You are about to being given the opportunity for assisting Matthew Herbert with his latest album – due for release next year. You are also about to being the opportunity to feature on it!
Below, enclosed are the instructions. Follow carefully and then call the number to leave Matthew his message.
DEADLINE: 29.11.05
Matthew Herbert and his Answering Machine:
Matthew Herbert; renowned Jazz Musician, electro-acoustic legend, big band conductor, 90’s house warrior, soundtrack scorer extraordinaire, author of the highly influential ‘Personal Contract for the Composition of Music’, speaker for the anti-globalisation movement and the man responsible for the highly popular ‘Bodily Functions’ and ‘Plat du Jour’ albums is at it again…..
Matthew has a new album in the pipeline. Similar to his previous offerings Matthew does not intend to steer away from his dominating, God-like use of the sampler, and the rule to which his music is created; ‘the use of sounds that already exist is not allowed’. A rule, which has lead to his music being created through the sounds of food preparation and household appliances, for example, instead of the monotonous, processed, synthetic beats of standard drum machines. Thus manifesting itself into an entirely original amalgamation of music and sounds. His latest release, the critically acclaimed, ‘Plat du Jour’ was created over a period of 18 months, and consisted of 30,000 chickens, 3,255 people biting on an apple, and a cheiftan mk 10 battle tank – to list just a few of the ingredients making up this epic release.
So what has Matthew in store for us now….? To be honest I don’t think anyone (including us at !K7) will know until his new record is finished, but for one of the up and coming tracks on this yet, untitled album, he requires your assistance. Yes. You!
At the !K7 office we have installed a separate phone line, the ‘Herbert Hotline’, if you will. Unfortunately there’s no-one at the other end to pick it up, just an answering machine. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to call this number and leave a message consisting of a single sound. It could be organic, vocal, mechanical, natural – even bodily. Remember you’re dealing with a man who has created music from the recording of coffee cups and sewer systems, so the more original the better. These sounds will be collected on the answering machine and past on to the grand, musical conductor himself, who will fuse the sounds together to create a grand musical cacophony that only he knows will sound like.
To add extra intrigue to this task you must under no circumstances state, or give any indication as to what the sound is. Should you believe that your contribution is worthy enough of credit and acknowledgement then you should email us (dan@k7.com), and your musical contribution will be duly noted.
So go on, give the ‘Herbert Hotline’ a ring…..
For calls inside of Germany, please dial: 032 22 1918 394
For calls from the rest of the world, please dial: +49 32 22 1918 394
Joined: 04 Sep 2003 Posts: 335 Location: Den Helder, Holland Age: 34
WHOAAAAAA !!!!! Now this is some good news. Not only a new Herbert album, but also Dani's second !!! PLUS , they will start touring together in april !!!!!!
ITEM: HERBERT'S HOTLINE
DATE: Monday 28th November 2005
NEWS: As winter draws in, me and dani are hunkering down recording 2 new records, her new solo record and my new Herbert record. The records are coming out in the spring on k7 records and we will then start touring them together next year from april. Plenty to do til then.
My new record is called SCALE and takes as its starting point, the idea of distance in our lives. For one track I am trying to make a small connection with the potential audience of the album. To this end, we have set up an answer phone at k7 hq. The number there is : +49 32 22 1918 394
If you would like to contribute, please call this number and leave me a sound. Any sound. Preferably not speech or something vocal. Please DON'T say what the sound is or your name, I'm interested in making a piece of music out of noises that I don't know anything about. If you'd like to register your contribution, and name then please email dan@k7.com
Regardless, if you'd like to add a noise to the record, just call up and leave me a sound. Every sound will be used.
You have until december the 11th to do it.
Joined: 04 Sep 2003 Posts: 335 Location: Den Helder, Holland Age: 34
NEWS
ITEM: HOTLINE EXTENSION
DATE: Monday 12th December 2005
NEWS: The deadline for the Herbert Hotline has been extended to the 15th December. Get dialing!!
Joined: 04 Sep 2003 Posts: 335 Location: Den Helder, Holland Age: 34
ITEM: HERBERT LATEST
DATE: Thursday 19th January 2006
NEWS: Having been locked in his countryside retreat for the past six months, Herbert is applying the finishing touches to his latest album release through the K7 camp.
Initial scheduling see it being released early May. WATCH THIS SPACE!
And this space of course is: http://www.magicandaccident.com/
Amy Phillips reports:
A sound is never just a sound to Matthew Herbert, and a piece of music is never just a piece of music-- it's an act of protest. Whether working under his own name or under a series of aliases (Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Wishmountain, etc.), the British producer treats both process and product as political entities. He has made albums about physicality using the sounds of the human body (2001's Bodily Functions), mass consumption using food and food processing materials (last year's Plat du Jour), and the evils of corporate globalization using McDonalds wrappers, Gap boxer shorts, Marlboro cigarettes, and a Starship Troopers video cassette, among other source materials.
Every Herbert album is a concept album to a certain extent, and his latest, Scale, due out May 30 on !K7, is no different. Using "the idea of distance in our lives" as its platform, Scale is reminiscent of the poppier, more straightforwardly song-oriented sound Herbert cultivated on Bodily Functions and 1998's Around the House, as well as his work on Róisín Murphy's 2005 album Ruby Blue.
"My goals, as always these days, are to bring down Tony Blair [and] the American empire, a withdrawal of troops in Iraq and bring[ing] about an end to our reliance on oil," Herbert told Pitchfork in an email interview. "I will, as usual fail. This time, instead of trying to do it with a process of intense political organisation of sounds, I have chosen to shroud these ambitions in song."
He continued, "On Plat du Jour, my last record, I had few harmonic tools with which to write the melodies and not one traditional instrument. For Scale therefore I wanted to languish in the freedoms of an orchestra, the satisfying fall of a melody played by a musician on an instrument developed over hundreds of years. It is a celebration of all the luxuries I have been afforded by the age of cheap oil and a critique of all the violence that allowed those privileges."
Write your congressman to the tune of this tracklist:
01 Something Isn't Right
02 The Movers and Shakers
03 Moving Like a Train
04 Harmonise
05 We're in Love
06 Birds of a Feather
07 Those Feelings
08 Down
09 Movie Star
10 Just Once
11 Wrong
Scale features vocal contributions from Herbert's longtime collaborator Dani Siciliano, newcomer Neil Thomas, and Dave Okumu of Jade Fox, who also provides some guitar work. Herbert himself sings (or "croaks", as he put it) on the closing track, "Wrong".
However, the album's most intriguing guest spots come from an unusual source: Herbert fans. Late last year, Herbert and !K7 set up "Herbert's Hotline", open to anyone and everyone, with the intent of collecting sounds to use on the album. "We ended up with 177 messages, including a threat of violence, random mumblings, self-promoters, and a lot of slightly disturbing noises," Herbert said. "I used all of them on the track 'Just Once'. Hopefully with careful listening, people can recognize their own contribution."
As for the other sources of Scale's seductive cacophony, Herbert credits "meteorites, coffins, golf swings, cars, tornado bombers, petrol pumps, breakfast cereal, etc. etc." If anybody else said that, we'd think they were joking, but this is Matthew Herbert we're talking about.
Scale's first single, the double A side "Movers and Shakers"/"Harmonize", will be released in May, with "Moving Like a Train" due out in July. Herbert and Siciliano recorded Siciliano's sophomore solo album, Slappers, at the same time as Scale. It's scheduled for release in August. ("It rocks," said Herbert.)
In the meantime, the pair are preparing for a tour, which should kick off in April. Herbert is also keeping busy with "choral music for a contemporary dance piece, a film score, remixes as usual, grow[ing] vegetables, and hav[ing] a haircut." Good to know.
Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 58 Location: Belgium/Estonia Age: 32
Well, just noticed that Dani and Herbert will perform here in Brussels @ AB Concert on the 14th of April. Ad promises also something from new Herbert´s album. Looking forward!
Been in the CD player now for a week but I still cannot really judge this album. I'm sure you will dig Rupert but I wanted a little more of Bodily Functions. Hold tight.
Joined: 04 Sep 2003 Posts: 335 Location: Den Helder, Holland Age: 34
The first tourdates !!
DATE CITY: ARTIST @ VENUE
April 2006
13 Germany: Matthew Herbert / Dani Siciliano - Watergate
14 Belgium: Matthew Herbert / Dani Siciliano - Domino Festival
28 Austria: Matthew Herbert / Dani Siciliano - Danube Festival
30 France: Matthew Herbert / Dani Siciliano - Printemps de Bourges Festival
Joined: 04 Sep 2003 Posts: 335 Location: Den Helder, Holland Age: 34
Track review:
Quote:
Tue: 02-28-06
Herbert: "Something Isn't Right"
genre: house
Funny how you only need about 10 seconds to sniff out a Herbert production. Every sound the man uses is so refined that his tracks sound almost aristocratic when stood next to those of his peers. This one gets off the ground smoothly, with its chugging staccato micro-rhythm, jazz-lite guitar peels, and male/female vocals (courtesy Dave Okumu, Neil Thomas, and Dani Siciliano) all locked together in a watery groove. Then, like a poker player revealing his royal flush one card at a time, Herbert slowly brings out the setpieces: rolling superhero strings, robust horn stabs, plosive vocal do-do-do's. As the melody turns on this gorgeous lead-in ("I won't follow you/ Into the night"), things get dark and cloudy, and suddenly we've got broody big band tech-house by way of Gotham City. So many nooks and crannies, so many perfect little moments, all tucked into each other like little flaps in origami folds. Best song on a best album. [Mark Pytlik]
Joined: 24 May 2003 Posts: 847 Location: Archadia, Ivalice
gilles played a new herbert last night, "moving like a train," and it was just a massive stunner! some sorta disco shuffle with strings and dani. i replayed that song over and over...already my fave song of the year and no doubt a 2006 top 5. it's just a serous gem. ___________________ "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." --Seneca the Younger
Harmonise : feat Dani Siciliano
We're In Love : feat Dani Siliano
ITEM: MATTHEWHERBERT.COM
DATE: Friday 7th April 2006
NEWS: From bossman Herbert
"We've decided to start this site up again as an archive of information. it is not intended as a site to be visited daily, although we do hope to publish ongoing gig dates as they are confirmed.There is a more comprehensive fan site at www.matthewherbert.net which has a forum. and to hear excerpts of music and learn more about the label that owns all the music, you can try www.magicandaccident.com".
Tom Tyler - Forward going backward
WHOAAAAAA !!!!! Now this is some good news. Not only a new Herbert album, but also Dani's second !!! PLUS , they will start touring together in april !!!!!!
