Matthew Herbert (born in 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, Wishmountain, and DJ Empty, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music.

Career

Matthew Herbert released his first album, ''100 Lbs'', in 1996, which “gathers early 12″s from a time when Herbert was very much a ‘dance music’ producer”. In 1998, Herbert issued ''Around the House'' with Dani Siciliano, which mixed dance beats, sounds generated by everyday kitchen objects, and vocals. By the late 90's, Herbert was remixing tracks for dance artists like

Moloko Moloko () were an English-Irish electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and music producer, producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of electronica and dance music, they are best known for their ...

, Motorbass, Alter Ego, and others. (Many of these were later collected on ''Secondhand Sounds: Herbert Remixes''.) He also recorded singles, EPs, and albums under a variety of aliases (Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, and Transformer) as well as his own name. In 2001, Herbert issued '' Bodily Functions''. Similar in structure to ''Around the House,'' it featured sounds generated by manipulating human hair and skin as well as internal bodily organs. ''Bodily Functions'' benefited a record deal with Studio !K7, making it Herbert's first full-length work to receive worldwide distribution. ''Goodbye Swingtime'', a 2003 album issued under the name The Matthew Herbert Big Band, combined the political commentary of Radio Boy with the song structure of his Herbert albums. Recorded with sixteen musicians from the British jazz world, including saxophonists Dave O'Higgins and Nigel Hitchcock, pianist Phil Parnell, and bassist Dave Green, the band is complemented on stage by Siciliano,

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. In ...

, Warp recording artist Jamie Lidell, and Mara Carlyle. In 2005, he released a record entitled '' Plat du Jour'', a record made entirely from objects and situations in the food chain. He recorded beneath the sewers of Fleet Street, with Vietnamese coffee beans, inside industrial chicken farms, drove a tank over a recreation of the dinner that

Nigella Lawson Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook. After graduating from Oxford, Lawson worked as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, later becoming the deputy literary editor of ''The Sunday Times'' in ...

cooked for George Bush and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

, and recorded 3500 people biting an apple at the same time. The track entitled "The Final Meal of Stacey Lawton" was made in collaboration with renowned chef Heston Blumenthal. On 30 May 2006, Herbert issued '' Scale'', his most successful album to date. In the US, it reached number 20 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s electronic music album chart.

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

remarked, "Herbert sneakily subverts Scale's apocalyptic thematic thread into something warm and danceable." Online magazine

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

noted, "Sophisticated and whimsical, joyful and yet tinged with sadness, Scale is one of this year's great albums." The second album by The Matthew Herbert Big Band, '' There's Me And There's You'', was released in October 2008. In the making of the record Herbert recorded inside the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

, at a

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

site, and in the lobby of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

with 70 volunteers. In 2009 Matthew Herbert was involved in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. He wrote and produced the music accompanying the 42 "postcards," short films introducing the country being represented next. In addition, Herbert wrote an orchestral piece for an interval act involving two "children flying in on a giant plastic swan." In 2010 Matthew Herbert released two of a three part trilogy of albums. The first, ''One One'', was entirely written and performed by Herbert alone, the second, ''One Club'', was made exclusively out of sounds recorded at the Robert Johnson nightclub in Offenbach in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on one night. That same year he also released a reworking of

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

's tenth symphony for the

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

's Recomposed series. Much of the recording was made inside Mahler's composing hut in Toblach, by his graveside and in a crematorium. In late 2011, the final part of the trilogy, ''One Pig'', was released. Herbert recorded the life cycle of a farmed pig from birth to the dinner plate. The animal rights organisation

PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...

condemned the album when it was announced without hearing it. Herbert, who is not a vegetarian, responded that their complaints were "utterly absurd" and that he wanted his music to encourage people to "listen to the world a little more carefully." In the same year his 2001 track "Café de Flore", originally recorded for a Yves St Laurent fashion show and named after the

Café de Flore Café de Flore () is one of the oldest coffeehouses in Paris, known for its emblematic shopfront and celebrated for its famous clientele, which in the past included influential writers, philosophers, and members of Parisian high society (tout-Par ...

in Paris, was featured prominently in the soundtrack of the film ''

''. In August 2012, ''Meaningless'' was released under the pseudonym DJ Empty. The album was an experiment to see if war samples could be disguised in the form of dance music, making it a conceptual precursor to Matthew Herbert's ''The End of Silence'' (2013), which openly acknowledges the central focus on an audio sample from the Raid on Ras Lanuf. On 11 March 2013 a newly commissioned work by Herbert, for orchestra with electronics, based on a work by Rameau, was performed at The Roundhouse in London, as part of

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

's "

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Remixed" series. In March 2013, his first five albums under moniker ''Herbert'' were released as ''Herbert Complete'' featuring bonus material and Abbey Road Sessions. Initially it was an iTunes Store (now

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

) exclusive (and subsequently released for streaming on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

too), but has never been sold in lossless physically or digitally. On 20 March 2015 Herbert announced ''The Shakes'', his first album of dance music in nine years. This was followed up with the release of "Middle," the first track from the album. ''The Shakes'' was released in an innovative way, making one track and short accompanying film available on streaming and video platforms each week leading up to the album release. On 22 October 2021 Herbert released the album ''Musca'' on Accidental Records. In October 2023 Herbert received an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

nomination at The Ivors Classical Awards. ''Estuary Sound Ark'', a community project involving young participants and sounds collected by the local community in South Essex and North Kent was nominated for the Best Community and Participation Composition. Herbert was awarded the

for Innovation, presented in association with the Musicians' Union, at The Ivors Classical Awards 2023. The award acknowledged his outstanding contribution to music. In October 2024 Herbert received another

nomination at The Ivors Classical Awards. ''The Horse'', for orchestra, horse skeleton and electronics, was nominated for Best Large Ensemble Composition. Herbert went on to win the

on 12 November 2024.

Theories and politics

In 2000, Herbert wrote a manifesto titled ''Personal Contract for the Composition of Music (Incorporating the Manifest of Mistakes)'', which served as a theoretical guide for much of his later work. Its goals include a personal ban on using drum machines and pre-existing samples, and ensuring that anything created in the studio can be replicated in live performance. Many of his less dance-oriented projects (chiefly those not recorded under the name Herbert) address political concerns, using specific objects to create a conceptual piece. His 2001 project as Radio Boy, ''The Mechanics of Destruction'' sampled

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

and The Gap merchandise as a protest against corporate globalism. It was made available as a free MP3 download, via concerts and by post from Accidental Records. In 2005, Herbert released the album ''Plat du Jour'' under his real name, Matthew Herbert. The disc addresses commercial food production and marketing. In February 2006, Herbert helped form the virtual community Country X. In an introduction posted on the website, he writes, "Why not start a country? only this time, a virtual one. free from the necessity to defend its borders physically, we can reduce the violence of exclusion. a new description of resistance." Herbert shared some of his thoughts on the future in an article for the UK music magazine '' Clash'', writing "we are facing a perfect storm of shit: global financial meltdown, massive climatic shifts and the end of oil."

Accidental Records

By 2000 Herbert assembled several microlabels he initiated, including Soundslike (for his Herbert alias) and Lifelike (originally called Lowlife, begun in 1998 for his Doctor Rockit alias), under the umbrella Accidental Records. In addition to documenting Herbert's sundry projects, these imprints issued works from The Soft Pink Truth, Mara Carlyle, Mugison, and Beckett & Taylor, among others. Between 2008 and 2009, the label released 'Butterflies' by Finn Peters, the sophomore record of Matthew Herbert Big Band named ''There's Me And There's You'', The Invisible's debut album, Setsubun Bean Unit, and Micachu's debut named ''

Jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

''. 2010/2011 sees the release of a trilogy concept album by Herbert, beginning with ''One One'', followed by ''One Club'' and ''One Pig''. Hejira's debut album ''Prayer Before Birth'' was released on the label on 21 October 2013.

Additional projects

Matthew Herbert has produced remixes for numerous artists, including

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

PUZZLE A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

, REM,

Perry Farrell Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician referred to as the " Godfather of Alternative Music". Farrell began his career with Psi Com in the early 1980s, before becoming the frontman ...

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, dr ...

The Avalanches The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne in 1997. They have released three studio albums, ''Since I Left You'' (2000), ''Wildflower (The Avalanches album), Wildflower'' (2016), and ''We Will Always Love You'' ...

and Cornelius. He programmed three tracks on

's '' Vespertine'', and produced The Invisible's debut album, along with Moloko singer

Róisín Murphy Róisín Marie Murphy ( , ; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter and record producer who first became known in the 1990s as one half of the Pop music, pop duo Moloko alongside the English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of M ...

's album '' Ruby Blue''. He has also produced albums for Micachu, Merz and Finn Peters. He has contributed music to several films, including La confiance règne, ''

Human Traffic ''Human Traffic'' is a 1999 British independent coming of age comedy-drama film written and directed by Justin Kerrigan. A cult film of the Cool Cymru era of arts in Wales, it stars John Simm, Lorraine Pilkington, Shaun Parkes, Danny Dyer, an ...

'',

Dogme 95 Dogme 95 (; Danish for "Dogma 95") was a Danish avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity" (). These were rules to create films based on the t ...

, director Kristian Levring's The Intended, Agathe Cléry, Le Défi (Dance Challenge), A Number, as well as UK television, theatrical and

concert dance Concert dance (also known as performance dance or theatre dance in the United Kingdom) is dance performed for an audience. It is frequently performed in a theatre setting, though this is not a requirement, and it is usually choreographed and perf ...

productions. Herbert also wrote music for the YouTube documentary film '' Life in a Day'' along with prominent composer

Harry Gregson-Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, '' Spy Game'', '' Phone Booth' ...

. In 2010 he produced a new project at the invitation of ''

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...

'' called One Day in which he set to music a Saturday edition of the Guardian newspaper, performed at London's Southbank Centre in the London Jazz Festival. He went on to create a short encore for the ensemble involving a live remix of a concert at the BBC Proms in 2012 using recordings on mobile phones. In 2012 he is relaunching the museum of sound at www.museumofsound.com. Also in 2012, he was appointed as the creative director of the newly revived

BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce Incidental music, incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering ...

. Herbert wrote the score for the 2017 film

A Fantastic Woman ''A Fantastic Woman'' () is a 2017 drama film directed by Sebastián Lelio, written by Lelio and Gonzalo Maza. Produced by Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín, the film stars Daniela Vega and Francisco Reyes. It won the Academy Award for Best For ...

, which was released by Milan Records in January 2018. He also wrote the score for

Disobedience Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of "social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure". Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which some authors define as behavior infl ...

, released in 2017/2018 by the same director,

Sebastián Lelio Sebastián Lelio Watt (born 8 March 1974) is a Chilean director, screenwriter, editor and producer. He received critical acclaim for directing the films '' Gloria'' (2013) and '' A Fantastic Woman'' (2017), the latter of which won an Academy Awa ...

. In February 2018, the current

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

logo was revealed in a short video clip, with music and sound created by Herbert.

Discography

Herbert

;Albums *''100lbs'' (1996) *''Parts One Two and Three'' (1996) *''Parts Remixed'' (1996) *''

Around the House ''Around the House'' is a 1998 studio album by British electronic musician Herbert. It is an electroacoustic album using " samples of washing machines, toasters and toothbrushes, processed into swinging grooves". Critical reception John Bush o ...

'' (1998) *'' Bodily Functions'' (2001) *'' Secondhand Sounds'' (2002) *'' Scale'' (2006) *'' The Shakes'' (2015) *''Musca'' (2021) ;EPs *''Birds'' (1996) *''Part One'' (1996) *''Part Two'' (1996) *''Part Three'' (1996) *''Part Four'' (1996) *''Part Five'' (1996) *''Classic Herbert'' (1996) *''The Antioch Bypass EP'' (1997) *''So Now...'' (1998) *''We All Need Love'' (1998) *''The Last Beat'' (1999) *''Suddenly'' (2000) *''Leave Me Now'' (2000) *''The Audience'' (2001) *''Addiction'' (2002) *''Moving like a Train'' (2006) *''Puzzles EP'' (2007) *''Bodily Functions Remixes'' (2012) *''Part Six'' (2014) *''Part Seven'' (2014) *''Part Eight'' (2015) *''Part Nine'' (2024)

Matthew Herbert

;Albums *''Letsallmakemistakes'' (2000) *'' Plat du Jour'' (2005) *''Score'' (2007) *''Mahler Symphony X'' (2010) *''One One'' (2010) *''One Club'' (2010) *''One Pig'' (2011) *''The End of Silence'' (2013) *''The Recording'' (2014) *''A Nude - The Perfect Body'' (2016) *''

'' (2017) *''

Gloria Bell ''Gloria Bell'' is a 2018 comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Sebastián Lelio; it is an English language remake of his 2013 film ''Gloria''. The film stars Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Michael Cera, Caren Pistorius, Brad Garrett, Je ...

'' (2018) *'' The Wonder'' (2022) *''The Horse'' (2023) *'' Starve Acre'' (2024) ;EPs *''On Your Feet'' (2004) *''Plat du Jour: The Appetiser EP'' (2005)

Doctor Rockit

;Albums *''The Music of Sound'' (1996) *''Indoor Fireworks'' (2000) *''The Unnecessary History of Doctor Rockit'' (2004) ;EPs *''Ready to Rockit EP'' (1995) *''Whoosh'' (1996) *''D for Doctor'' (1996) *''Café De Flore'' (2001) *''Veselka's Diner'' (2003) *''The Vinyl Resting Place'' (2004)

The Matthew Herbert Big Band

;Albums *'' Goodbye Swingtime'' (2003) *'' There's Me and There's You'' (2008) *'' The State Between Us'' (2019) ;EPs *''The Process, the Parts, the Many and the Few'' (2003) *''You’re Welcome Here (Brexit Edition)'' (2021)

Radio Boy

;Albums *''Wishmountain Is Dead, Long Live Radio Boy'' (1997) *''The Mechanics of Destruction'' (2001) ;EPs *''The Lift Attendants Holiday'' (1998) *''London'' (1999) *''A Machine Drilling for Oil'' (2000) *''Rude Workouts'' (2003)

Wishmountain

;Albums *''Wishmountain Is Dead'' (1998) *''Tesco'' (2012) *''Stonework: 1000 Metres Down'' (2022) ;EPs *''Radio'' (1996) *''Video'' (1996) *''Wishmountain'' (1998) *''Radio 2'' (1998) *''Old Stuff'' (1998) *''Nescafe'' (2012) *''Dairy Milk'' (2012)

DJ Empty

Albums * ''Meaningless'' (2012)

References

External links

* – official site *
Accidental Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, Matthew 1972 births Living people English electronic musicians English record producers Intelligent dance musicians British remixers English experimental musicians Downtempo musicians