‘We made horse semen into little shakers’: the quest for music’s most extreme sounds
From cannabis plants to screaming peacocks, swallowed microphones to babies in utero, musicians are rejecting regular instruments and software-derived sound
March 2019
The Matthew Herbert Brexit Big Band: The State Between Us review – spacious political elegy
On my radar
On my radar: Matthew Herbert’s cultural highlights
February 2016
The Guardian radio hour
Matthew Herbert on rhythm – the Guardian Radio Hour podcast
The Guardian radio hour
The Guardian Radio Hour with Matthew Herbert - hear the show
October 2015
The alternative 2015 Mercury prize shortlist
Our writers pick the 12 albums they think should feature on Friday’s shortlist – from a Geordie inspired by Tuvan throat-singing to an album that samples secondhand bullets
August 2015
Matthew Herbert's political music playlist
Matthew Herbert: ‘I can make music out of a banana or David Cameron or Belgium’
May 2015
Album streams
HERBERT – The Shakes: exclusive album stream
Have a listen to the latest album from Matthew Herbert – his first dance record in almost a decade – and let us know your thoughts
March 2015
Watch Matthew Herbert's video for Strong
Starring a tortoise and featuring the sounds of UK protest marches, here’s a taste of Herbert’s return to his dance roots, taken from his latest album, The Shakes
April 2014
The Crackle – review
Matthew Herbert's hi-tech take on the Faust legend offers a valuable vehicle for young performers, but his humdrum musical setting does little to help a flat-footed script, writes George Hall
November 2013
John Hollenbeck/Matthew Herbert – review
Matthew Herbert's judicious use of electronics made for a gripping piece about the soundscape of war, writes John Fordham
October 2013
Transcender in C – review
Reinterpretations by Pantha Du Prince and Matthew Herbert of Terry Riley's In C wisely avoided the reverential or wacky, writes Ben Beaumont-Thomas
March 2013
Shell targeted by musical protest at South Bank concert
Climate activists sing out against oil company in latest in series of actions against controversial arts sponsors
January 2013
Merz: No Compass Will Find Home – review
The consistently thoughtful Merz's fourth album offers an exhilarating blast of ideas, writes Ally Carnwath
November 2012
New music
New music: Merz – Goodbye My Chimera
Merz returns, with Matthew Herbert producing, to celebrate scientific and cultural progress. Simon Cowell not involved
October 2012
Björk to release Biophilia remix album
Bastards will be 13-track package including edits by Matthew Herbert, Death Grips and Omar Souleyman
May 2012
Matthew Herbert: One Pig – review
With hacksaws for beats and dripping blood for basslines, Herbert turns a pig into a live musical show – complete with frying pigtails, writes John Lewis
October 2011
Music blog
Matthew Herbert – One Pig: exclusive album stream
Featuring pig-skin drums and sampled oinks, this is one of the strangest albums you'll hear this year (or any other)
September 2011
Matthew Herbert's pig project is a strange beast, but not the only animal album on the (butcher's) block
One Pig depicts the animal's life cycle. But are you ready for a parrot-fronted metal band?
