Creamtone

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)

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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)

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Here’s Matthew Herbert returning the remixing favour to Jamie Lidell…

ORIGINAL: Jamie Lidell - Multiply

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REMIX: Jamie Lidell - Multiply (Herbert’s Hoedown Bump)

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My 2nd album that I’m working on right now will no doubt be inspired by these 2 amazing artists.

Monsieur Blumenberg - Seherazade Mon Amour

Okay, I’ve been on a chillout tip lately. Here’s a deliciously slinky loungecore piece from Monsieur Blumenberg (Kikko Montefiori from Montefiori Cocktail fame), off the album Musique et Coleurs. Never knew trombones could be this sexy.

Blackalicious - Alphabet Aerobics (Cut Chemist 2-&-half-minute workout)

This pimpin’ rap masterpiece is pure lyrical genius. With tongue firmly in cheek, Gift of Gab goes back to elementary school and explores the alphabet! Every line consists of only words starting with an alphabet, beginning with ‘A’ and ending with ‘Z’ words (’Zealot!!!!’). Not only that, his rap speeds up as it grooves along to Cut Chemist’s beats. What a cunning linguist!

April Stevens - Do It Again (Wagon Christ Rmx)

Here’s some classic Gershwin lushness deftly remixed by the one and only Luke Vibert (aka Wagon Christ). It’s a whimsical, magical and enchanting journey through lazy beatscapes, sensuous sax stylings and heavenly strings — complete with cheeky bubble sounds. When April Stevens beckons you to “do it again” in her sultry voice, you know that resistance is futile.

Learn more about the mad genius Vibert here

Beastie Boys vs Steve On-point - Super Disco Breakin’

Fantastic bootleg fan remix of a Beastie Boys classic! Minimalist staccato breaks and great vocal samples — “First you make a sale, then you open my drawers. What am I?”
Old skool phatness.

Ch-Ch-Check out the Beastie website…

Yup, it’s going to be a random series of posts introducing music that’s playing on my stereo, mainly stuff that’s moved me either cos they’re so achingly good or awesomely bad… and sometimes, just plain quirky.

To kick things off, here’s an evocative piece from the soundtracks of Days of Being Wild and 2046 — two beautiful art films directed by the Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai. Listening to this cinematic tune transports me to an era that I didn’t grow up in, yet somehow it still feels familiar and comforting. It’s a strange kind of ‘borrowed’ nostalgia…

Xavier Cugat - Perfidia

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