Jukebox: Matthew Herbert vs. Jamie Lidell
Anyone who knows me well knows that I worship Matthew Herbert.
Always displaying a healthy dose of eccentricity in his music production, his works never fail to inspire me with the sheer creativity & imaginative use of sounds (including audio samples from body parts, McDonald’s drink straws, Coke cans, etc.); he also often injects plenty of soul into his melodies. Heck, his beautifully twisted brain is bursting with so many ideas that he had to create FIVE music monikers to represent them — Herbert / Dr Rockit / Wishmountain / Radioboy / Matthew Herbert Big Band.
He is truly a music innovator… a sampling superhero… for me, listening to his music is like riding on Disneyland’s Space Mountain for the first time when I was a kid — thrilling, magical, adrenaline-pumping & unpredictable (you never know what to expect).
The best thing is, he studied at Exeter University which is the same University I graduated from! Obviously, this remote link doesn’t automatically guarantee that I would ever become a musical genius too… but one can always fantasise, right?
The Audience still remains my absolute favourite Herbert track, for so many sentimental reasons…
Herbert - The Audience (feat. Dani Siciliano)
** From the album “Bodily Functions” (!K7/Soundslike, 2001)
Jamie Lidell is another one of those crazy-talented artists. This dude was one of the masterminds behind Super_Collider (with Cristian Vogel), an electronic techno-funk outfit. He had released lots of avant garde electronica (also known as IDM — Intelligent Dance Music) under Warp Records. His many electronic productions always struck me as sounding very warm and almost organic, despite all the digital equipment used.
Now comes the huge twist that even M. Night Shyamalan couldn’t have scripted… Jamie Lidell suddenly decides he wants to release a 60’s soul/motown/prince inspired album!
Yes, Jamie Lidell can sing! And bloody well too. He’s also somehow managed to embellish soul music with modern electronics to produce a fantastic future-fresh fusion. This quote best sums up his talent…
A wonder to behold. Remarkably for an Englishman in his twenties, he possesses a soul voice fried in honey like Sly Stone or Prince, and a beatboxing talent to make Muhammad Ali quake in his Everlast. Lidell constructs his tracks live, voicing and layering right in front of your eyes, effortlessly whipping them out of the air and forging them into clanking electro riffs and deathprod funk grooves. His maniac scat is deployed through vocoder, and his real-time arranging follows chaotic but gripping patterns. (The Wire, SONAR Festival)
So, what has Matthew Herbert gotta do with Jamie Lidell? Well, besides being long-time collaborators, Jamie actually remixed Herbert’s The Audience which marked the beginning of his metamorphosis from an electronic wizard into a smooth soul-vocalist. Sure, his remix hardly sounded like the original, but he kept the same vibe and pushed it beyond its boundaries. Here, have a listen…
Herbert vs. Jamie Lidell & The Mysterious Szizlas -
The Audience (Music No Last)
** This track later became “Music Will Not Last” on Jamie Lidell’s album “Multiply”
(Warp Records, 2005)
Here’s Matthew Herbert returning the remixing favour to Jamie Lidell…
ORIGINAL: Jamie Lidell - Multiply
REMIX: Jamie Lidell - Multiply (Herbert’s Hoedown Bump)
My 2nd album that I’m working on right now will no doubt be inspired by these 2 amazing artists.
Nice writeup on M. Herbert. Did not realise he was Ex-Exeter Uni too. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton used to DJ together there too, I wonder if Herbert was around as well.
Yeah, with such musical pedigree coming from good ol’ Exeter, there is still hope for me yet!!!