the herbaliser: very mercenary

Ahhh, another quality Ninja Tune Records release. Another silver platter of groovy head music. A heaping dose of the old funkjazztical tricknology.

Do I really think these things whenever I hear a new Ninja disc? Not really. But they do inspire one to say silly things and dance the silly dance, and the Herbaliser's latest, Very Mercenary, is no exception. From the vertigo-inducing cover design down to the very last drop, producers Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba have cooked up a solid batch of flip-hop tunes here, rich with humor, soul, and groove.

Aside from production that manages to be both clean and warm, what these boys have going for them is a lot of great collaborators and a keen ear for marrying words, sounds, and beats. The best work to be found here is on the MC cuts: WhatWhat does some spunky-spy busy-business in "Mission Improbable," Bahamadia's wet, textured voice gets the filter `n' scratch treatment in "When I Shine," Blade drops the ghetto wisdom and wordplay in "Mind in the Frame," the Dream Warriors feature over moody strings in the near-epic, "Road of Many Signs," and Roots Manuva goes multiple personality disorder in the lounge-y "Starlight." All are excellent, and are reasons enough on their own to get the album.

In the end, the samplistic dalliances and turntable wizardry of Wherry and Teeba really drive the show. We have a big and colorful hat here, ranging from jazzy spytracks to rich U.N.K.L.E-esque arrangements to cheeky '50s TV commercial cut-ups. "Who's the Realest?" uses one of those quippy Steve Buscemi dialogues. ("It's shit shit. This shit isn't worth shit. Anyone caught on the street with this will get killed. This is real shit.") "The Sensual Woman" takes a New Age-y sexual instruction tape and puts it over slow, terse beats and a slinky stand-up bass line. Live elements such as horns and flutes also enter the mix, but they always manage to stay in step with the Herbaliser's mad sounds.

If you count yourself among the heard-it-all beat elite, you probably won't find anything life-changingly new in Very Mercenary. Otherwise, there's plenty here for art-addled electronica heads and hip-hop fanboys alike, intelligently laid out to take you on a real start-to-finish voyage. So the next time you get yourself properly herbalised, consult your favorite mercenaries. (Ninja Tune)

—Eugene Chung

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