To describe the work of an artist like Herbert as ‘idiosyncratic’ seems strangely inadequate, as what he produces is not merely the result of behaviours peculiar to the individual. Conducted via email, not exactly the most personal of mediums, my ‘interview’ took on a 20-question format of sorts. I spent a bit of time pondering what sort of approach to take, and to be honest, none seemed exactly right for such an enigmatic artist.

For those unfamiliar with his work, London-based Matthew Herbert has been producing sounds, in some capacity, since early childhood. With a father who was a sound engineer for the BBC, a young Herbert was exposed to his extensive collection of musical gadgetry that lay around his family home.

At school he was fortunate enough to be exposed to composers such as Steve Reich by a teacher heavily into jazz, and pioneering artists of the medium. Studying drama at university, he began to explore the use of sampling and consider releasing some of the work he had been producing over the years.

In late 1995, he released ‘Herbert – Part One’ single (Phono). January 1996 saw another three releases; ‘Herbert – Part Two’ and material under two different monikers – the abstracted techno of ‘Wishmountain’, and jazzy electro of ‘Dr Rockit’.

The year 1997 saw Herbert release work under the pseudonym ‘Radioboy’ – a moniker used to push sonic exploration to further extremes than his other guises. The album relied heavily on the use of ‘everyday’ sampled sounds, taking cues from the ‘musique concrete’ movement. Receiving both critical and popular acclaim, Matthew has found himself in quite an enviable position, in demand for both production and performance work alike.

In an era characterised by sampling and remixing used to the point of banality, Herbert’s approach is a refreshing one. He doesn’t place much credence in sampling other people’s work: “Music is the deliberate ordering of noise. The world is therefore my keyboard. I don’t remix anything I don’t think I can improve. Even if I’m wrong.”

Constantly equipped with Mini Disc and microphone, Herbert seems to find inspiration in the incidental, sampling everything from household appliances to bodily functions: He puts it very succinctly: “The immensity of humanity is in the details.”

His ‘Manifesto of Mistakes’ – partially a reaction to a reaction to the focus on DJing and production ‘perfection’- was also inspired by “the mechanisation of the human typified by the production-line mentality of modern business practices: McDonalds, The Gap, Starbucks etc. It takes great pride in removing difference, individuality, history and local geography. In other words all those things typified by mistakes, accidents, and coincidence. My work is in part about building something entirely from those very things deemed too flawed to listen or relate to.”

I was interested how all this juxtaposes with a classical music training: “the better you become as a classical musician, the more perfectly you can perform the dots on a piece of paper. With electronic music, the performance is the score, is the definitive version, the interpretation, is the recording. You have a totally different set of freedoms.”

Herbert describes his music as “interesting house”. Others have called it jazz funk, organic dance and soulful lounge-beat. I was curious what it’s like to be considered one of a handful of musicians whose work is universal in all genres: “I don’t really consider myself in terms of other people’s expectations or judge myself by others standards. All I aim to do is to create something as honest as possible and to then present it with as much integrity as I can. If the listener responds to it, it allows me to continue working.”

The accidental artist runs a company called Accidental Records, and has produced three albums in the last year, one under the Dr Rockit moniker.

Under the Tresor banner, last year’s ‘Let’s All Make Mistakes’, was quite big step for a man who doesn’t release on other labels. A reaction to the way in which he felt techno and house had become quite “linear and repetitive”, the album was quite a quirky blend of more underground techno and house which seemed to strive to represent many levels of electronic music.

Was it an accurate representation of his style? “If you can sum up all of your ideas in an hours worth of other peoples’ music, then you’ve failed as a musician. It does represent a certain style that interested me on August 12th 2000.”

His most recent work under the pseudonym Herbert is ‘Bodily Functions’, a piece which samples bodily functions for its rhythms and melodies. The album seemingly represents a shift from house inflections to a more ‘jazzy’ sound. With a large contribution from friend and vocalist Dani Siciliano, the album often explores the more melancholic elements of human relationships, paradoxically producing a piece of work which finds beauty in sadness.

Herbert is equally as famous for his live performance work – stunning performances which incorporate samples from a random array of ‘instruments’ (such as bottles, bikes, stones, and radios); ‘real time’ sampling of vocalist Dani’s voice; and environmental samples gathered mid-performance. He also performs in DJ capacity, and has played at hundreds of club nights and events over the past few years.

A repeat visitor to our shores, Herbert has received an enormous amount of support from Sydney’s now infamous Mad Racket crew (Ken Cloud, Zootie, Jimmi James and Simon Caldwell), and has nothing but praise for the lads: “They rock. They are committed to the music they love and have done so much for me. I owe them a great deal. They have worked so hard on my account and rarely made money from it. They represent the possibility of an alternative future where people operating as communities can expand the potential for harmony in the world rather than one based on exploitation or dissonance.”

Finally, what does he like best about the Land of Oz? “My friends there; what I have read about Aboriginal culture; the food, wine, countryside etc; Jim’s barbeques – and the fact that most young people I have spoken to hate Pauline Hanson.”

‘Bodily Functions’ is out now on !K7 Records, ditributed by Creative Vibes in Australia. For more information on Matthew Herbert you may wish to travel to his web site.