THE MATTHEW HERBERT BIG BAND “Goodbye Swingtime”

THE MATTHEW HERBERT BIG BAND
“Goodbye Swingtime”
(Accidental Records)

The title could easily be a speaker for itself. But hey, we’re still talking about the same guy who constructed deep house tunes using a ticking clock for a beatbox and a frappuccino machine as a soundsource , right? So how’s a day in the life of the artist some of you out there know as Doctor Rockit when he doesn’t make music for the inquiring mind but more for the passionate heart? Well the guy of course still uses sampled noises as a basis for most of what he does. What’s so different about this one-off project is that he gathers up an jazz orchestra of 19 people plus the compositional aid of Arto Lindsay (yep, That Lindsay) on a track. So what you get is an awkward symbiosis of swinging themes, feelgood jazzy tunes with a sophisticated and at times political (still hard to explain) aura on them, and of course a few pinches of feet taping housey moments. Playful as much as it is lazy ,“Goodbye Swingtime” calls up a need for a liveshow experience. Matthew Herbert has managed to pull this off live including all the musicians but that’s all I know, I haven’t actually seen any footage from it. As he himself would like it, a good list of optional extras for “Goodbye Swintime” would be :A cozy seat by the pool, a mild afternoon sunshine, a strict selection of people who go 100% next to the “comfortable” category and well, anything you consider as cool. Shit, this triple vinyl version was so expensive that I could’nt buy the new triple vinyl from Dani Sicciliano (known for vocal duties in Herbert’s “Around The House”) too. But I’ll make it up to me . I promise.

Tsamashi Toyo 2004