Herbert

By all accounts, Matthew Herbert had a stellar 2006. Scale constituted a fine return to form not only for the producer but also for the micro house genre he inaugurated a decade back. This renewed interest in Herbert has led the folks at !K7 to reissue his 1996 debut album, 100 lbs., along with a bonus disc of remixes and B-sides. It’s a curious move on the producer’s part to bring back this record. For one, significant patches of this material haven’t aged that well and the sampling techniques employed here are crude when compared to his later work. Secondly, it belongs to a period in his career before he turned to the sampling concepts that would help bolster his longevity beyond the dance floor. Thirdly, he expressed distaste for this material when I interviewed him last year. So, something about this reissue smacks of record company timeliness. Still, the bonus disc tips the balance in this package’s favour, as it features rarities that underline the producer’s early inclination towards the experiments that would soon become his hallmark. 100 lbs. offers the listener a telling look back at where one of our most talented producers began and how far he’s come.