HERB012 Mosca - Swimmer

Release Date - June 15th 2009 - "Suitable touchstones would be the metallic dronescapes of BJ Nilsen and Biosphere’s more ambient works. This is particularly true of the three ten minute plus epics that dominate the middle of the record. “You Were Always So Charming” has the ghostly Arctic chill of horizon-free grey/white snowscapes. “A Grim Winter Awakes Us” is equally cold in atmosphere, but darker and, well, grimmer. The choral ghosts of “Nosferatu” conjour up visions of outer space horror movies, be they psychological like Solaris, or deal with a very real physical threat like Alien." Sic magazine

HERB011 Kingbastard - Tied Up To Machines

Release Date - 27th April 2009 "The EP's opener “Boombox” is an epic, prime-time mover that would remain ear-catching in either context, while “F47G4M3R” perpetuates Kingbastard's penchant for zesty melodicism. The equally titled-challenged “4M813N7RK” provides a delicate, church-like ambient interlude, after which Weeks unashamedly declares his love for all things mechanical in the funky stepper “The Secret Life of Machines” where sampled factory noises collide with rapturously churning rhythms and synth melodies. “Say When” ends the set with a dizzying mix of jaunty beats, turntable scratching, sing-song vocals, and assorted other madness." Textura

HERB010 Skytree - Windings of The Dragon Track

Release Date - 13th April 2009 "Windings Of The Dragon Track’ is a superbly realised work. It’s a winning synthesis of grace and grime (in both the original and genre sense) that is restless, sometimes offbeat, but at the same time incredibly inviting." [SIC] Magazine

HERB009 Zerova - I Think We've Lost

Release Date - 31st March 2009 "I Think We’ve Lost pays repeated listens. It is quite a low key affair that doesn’t scream out for attention. Sometimes, though, the wallflower is the most radiant bloom." [SIC] Magazine

HERB007 Shamanic Technology - Doorways

Release Date - 27th October 2008 "Doorways passes muster with ease, its fourteen tracks consistently strong. There are no weak links at all – each cut has enough going on to maintain interest.  Particularly good are “Electronic Therapy”, with its Boards of Canada-ish muted melody, the joyous “Pathseeker” and the fittingly titled closer, Nostalgia." Music, Musings & Miscellany

HERB008 Shoosh - Orpheum Circuit

Release Date - 20th October 2008 "Shoosh is a trio of musicians, combining guitars and Americana-influenced songwriting with all manner of perplexing electronic programming and treatments. 'Snake Eyes' is a little like Sparklehorse or perhaps Benoit Pioulard - all distorted and twisted out of shape, with a squeaky, obfuscated vocal in place to remind you that you're listening to an actual song rather than the Fennesz-influenced soundscape it might otherwise resemble. The vocal will almost certainly take some getting used to in fact, but once you're accustomed to the sheer oddness of Neil Carlill's delivery (imagine a cross between Dose One and Mark E Smith) there's an awful lot to like about this record - in a world crammed with electronically treated songwriting efforts, Orpheum Circuit somehow manages to sound like it's really out there on its own." Boomkat

 

HERB006 Kingbastard - [ B a s t a r d i z e ]

Release Date - 22nd September 2008 Lively and full-blooded 21st century IDM from the erroneously monikered Kingbastard, this album strikes a decent balance between various staples of all things electronica, from the heavily worked beats and the muffled melodics right through to the inevitable Boards Of Canada rip 'Data Rape - Function Creep'. Along the way you'll bump into Modeselektor-like exuberance on 'Boxclever', heavy bitcrushed processing on 'Set Operator' and even a spot of expertly crafted spacey ambience on 'Goodbye Mr Bendigo'. Importantly, the beats are modern and harsh enough to hold the attention of even non-genre fans, and His Royal Bastardness is as adept a tunesmith as he is a producer, resulting in some genuinely memorable (if often rather scrambled) hooks. Boomkat

HERB005 Engine7 - Me, But Perfect 

Release Date - 14th July 2007 "I first heard 'Sunrise, Catalonia (7:14am)’ and 'Tempertantrum (11:36am)’ as two sides of a single and loved what I was hearing so I was ready and anxious to hear what Alan McNeil and his collective of chums had managed to present in a full length form and so – heart in mouth – I cued the CD in my PC tray and waited to be astounded. And 45 minutes or so later I took a deep breath and realised that the world was suddenly quiet and empty and promptly cued the sucker up again and enveloped myself in the world of Engine 7’s newborn. This is absolutely bloody wonderful. For once the concept is borne out by the reality of the music and we are treated to music of a high standard as well as an album that wraps you in its arms and promises never to let you down – this is music to grow up with."

Music News

HERB004 Engine7 - Tempertantrum (11.36am)

Release Date - 28th April 2008 "Glaswegian producer Engine 7 works with a hybrid of IDM and techno influences only to combine them with a more aggressive, rock-oriented sound, resulting in the crisp, accelerated beats of 'Tempertantrum' and the more tranquil strains of 'Sunrise Catalonia' whose semi-yodelled vocal fits in nicely with the post-rock chord changes and the slightly new age feel to the production." Boomkat

HERB001 Rubens - Carnivalesque

Release Date - 8th October 2007 "In spite of the seemingly understated nature of these tracks, Carnivalesque is an impressive feat of programming, at times approaching an almost Richard D. James-like magnitude of studio virtuosity...By and large, Rubens has recorded a spirited and prepossessing release that serves as an extraordinarily poignant debut."  Grooves Magazine

HERB003 Rubens - Breaking Into Smile EP

Release Date - 1st October 2007  "The Black Dog, Kirk Degiorgio and Dextro provide revised versions of the pair’s Breaking Into Smile, another track taken from Carnivalesque. One of the definite standout moments from the album, the original, also featured here, is another piece of heady melodic electronica which continuously evolves around a central theme, a classic structure pioneered by the likes of The Black Dog and Degiorgio, amongst others, in the early nineties." The Milk Factory 

Featuring remixes by:
The Black Dog (Warp, Soma, Dust Science)
Dextro (Gronland, Border Community)
Kirk Degiorgio (Mo'Wax, Peacefrog, New Religion)

HERB0027 Kingbastard - [L o s t A t S e a]

An exceedingly silly artist name if ever there was one, though you can't help but feel an inverted comma at the beginning would really finish the job ('kingbastard just opens up a whole new avenue of awful). Having said that, here's someone who really needn't get any further bogged down in the confusing world of creative punctuation: just look at all those square brackets littering the tracklist - and can someone introduce this fellow to the spacebar? However, any such presentational gripes are instantly made sense of once you get your ears around tracks like '[theoctoberlighthouse]' - turns out this is an IDM record. Hang on though, over the course of six tracks the conventional IDM vocabulary of muffled, melodic synths and bitcrushed drums is updated by luscious field recordings, a few abstract textures and, in the shape of the final piece, '[luctisonoisman]' a grand old piece of cinematic string-laden sentimentality. 'king brilliant. Boomkat

HERB0026 Solipsism - Organicism Special Edition

consuming collages depicting in the minds eye intergalactic voyages to far flung milky ways, gloriously wide screen in stature and vividly fulsome in texture.  a lushly envisaged cosmic pit stop where shuffling statue-esque beats orbit amorously across swirling passages of soft psych ambient blissfulness - think Biosphere trading dialects more appreciable to the polar climes of Amon Duul and Jean Michel Jarre - a magnificent dreamscaping delight. Losing Today

HERB0025 Mosca - Winterland

‘Winterland’ is the aural equivalent of a dram of the finest single malt; it slips down effortlessly and gently radiates warmth from within. Maybe it’s the August release date, but the album seems to me to be perfect summer music and it’s unlikely you’ll hear a better collection of electronic songs all year. Highly recommended. White Noize Revisited

HERB0016 Kingbastard - [RUN:>EP]

"Very well put together, constant digitalia." Future Music

HERB0015 Mosca - Of Need & Belonging

Mosca's intensive brand of ambient noise recalls the work of Fennesz, Labradford and most importantly Eluvium. All of the aforementioned acts have a reputation of layering hazy melodies over and over until there is a solid mass of sound. Mosca may take his cues from such revered artists, but the music on his "Of Need & Belonging" ep is steeped in his own experimentation that ensures his music unravels slowly. "His music fluctuates between ambient noise, experimentation and downtempo rythmic drones". It gives a sound that is intense, expansive and cinematic. Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep

HERB0014 Cheju - Mechanics Of Failure

Cheju is the nom de plume of Wil Bolton, an electronic producer in a classic, IDM-influenced mold, arranging frayed-edge beats, playful synths and the occasional acoustic element to fashion a brand of electronica that resides at some mid-point between the warm, melodic whirrs of Morr Music's early days and the tougher, more rhythmic feel of a Rephlex release. While the drum patterns of 'Whirligig' and 'Forged' represent a rather flat, matter-of-fact delivery, by the time we reach 'Pebbles' there's far more nuance and detail on show, with a few field recordings integrated into the layered electronic collage. Elsewhere, 'Strobecut' presents a more forceful, almost electro feel, (though the melodic presence remains well pronounced) before 'Spools' takes on a more hip hop-oriented sound, complete with tabla samples and crunching snares. Good stuff. Boomkat

HERB0013 Myppa - Altruistic Behaviours

The album's title track comes across like Sigur Ros clashing with the playful nature of Khonnor, while "Gydppa's" combination of a heart-warming melody, innocent samples and gorgeous string arrangements is magical. The seven minute long "Ladesma", meanwhile, points to an Album Leaf influence, with a stuttering rhythm and hazy tones that builds eventfully for its duration, before subsiding into the next track, "Kindergarten". Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep

HERB0009 Bit|Bin - Alias

Glasgow's Herb Recordings returns with more sounds from the UK's electronic underbelly, this time from Bit|bin, whose sound instantly recalls some of the classic Skam output, from the atmospheric chord changes you might expect to hear from Boards Of Canada's bank of synths ('Lost') to Bola's sinewy beats ('Beginning'). A tad less subtle, 'The Detour' isn't quite as refined as its neighbours, but in its later stages the track picks up, and the detailed, bitcrushed beats might remind some of you of Phonem's early recordings for Morr Music. Ending on a high, the slow hip hop of 'Asleep' once again recalls Boards Of Canada, with a bassline that's straight off Music Has The Right To Children while a vocoded voice lends a song-like quality to the piece. Boomkat

HERB0004 The Lava Experiments - Solar