鈥� featured sounds generated by manipulating human hair and skin as well as internal bodily organs. The record had an expansive, jazzier feel but, nonetheless (!), included the sounds of laser eye surgery. Whatever Herbert had stumbled upon had hit a聽nerve (ouch) as the record is his biggest seller to date and these days regularly features in Best Of The 鈥�90s album lists.

In 2000 Matthew Herbert issued his Personal Contract for the Composition of 澳门六合彩图库 (Incorporating the Manifesto of Mistakes) which was, he says, 鈥渁n exciting realization that the artistic agenda in electronic music was there for the taking.鈥� This was a聽rallying call against the shortcuts afforded by modern, mechanized recording (drum machines, lifting other people鈥檚 beats) and the stifling paradigm of studio presets and Herbert clarified further by suggesting that the manifesto was an attempt to demonstrate that 鈥渋n creating art, there are certain fundamental principles underlying each work, exhibition or gallery. What is this work about? Why does it exist now? Why use these materials? What is the intended effect? To this day, that kind of basic questioning about the role of music doesn鈥檛 exist in the visible mainstream, and rarely even on campus. Consequently I聽am left to my own devices, free to set the tone of discussion, free to drive the narrative and free to push further on in to uncharted territory. It鈥檚 a聽thrilling position to be in. I鈥檓 surprised others didn鈥檛 do it first.鈥�

In 2003 the Matthew Herbert Big Band released 鈥楪oodbye Swingtime鈥�, a聽profoundly jazz offering that showcased Herbert鈥檚 classical musical training and featured four trumpets, four trombones and five saxophones whose orchestrations were then computer manipulated. Two years later he released 鈥楶lat Du Jour鈥�, an album (about the politics of food distribution and consumption) featuring objects and situations in the food chain. For this 鈥� and in order to establish the chain of connection between politics, celebrity and battery farming 鈥� he recorded beneath the sewers of Fleet Street, drove a聽tank over the recreation of the dinner that Nigella Lawson cooked for George Bush and Tony Blair (鈥淣igella, Tony, George and Me鈥�) and recorded 3500 people biting an apple at the same time. It included the track 鈥淭he Final Meal of Stacy Lawton鈥� made in collaboration with Heston Blumenthal.

In 2006 Herbert released 鈥淪cale鈥�, a聽record featuring 635 objects including violins and guitars as well as breakfast cereal, gas pumps and coffins 鈥� and someone vomiting outside a聽Trade Arms Fair and drums recorded in a聽hot air balloon at 100mph. It excited Pitchfork Media enough to suggest it 鈥渟ophisticated, joyful and yet tinged with sadness鈥� and 鈥渙ne of this year鈥檚 great albums.鈥� Two years later he released another Matthew Herbert Big Band project entitled 鈥楾here鈥檚 Me And There鈥檚 You鈥� which included recording sessions inside the Houses Of Parliament, at a聽landfill site and in the lobby of the British Museum with 70 volunteers.

Between 2009 and 2011, Herbert released a聽trilogy of albums as the One series: One One created a聽song cycle based around his immediate world, with Herbert playing all the instruments and even singing; for One Club, Herbert travelled to the Robert Johnson nightclub in Frankfurt and persuaded clubbers to stamp, shake coins, whistle up or down according to whether they were straight or gay, and co-perform songs written for the occasion. The results were then processed, to sculpt a聽document of the club experience, prompting Herbert to reflect: 鈥淚t often occurs to me, given how many millions of people go clubbing every weekend, that that energy, or at least some of that energy, doesn鈥檛 cohere into some sort of political movement 鈥� that it all dissipates鈥�; and One Pig, an album that follows the life of a聽pig from birth to dinner plate. For this last piece, Herbert spent several months on a聽farm collating the necessary sounds until the pig was eventually cooked by chefs including Fergus Henderson and Jason Atherton. The pig鈥檚 blood was used to generate pitch and the dropping of the pig鈥檚 head on to the butcher鈥檚 table was processed into a聽bounding bass drum and if it all sounds fairly gruesome, it鈥檚 supposed to be. Herbert explains that he was not allowed to see the actual slaughter of the pig and that there is a聽veil of secrecy surrounding the environment of animal processing. 鈥淭he idea of choice as a聽consumer is nonsense,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese huge companies have all the power 鈥� and I鈥檓 being asked to put this in my body.鈥� The project was condemned by PETA (who seemed to equate listening in to the pig鈥檚 life as tantamount to torture) despite Herbert鈥檚 meticulous attention to detail and his documentary approach.

Matthew Herbert鈥檚 last record 鈥楾he End Of Silence鈥� (2013) further explored the outer edges of sound and music and was made out of a聽bomb exploding. The record seems to have kicked off an impossibly eclectic creative streak and last year the newly appointed Creative Director of the recently revamped BBC Radiophonic Workshop (that鈥檚 Matthew Herbert to you and I) directed a聽play at the National Theatre, debuted his opera at the Royal Opera House, scored a聽film for the BFI and recorded an album in seven days live on stage with an audience at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He also started to write 鈥楾he Shakes鈥�, his first album under the name HERBERT since 2006鈥檚 dark orchestral disco fantasy 鈥楽cale.鈥� The record can be seen as a聽sequel to the much-lauded 鈥楤odily Functions鈥� and is the latest in a聽series of albums that stretches back nearly twenty years to the minimalist house classic 100lbs. It follows a聽vinyl-heavy trio of underground releases last year (part 6,7,8) and is Herbert鈥檚 attempt to 鈥渟educe the listener back to the dance-floor鈥�. 聽The Shakes deals with intensely personal issues such as raising young children against a聽backdrop of an increasingly unstable world and, amongst other things, utilizes the sound of used bullets and shells bought off eBay as part of its soundscape. It is also perhaps a聽treatise on how 鈥渕usic helps to motivate, provide respite and divert us from the challenges of the everyday鈥� and Herbert himself describes it as 鈥渆lectronic music for the soul.

澳门六合彩图库ians featured on The Shakes include Dave Okumu (The Invisible, Jessie Ware) on guitar, Sam Beste (Hejira, Amy Winehouse) on keyboards, organ, saxophonist Ben Castle (Quincy Jones, Radiohead), trombonist Alistair White (Van Morrison, Blur) and Chris Storr (Beyonce, James Brown) on trumpet. Vocalists on the album include Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne (Hejira, Nitin Sawhney) and Ade Omotayo (Kindness, Amy Winehouse) and notable highlights include Herbert鈥檚 Grandfather鈥檚 piano and a聽piano from Wormwood Scrubs on Smart, the sounds of UK protest marches (on Strong) and the sound of those aforementioned bullets on Safety. Most notable of all however is Father Wills, the vast church organ of St Jude鈥檚 church in Hampstead that provides the huge depth and scale on much of the album. Herbert says of the recordings, 鈥淎fter all my work with sounds, an area I聽feel is my true calling, standing in St Jude鈥檚 and hearing Sam (Beste) play some of these songs on the organ at full volume, it鈥檚 just impossible to argue with the emotional impact of that: the refinement of hundred鈥檚 of years attention to a聽single instrument. At times like this a聽handful of a聽poor pigs bones doesn鈥檛 stand a聽chance.鈥�

It鈥檚 apposite to note that Matthew Herbert is a聽constantly enticing thorn in the side of the music and arts establishment as well as being a聽constantly unique influence on those who are drawn to be musical and artistic themselves. Who else could possibly inspire legendary US record producer and rapper J聽Dilla to sample one of his tracks (from Bodily Functions) and also pen a聽track (Caf茅 de Flore) that would subsequently prove the inspiration for major US motion picture Caf茅 de Flore (can you see what they did there?) directed by Dallas Buyers Club and Wild director Jean-Marc Vallee? And who else could set up labels such as Accidental Records and NX Records 鈥� the latter a聽collaboration with the popular music course at Goldsmiths that spawned artists such as James Blake and Katy B 鈥� and yet still find time to release a聽record featuring sounds created by the top ten selling items in Tesco? The answer you鈥檙e looking for is no one except Matthew Herbert, an artist who, on release of The Shakes 鈥� his finest and most accessible work to date and perhaps 2015鈥檚 most relevant release 鈥� has now earned the right to be seen as an electronic music icon.