Herbert — Bodily Functions

!K7 | discogs.com

Squishy, squelchy, organic jazz

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Artists of all stripes work within the confines of their own self-imposed rules. A painter, like Picasso, may choose a palette consisting only of shades of blue. A poet, like Randall Munroe, could draw from only the thousand most common words in the English language. But few have been know to metaphorically hammer their own digital manifesto to the cathedral of the Internet.

Matthew Herbert likes to start his compositions from scratch. He shuns existing sample libraries and scoffs in the face of drum machines. All of his music is freshly recorded, imprinted with his own bespoke sonic signature. Though they may be lubricated with a heckton of elbow grease, his projects feel truly original.

Every sound you hear on Bodily Functions is precisely that: from the more obvious snapping of fingers and slapping of thighs to a keyboard (and an organ) of distorted vocal slices.

At the hands of someone less deft and less practiced than Herbert this concept could have produced monstrous, Cronenbergian results. But Bodily Functions goes down smoothly - a warm, organic hour of funky, jazzy low-key beats.