The Herbaliser is an English
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
hip hop group formed by Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba in London, England during the early 1990s. Although currently releasing on their own label and having previously been signed to
!K7 Records
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently he ...
, they were one of the best-known acts from the
Ninja Tune independent record label. They have released 12 albums, including two DJ mixes: one for Ninja Tune's
Solid Steel
''Solid Steel'' are a series of DJ mix albums issued on Ninja Tune, an independent record label in the UK.
''Solid Steel'' also has a radio station webcast and related live concerts which further showcase the DJing talents of such artists.
In ...
series and the other for
Fabric's Live Mix series. The Herbaliser's album
''Same As It Never Was'' was their first release on
!K7 Records
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently he ...
. Their latest album ''Bring Out The Sound'' was released in 2018, on the BBE label.
Jake Wherry has also recorded solo tracks as
The Meateaters, released on the
Parisian Big Cheese label, and has worked with
The Propheteers.
Ollie Teeba is also part of
Soundsci with Jonny Cuba of
Dynamic Syncopation, Audessey
ex-Mass Influence, U-George
The Hemisphere and Oxygen
Sputnick Brown
History
Jake Wherry grew up in
South West London and played guitar and bass in a number of jazz, funk and rock bands in his teenage years. During this time, he met Patrick Carpenter aka PC, later one of the DJs behind
DJ Food
DJ Food is an electronic music project currently headed by Kevin Foakes (also known as "Strictly Kev"). Originally conceived by the members of Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the project started in 1990 on the premise of pro ...
, and through him became aware of the
Ninja Tune label. Ollie Teeba, (real name Oliver Lawrence Trattles) began DJing at 15 and played his first live sets to London audiences a year later.
Wherry and Teeba met years later at Wherry's Traintrax studio, and began recording together, collaborating with
DJ Malachi,
Kaidi Tatham of
Bugz in the Attic
Bugz in the Attic is a collective of DJs and producers based in West London, who are prominent in broken beat. The collective includes Orin Walters (Afronaught), Paul Dolby (Seiji), Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Kue, Alex Phountzi (Neon Phusion), Cliff S ...
and Ralph Lamb of
Easy Access Orchestra. They developed a jazzy instrumental style of hip hop, due to an absence of available rappers. They passed their recordings on to Ninja Tune bosses Matt Black and Jonathan More of
Coldcut
Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...
and were signed shortly thereafter.
Inspired by the funk bands of previous decades, rather than performing simply with turntables, Jake Wherry decided to take a seven piece band on tour, which included Tatham, Lamb, Andrew Ross, Micah Moody Jnr and percussionist
Patrick Dawes. The band performed in
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
on 1999.
As they progressed, they gained access to guest vocalists for appearances on their records, including What? What? (aka
Jean Grae
Tsidi Ibrahim (born November 26, 1976), known professionally as Jean Grae (formerly What? What?), is an American rapper from Manhattan, New York City. Jean rose in the underground hip hop scene in New York City and has built an international f ...
),
Roots Manuva
Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succ ...
,
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...
,
Seaming To, Rakaa Iriscience of
Dilated Peoples
Dilated Peoples is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. They have had little mainstream success in the US, with the exception of the song " This Way", a 2004 collaboration with Kanye West. Better known in the UK, they reached t ...
,
Blade
A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...
,
Phi Life Cypher
Phi Life Cypher were a British hip hop group based in Luton, composed of two MCs, Si Phili and Life MC, and DJ Nappa. The trio started making music together around 1996, and since have had much success on the UK underground circuit. Phi-Life C ...
,
Bahamadia
Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American hip-hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, '' Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released EP ''BB Queen'' in 2000. She ...
,
Dream Warriors and
Insight
Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings:
*a piece of information
*the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intui ...
.
The pair were subsequently employed to produce music for the likes of
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorol ...
, the soundtracks to
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the ''Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes'' films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Ritchi ...
's ''
Snatch'' and the
PlayStation 2 game ''
Tony Hawk's Underground
''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series after '' Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2003 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, ...
''. They were also commissioned to write the theme for
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
's primetime
NFL show ''
Sunday Night Football''.
The group have also provided production for artists including
T Love,
Princess Superstar
Concetta Kirschner (born February 25, 1971), better known as Princess Superstar, is an American rapper and DJ. She has had two chart hits in the UK, "Bad Babysitter", which reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart in 2002, and "Perfect (Exceed ...
and remixes for artists including
DJ Food
DJ Food is an electronic music project currently headed by Kevin Foakes (also known as "Strictly Kev"). Originally conceived by the members of Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the project started in 1990 on the premise of pro ...
,
Raw Stylus
Raw Stylus was a London-based dance music outfit whose core members were Donna Gardier, Jules Brookes and Ron Aslan. In 1995, they released the single, "Believe in Me", which reached number 1 on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. It was a minor ...
,
Push Button Objects, Jaffa and label-mates Coldcut's "Atomic Moog", which reached number one on the UK singles chart.
In 2009, the band released its second live band album, ''Session Two''. This was recorded at The Easy Access Orchestra's studio and mixed at Jake's Train Trax Studio.
Jake Wherry was featured in the
Gimlet Media
Gimlet Media LLC is a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing narrative podcasts and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who serve as the company's CE ...
podcast Heavyweight featuring the collaborative production of a track with a fan.
[https://gimletmedia.com/shows/heavyweight/2ohrb7x #50 Nick]
Discography
Albums
As The Herbaliser:
* ''
Remedies'' (1995,
Ninja Tune)
* ''
Blow Your Headphones'' (1997,
Ninja Tune)
* ''
Very Mercenary'' (1999,
Ninja Tune)
* ''
Something Wicked this Way Comes'' (2002,
Ninja Tune)
* ''
Take London
''Take London'' is the fifth studio album by The Herbaliser. It was released on Ninja Tune in 2005.
Critical reception
John Bush of AllMusic gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5, saying, "Ninja Tune fans may not have wished to hear a crucial produc ...
'' (2005,
Ninja Tune)
* ''
Same As It Never Was'' (2008,
!K7 Records
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently he ...
)
* ''There Were Seven'' (2012, Department H.)
* ''Bring Out The Sound'' (2018, BBE)
As The Herbaliser Band:
* ''
Session One'' (2000, Department H.)
* ''Session Two'' (2009,
!K7 Records
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently he ...
)
DJ mix albums:
* ''
Solid Steel Presents Herbal Blend'' (2003,
Ninja Tune)
* ''
FabricLive.26
''FabricLive.26'' is a DJ mix, DJ mix album, beatmixing, mixed by The Herbaliser, recorded as part of the Fabric discography#FabricLive series, FabricLive albums and released on the Fabric (club), Fabric label in February 2006.
Track listing
# M ...
'' (2006,
Fabric
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not th ...
)
Compilations
* ''
Herbal Tonic
In herbal medicine, an herbal tonic (also tonic herbs, tonic herbalism) is used to help restore, tone and invigorate systems in the body or to promote general health and well-being. An herbal tonic is a solution or other preparation made from a ...
'' (2010,
Ninja Tune)
EPs
* ''The Real Killer/Blow It
EP'' (1995)
* ''Repetitive Loop/Scratchy Noise EP'' (1995)
* ''The Flawed Hip-Hop EP'' (1996)
* ''New & Improved/Control Centre'' (1997)
* ''The Blend EP'' (1997)
* ''Wall Crawling Giant Insect Breaks EP'' (1998)
* ''Road of Many Signs/Moon Sequence EP'' (1999)
* ''Missing Suitcase EP'' (1999)
* ''8 Point Agenda/Who's Really The Reallest? EP'' (1999)
* ''Good Girl Gone Bad EP'' (1999)
* ''Time 2 Build EP'' (1999)
References
External links
*
Same As It Never Was MicrositeThe Herbaliserat
Ninja Tune
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbaliser, The
English jazz ensembles
English hip hop groups
Ninja Tune artists
English musical duos