Matthew Herbert

It's no stretch to call Matthew Herbert one of the most important British artists of his generation. From the upper echelons of cinematic scoring and avant-garde composition to iconic, leftfield dance floor tracks and remixes, his accomplishments in music and sound are monolithic.

Over a career reaching back to the 90s, he's progressively singled himself out as a relentlessly inventive and driven artist ready to grapple with big ideas and present them in relatable terms. Binding his work together is the idea that any sound can be turned into music - from the complete life of a single farmed pig to a bomb exploding in Libya, one person's orgasm to a club full of people locked into the joyous unison of a party. His ideas drive many of his most famous projects as an artist, but this is just a snapshot of his myriad achievements.

Comfortably bedded into the world of orchestration and composition, he's worked on countless award-winning projects across television, film, video games and theatre, and been commissioned by institutions such as the Royal Opera House, Manchester International Festival and Deutsche Grammophon to name just a few. Herbert's engagement with the arts is extensive and many-sided, taking in commissions for art galleries and festivals, lecturing at universities such as Goldsmiths and Trinity and completing a PhD examining power and meaning in post-concrète music.

But it's his electronic music output which has perhaps the widest reach, from the early days of off-kilter micro house through big band experimentation to production work with artists such as Mica Levi, Roisin Murphy, The Invisible and frequent collaboration with Björk. His label Accidental Records has long been the vehicle for platforming similarly spirited music, while he still regularly connects with the immediate energetic exchange of DJing in any venerated party spot you care to mention, from Ibiza to Berlin to Glastonbury and beyond.

Writing books about albums he'll never make, producing and presenting shows for BBC Radio, directing the New BBC Radiophonic Workshop and establishing the Oram Awards to recognise female and gender minority artists, Herbert embodies the idea of the polymath with head-spinning prolificacy.