[i:Vibes] The Herbaliser - Take London [Ninja Tune]

» Tune of the week: Gary Maguire - Are You Real
» Classic of the week: Blank & Jones - Beyond Time
» Album of the month: Solarstone - Innermost

ç¥´ personal
Username:	Password:	Autologin
Not a registered user? Click >here< to register now. It's free, you get access to all features and can win great prizes!

Search:

Main Menu

Interactive

Info

Essential audio

The official i:Vibes Spotify Trance playlist

The Herbaliser - Take London [Ninja Tune]

06:02 - July 15, 2005

by Andy P

The legends of the UK scene release their latest album called "Take London", with lots of help from a variety of artists. Check it out!

The Herbaliser feat. The Generals – Take London (Ninja Tune)

Two of the wily veterans of the UK scene are back with their latest album called Take London, which is being released on the Ninja Tune label, which was started by the even more legendary Coldcut. The Herbaliser are Jake Wherry and Olie Teeba, both were born in the UK and they have been making music together since 1994.

They have pushed their own unique style of music, which is hard to describe, but they have downtempo tracks, some jazzy tracks and even hip hop in between. The Herbaliser have used rappers before, with the likes of the legendary Dream Warriors and also Roots Manuva, among others. So this time, they grabbed The Generals to help with their latest album and believe me, its not like anything that you have heard.

Tracklist of Take London

1. Take London (Intro)
2 Nah'mean Nah'm Sayin'
3 Song For Mary
4 Generals
5 Gadget Funk
6 Failure's No Option
7 Lord Lord
8 The Man Who Knows (Interlude)
9 Kittynapper
10 Geddim'!!
11 If You Close Your Eyes
12 Sonofanothamutha
13 Twice Around
14 I Know A Bloke (Interlude)
15 8 Men Strong
16. Serge

This album flows easily from the first track talking about how we must take London now, which might be taken differently since the attacks that happened recently. It easily heads into the second track with the harsh rap and I’m not a fan of it but it just kicks ass. I love how they don’t use the tricks that people are using to make the billboard top 100. Song three is a bit of a doozy but when track four hits, look out.

Generals is just the highlight of this album, it uses the vocals of five different people from some harsh rapping to the highlight of the track, a twelve year old girl rapping saying she’s a bad kid, who used to put razors in her teacher’s apple and used to put acid in her super soaker. Its comical but it totally stands out, even tho its at the end.

Gadget funk is an interesting track that picks up the baton from “Generals” and then the album easily glides into Failure’s No Option, which was always something that I’ve lived by. It uses the vocals of Cappo, who is originally from Nottingham and boy does he ever make sure you don’t forget how good he is and where he’s from. Lord Lord probably packs the most surprise of anything on this album because it features a familiar voice in Roots Manuva. You remember him from his harsh rap over Leftfield’s harsh dub in Dusted and you have probably seen the guy around from his albums and usually smart music videos.

The interlude breaks the tension easily with the man who knows and it shows that The Herbaliser are at the top of their game. Kittynapper and my favorite title of the album called “Geddim”, they are both strong songs that add to the album’s already fierce kick in the ass. “If you close your eyes” continues the onslaught and it brings in Jean Grae for more of vicious take. She is probably one of the more gifted artists, judging by her work on this album and she is definitely one to take notice of and you will probably hear her working with other EDM artists shortly.

Sonofanothamutha is the longest track on the album and it continues to push the genius of The Herbaliser and it shows that they are not afraid to mix up styles on this album. Jean Grae makes another appearance on “Twice Around”, which is smart and edgy. The final interlude is up next and I love how its completely simple and stupid in every single area but it works. 8 men strong and Serge finish off the album with an even fiercer kick to the teeth.

Conclusion:
You may not enjoy hip hop or smart electronic music but you definitely have to give this a shot because its completely different and really edgy in places and you know its original because the Herbaliser did it. Absolute genius