microhouse at its most wack

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― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 05:01 (nineteen years ago)

"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."

is he related to momus?

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 05:03 (nineteen years ago)

is it true that the best political art isn't so forced? like the big watershed albums that say and do the most culturally are often the least "political" in nature?

― breakfast pants (disco stu), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 05:10 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/img/x-news-herbert.gif

― blunt (blunt), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 05:11 (nineteen years ago)

i've gots lots of time for herbert despite not liking the big band album nor plat du jour. for every one of those, there's a molobert or a dj set or a song like "the audience".

― breakfast pants (disco stu), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 05:12 (nineteen years ago)

Herbert is awesome. And why are people shocked when an abstract artist drops a Marxist critique "on that ass" ... shouldn't he be more shocked that others are thrown off?

I mean ... c'mon. Marxism ... art criticism ... not very far removed at all. What's the deal?

You don't have to be Momus to appreciate that.

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:16 (nineteen years ago)

And then you hear the record and it's fucking beautiful and not just polemic and all is forgiven. Not even close to wack.

― Richj (Rich), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:17 (nineteen years ago)

"Scale" pretty much follows in the line of "Ruby Blue" so you are in for a treat if you enjoyed Roisin's disc.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:20 (nineteen years ago)

And not even close to microhouse either, actually.

― Richj (Rich), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:20 (nineteen years ago)

thesis: there are no good bald dance producers

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:21 (nineteen years ago)

herbert? abstract? a bit too fucking literal, actually.

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:26 (nineteen years ago)

"On Plat du Jour, my last record, I had few harmonic tools with which to write the melodies"

oh boo-hoo. i'm sorry your last record sucked!

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:26 (nineteen years ago)

too bad you couldn't write good rhythms either!

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:27 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.discogs.com/image/A-1710-001.jpg

― Richj (Rich), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:27 (nineteen years ago)

Um, vahid, why the bile? Did Matthew Herbert poison your cat or something?

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

http://unit.bjork.com/specials/gh/SUB-10/hunter_016.jpg

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

Um, vahid, why the bile? Did Matthew Herbert poison your cat or something?
-- Drew Daniel (mces...), February 21st, 2006 12:31 AM. (Drew Daniel)

no reason, really.

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 08:33 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, just checking. In that case, carry on slagging! It is ILM, and I want to apologize for getting all serious and shit.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 09:10 (nineteen years ago)

bald as in shaved head or bald as in balding? Hawtin used to have the shaved head. Adam Beyer. Dan Bell now too I think.
As for balding... Isolee!

I know there are many more.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

"Hey guys, have you heard of JOHN PIL....GER, yeah that's right! Wha...my fans are all middle class college graduates......and they......they teach that alot in college.....ok pass me that big mac"

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

http://myspace-080.vo.llnwd.net/00321/08/04/321134080_l.jpg
compositeur

― blunt (blunt), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 00:20 (nineteen years ago)

i wonder what else he's clenching

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 00:27 (nineteen years ago)

I love Herbert for his enormous brain.

― jeffery (jeffery), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.hjo3.net/orly/gal1/orly_spock.jpg

― älänbänänä (alanbanana), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

vahid this time you have gone too far

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 02:08 (nineteen years ago)

scale is sitting on my desk right now and i cant wait to listen to it for the first time when i get to work tomorrow

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 02:09 (nineteen years ago)

Juan Atkins was bald last time I looked.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

When I first read the Herbert thing, I just assumed he was sort of taking the piss. Was he actually being completely serious?

― Lingbertt, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 04:30 (nineteen years ago)

i'm sure it can be done, and hopefully someone will provide examples, but how exactly does one approach these very serious issues in a lighthearted manner? are you saying that you would prefer no one addressed them in music (or art in general) at all?

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 04:39 (nineteen years ago)

this record is wonderful

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 04:59 (nineteen years ago)

these are not serious political issues!

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 07:32 (nineteen years ago)

vahid this time you have gone too far

if all Herbert had ever done was the stuff on Secondhand Sounds this would still be OTM

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 08:03 (nineteen years ago)

That picture blunt posted with the word 'compositeur' underneath is priceless.

― Jena (JenaP), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 08:06 (nineteen years ago)

his main myspace pic actually

― blunt (blunt), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 08:16 (nineteen years ago)

er... hasnt herbert been rocking this shit for ages now? why are you getting all pissy about it now? ripping up Gap bags, driving over nigellas meal etc etc... i thought the herbert technique was ignore all that stuff, never read any interviews with him, and just filter out the fun, dancey stuff (the tunes where the drums are really leaden and dull) from the rest.

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 11:15 (nineteen years ago)

well, i listened to his album today.. and boy i think he just have coined disco-opera and musical house at the same time!. very british to say the least tho, and i really felt it was a concept album.. nice one have to see if it grows on me or not.

― mersenne twister (mersenne_twister), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 12:12 (nineteen years ago)

this is like back when i used to start threads hating on native tongues & digital underground right

― ,,,,,,,,, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

i don't like this nearly as much as ruby blue (yet?), but this is easily the best thing he's put out under his own name since around the house.

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

(p.s. that sounds like faint praise but it's not meant to. i do think the guy's legitimately a genius, but the only good herbert interview i ever read was kodwo eshun in the wire way back in '99 when he talked about making house records and hadn't read no logo yet.)

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

haha i'm STILL in that phase!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 15:00 (nineteen years ago)

more or less, ethan, more or less

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

Herbert is the FEIST of Microhouse.

― snowballing (snowballing), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 22:13 (nineteen years ago)

I can't find this on slsk. :-(

― Turangalila (Salvador), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 22:21 (nineteen years ago)

i listened to bodily functions today and it struck me how much k-house/pliplop is indebted to herbert. it seems obvious in hindsight, but he's just not the producer i would pick if asked (probably because of the vocals and the englishness). some of the beats on that album could easily be from the drier side of current minimal house.

― breakfast pants (disco stu), Thursday, 23 February 2006 03:59 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I always think of Herbert first actually! "minimal" in the Loco Dice sense is basically Herbert with the housey signifiers replaced with techy signifiers.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 23 February 2006 04:05 (nineteen years ago)

haha! it's true too, his music just really looms over k-house. i always think of basic channel as the main precursors.

― breakfast pants (disco stu), Thursday, 23 February 2006 04:11 (nineteen years ago)

I believe it's Herbert's remix of Motorbass that sounds so much like proto-microhouse now.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 23 February 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

secondhand sounds is so awesome.

― breakfast pants (disco stu), Thursday, 23 February 2006 04:43 (nineteen years ago)

Surprisingly, nobody mentioned Herbert on the protomicrohouse thread (except for the Motorbass remix). Any chance of a ysi for the "Ezio" remix? Is it really more protomicrohouse than the original?

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 23 February 2006 04:47 (nineteen years ago)

ezio (herbert rmx) .

now someone has to post the original.

― breakfast pants (disco stu), Thursday, 23 February 2006 05:04 (nineteen years ago)

shhhh! don't upset poor fat baldy poster. he so angry.

― ruggerio rooster, Thursday, 23 February 2006 05:18 (nineteen years ago)

hey vahid! did you get the email i sent you a week or two ago?

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 23 February 2006 05:24 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks, tricky.

Ezio:

http://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2IXS8J4F39SY40HVFTVSI3HB21

Fabulous: (as long as I was ripping tracks from the album, I figured I might as well rip the best one)

http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0VNI6PJ712JL71SSUKVQ7ML0OE

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 23 February 2006 05:34 (nineteen years ago)

Motorbass is indeed proto-microhouse already, but the Herbert mix even more so. Amazing to think it's 10 years old now.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 23 February 2006 07:08 (nineteen years ago)

musical house is OTM. I like this very much so far.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 23 February 2006 07:10 (nineteen years ago)

i can't believe anybody would prefer the herbert mix to the original (ezio).

― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 23 February 2006 08:43 (nineteen years ago)

i could have sworn there was a different thread for the new album, but a search yielded nothing.

i can't exactly tell, but it seems like this album might actually be good if there weren't a cheesey Academy Awards telecast orchestra all over it. as it stands though it's completely unlistenable to me. i have no problem listening to herbert as a songwriter, but does he just find it trite now or useless to write dance tracks? did he ever, really? has he settled into macrobiotic middle age? where 'bodily functions' was such a revelation, this just feels like something i'll pass on to my mom.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer the Herbert remix of Ezio to the original! But then "Ezio" is nowhere near my favourite track on Pansoul so it's not like some personality-defining choice for me.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

if you liked the flaming lips "soft machine", you'll love herbert's "scale"!

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

Juan Atkins was bald last time I looked.
-- Jay Vee (ziut...), February 21st, 2006 6:15 PM. (Manon_70)

"oh snap"

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

ok anyway i still hate his politics and manifestos and so on but i just listened to this and it's pretty good.

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

AND THE EARTH MOVED

did doc martin slot in a herbert track recently or something?

― Lukas (lukas), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

1) it's not really "dance music" anymore, right? it's not necessarily more song-based than something like the dj kaos album but somehow even more removed from "dance".

2) it's really really pretty and jess' review does it justice.

3) the sound of the ze records "mutant disco" comp is a good reference point (esp kid creole + the coconuts).

4) i'm not sure if i'm going to like it forever but right now i'm impressed w/ how nice it sounds and how good the songwriting is.

5) the slow tracks sound like moloko!

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

xpost "oh snap"

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

"i don't even know who you are"

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

pretty soon yr gonna be sitting around listening to late period mille plateaux comps and drinking sparks

― jewess harvell (dubplatestyle), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

i am proud to say the only mille plateaux thing i own is "the koner experiment", and that only because i collect spacemen 3 side projects.

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

i should probably give in and pick up the GAS albums but they're damn hard to find.

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

www.emusic.com

― jewess harvell (dubplatestyle), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

i was just listening to modulations and transformations 4 the other day and being wistful for the clinton bubble economy when we could waste time on this sort of nonsense

― jewess harvell (dubplatestyle), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

"no...someone breathing into a mic for six minutes and then modulating the file in soundforge is...THE FUTURE."

― jewess harvell (dubplatestyle), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

"did doc martin slot in a herbert track recently or something?"

tee hee..

― hector (hector), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

the irony is that doc martin has been dropping herbert tracks since 1995.

because once upon a time, when herbert wasn't dropping big conceptual poos all over the place, he was a DEEP HOUSE ARTISTE

― renegade bear shot by cops on frat row (vahid), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

I love how you spell artiste!

Yea well I agree that the big band stuff and the food cd were contrived.
But you gotta rate Around the House.

By the way vahid since i have you on the line, my wife has taken an interest in a group called the Freemasons which sound like epic house.
Diva vocals, banging four on the floor etc.. any idea what genere this is and if so how I can get her some good stuff like it?

― hector (hector), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

"100lbs" is still herbert's best record. "Bodily Functions" is better than "Around the House". "scale" sounds pretty good so far.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

pretty soon yr gonna be sitting around listening to late period mille plateaux comps and drinking sparks

you know my friday night plans

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

"Bodily Functions" is better than "Around the House"

these are two completely different types of albums though. Bodily Functions is essentially a lounge record while "Around the House" is actually housey.

― hector (hector), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

i like plat du jour despite the aggro no logo

― yuengling participle (rotten03), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

"aggro no logo"

that is like a little tiny poem

That Herbert could probably make a song from

― hector (hector), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

I mean ... c'mon. Marxism ... art criticism ... not very far removed at all.

True, but whether this should be the case or not is always up for debate. I think most Marxist art criticism is a load of shit. So do many others.

That said, I made a point on the 'does momus noize' thread a while back about political art. Admittedly, it wasn't very unique or poetic, but I tend to think that political art is very different than art that happens to have political implications, as most art does. That is, art based is idealogy is often quite crap, whereas art that allows such distinctions up to the audience/culture at large is much more interesting.

― trees (treesessplode), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

Pitchfork: When did you get into town?

Herb-ert: Just two days ago. I had a DJ gig last night at the Canal Room, which I wasn't sure about since I looked on the internet and it said it was one of P. Diddy's favorite hangouts. That made me a bit nervous, but it turned out to be good.

Pitchfork: Was he around?

Herb-ert: [chuckles] No, he wasn't, thank goodness.

― the fuckablity of late picasso (vahid), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 23:46 (nineteen years ago)

oh noes Herbert isn't that into P. Diddy OH NOES

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 13 July 2006 00:26 (nineteen years ago)

imagining the accent makes it all the worse

― jergins (jergins), Thursday, 13 July 2006 00:28 (nineteen years ago)

I would imagine that P Diddy's furs and diamonds lifestyle is pretty much antithetical to everything Matthew Herbert stands for.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 13 July 2006 00:34 (nineteen years ago)

i stand against standing for things

― lf (lfam), Thursday, 13 July 2006 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.lbwf.gov.uk/eve-privett.gif
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/signjpegs/a/against1.jpg
http://www.corecharacter.com/uploads/stand_something-thumb.jpg

there is much too much uncertainty and motion in life.

― trees (treesessplode), Thursday, 13 July 2006 04:53 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously, though, the term 'taking a stand' or 'standing for' something is overused and garbage. Example: pro-life folks with bumper stickers that say, "I STAND FOR LIFE!" I mean, WHO THE FUCK DOESN'T STAND FOR LIFE.

Okay, I like 'Scale.' Hebert's political leanings? Meh. But 'Scale' really is a pleasant listen.

― trees (treesessplode), Thursday, 13 July 2006 04:58 (nineteen years ago)

herbert gets around in a couple of fairly high-powered 1970s BMWs, IIRC. maybe he and diddy could've bonded over the fast car lifestyle.

― so hongro, so angry (haitch), Thursday, 13 July 2006 05:03 (nineteen years ago)

SEAN COMBS PROPOSES BAN ON MICROHOUSE FOLLOWING A RACIST REMARK BY MATTHEW HERBERT

― natedey (ndeyoung), Thursday, 13 July 2006 20:02 (nineteen years ago)

PROPOSED ALBUM FOR INTERNATIONAL DEEJAY GIGOLOS HAS BEEN SCRAPPED

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 13 July 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

Herbert's politics are a lot less offensive than his recent music.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Thursday, 13 July 2006 21:11 (nineteen years ago)

nice try but his new album is excellent.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 13 July 2006 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

Well I'm coming from the perspective of a lefty who hates this new bullshit he's peddling so I might be biased.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Thursday, 13 July 2006 22:08 (nineteen years ago)

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