Cafe De Flore (30-year Anniversary Edition)

A super limited 12" to celebrate 30-years of one of Matthew's aliases, Doctor Rockit - by reissuing one of his most popular (and never before reissued) tracks, Cafe De Flore.

It brings together a selection of playful works from the iconoclastic UK producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist.

Debuted in 1996, Doctor Rockit was one of Herbert’s earliest monikers, which alongside his eponymous Herbert and Wishmountain projects laid the foundations for the nuanced, sample-based house music sound he would go on to make his own.

Rubbery grooves, infectious melodies and an ear for a shuffling rhythm that resisted the late ‘90s urge towards maximalist electronica, Herbert’s Doctor Rockit project folded in samples of the hotels, restaurants, airplanes he encountered on tour, as well as his childhood haunts and even the horse by which Doctor Rockit got its name.

Newly curated for a special 12” reissue, the collection is hung on the simmering jazzwise instrumentation of ‘Café De Flore’. Originally made in less than four weeks as the soundtrack to a high end fashion show that never was, ‘Café De Flore’ takes its name (and sonic texture) from a Parisian locale, conjuring an atmosphere of louche European charm and sun-soaked revelry from subtle brushwork, buttery synths and that now iconic and haunting accordion melody. Available on vinyl for the first time since 2001, it fizzes with the rhythmic vitality and sonic adventurism inherent to Herbert’s palette.

‘Cafe De Flore’ is joined here by the sparse, glitchy syncopated groove of ‘Cameras and Rocks’ which was originally released on Ready to Rockit in 1996. Invited to make a piece of electro by Clear Records co-founder Hal Udell, it marked Herbert’s first offering for the short-lived yet influential label. One of four 12”s released on Clear, its playfully simple synth line looked ahead to the dancefloor turn of landmark album Around the House two years later.

Also originally from the same EP is the beautifully pared-back, almost ambient sound world of ‘Looprode’, before ‘Runner on Hastings Beach’ reveals Herbert’s more experimental side, layering tweaked and manipulated samples from the promenade into a disorientating piece of propulsive electronica, and taken from the first full length Doctor Rockit LP The Music of Sound also released on Clear Records in 1997.

The 12” is concluded with the fluttering percussion and synth swells of ‘Nicotine’, a piece written in the late ‘90s for a French short film of the same name which also represented one of Herbert's first forays into film scoring. Released on 2004’s Doctor Rockit retrospective The Unnecessary History of Doctor Rockit, and ‘You Are The…’, it’s a compelling piece of trademark wonky house, whose chopped and clipped vocals run like a rich seam through all three decades of Herbert’s prolific output.

Released via Herbert’s Accidental Records, the collection gives a timely insight into the timeless foundations of Herbert’s oeuvre, making these much-loved yet overlooked corners of his extraordinary discography available to a new audience for the first time.