Herbaliser
15 Oct 1999
Listening
to The Herbaliser's last album, 'Very Mercenary', won’t really
prepare you for the truly herbalised live experience that we were treated
to in Glasgow's 'The Arches'. The album may flirt with Hip Hop, US-gangsta-style,
but the band are actually a bunch of very pleasant and personable white
boys from the south of England, who, like most famous gangsta rappers,
have never popped a cap in anybody's ass in their lives before. However,
fortunately, they are too wizened by their own musical talent to take this
home-boy fantasy further than is decreed by the parameters of the
ridiculous - and The Herbaliser, like many in the 'Ninja'-skool of Hip
Hop, are great advocates of colouring their music with humour and
self-ridicule. Hence the album, 'Very Mercenary', introduces the band as
"full of s**t", before the likes of gen-up Brooklyn rapper, What
What, launches into her lyrical tirades. The live show is something else. There is no mention of American life in black ghettos. There is no rapper and no rapping. There are no lyrics at all- not even a cheesy one-liner stolen from a 1950's B-movie and pasted liberally wherever there is a gap in the beats (strange for Ninja Tunes). There was, however, an enormously talented 8-piece band, live as you like, tight as you like, and producing an absolutely delectable fusion of Jazz, Funk and Hip Hop. The Herbaliser are another band who take the notion of turntables being an instrument seriously, and the DJ, Ollie Teeba, fits into the bigger picture as any musician would in an 8-piece jazz band - having his flourishes, but basically providing his scratchy noises to enhance the whole sound and make it more funky. There are two percussionists at work with a vast collection of interesting objects to beat, rattle, scrape and generally throw about- again fitting snugly into band. There’s a keyboard player, who often doubles up on percussion, who is assisted occasionally on keyboards by the trumpet player, who can play a bit incidentally, who stands next to the multi-talented sax player, who often turns his hand to a dangerously funky flute, and stands next to the player of the alto-sax, not far from the bass player. Together they have the stage-presence of an old-style jazz band, beaming with talent, and playing, essentially, jazz. 
Jazz, with Hip Hop scratching, with passing funkadelic Hammond-grooves,
with a tendency to wander and then ascend climatically to explode into
tripped-out fireworks of sound, with a punch-packing Ninja Tune reputation
preceding them, but still jazz. And the crowd loved them, and they loved
the crowd - in a chatty, we'd-love-to-take-you-home-with-us kinda way.
Good to see a band looking as if they are really enjoying playing live -
the crowd will always pick up on a vibe like that, as the Glasgow crowd
proved that night.Top entertainment from a band who obviously take making albums and playing live as opportunities to explore different directions in that big bad musical jungle out there. |
This
Review was Originally Featured at BBC Scotland Online
at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/inside_r1/session_scotland/
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