Sounds

Herbert – Secondhand Sounds: Herbert Remixes

Label: Peacefrog Records
Catalog#: PFG021CD
Format: 2xCD, Compilation, Digipack
Country: UK
Released: 2002

Matthew Herbert (born 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, and Wishmountain, is a British electronic musician. He has pioneered the use of so-called ‘real’, ‘ordinary’ or ‘found’ sounds in modern electronic music. ›››

How great is it to get into an artist at the exact moment when he’s at the top of his game? Mathew Herbert is pretty much unstoppable right now, a one-man juggernaut assaulting the world of electronic music on several fronts: high-profile experimental pop under his own name, underground releases as Doctor Rockit, Radioboy and Wishmountin (some of which are available free) and collaborations too numerous to mention– all packaged with biting anti-globalism dogma which you can pay attention to or ignore without affecting your appreciation of the music in the slightest. His beat programming is always on time, he’s writing vocal melodies to rival prime Stereolab, and he’s a sampling theorist on par with Matmos or DJ Shadow. This guy is firing on all cylinders.

As one would expect of a busybody electronic producer such as Herbert, he does a lot of remixing, and the two-disc Secondhand Sounds collects 21 of his post-production tweaks created over the past six years. It’s definitely one of the best remix albums ever, but given how many shitty ones are clogging the used bins, that statement doesn’t tell you much about the record’s quality. [...] It’s a testament to Herbert’s approach that these two sound like they could be original tracks in their own right. And that’s pretty much the story all down the line. Take a guy with serious skill who actually gives a shit about remixing and you get Secondhand Sounds, one of the finest records of its kind. ›››