The Herbaliser

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More than 18 years into their musical journey, The Herbaliser just keep getting bigger, stronger and better. It all began in the early 1990s when West London duo Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba discovered a shared passion for hip-hop, rare groove, funk and jazz. James Brown, DJ Premier, Lalo Schifrin, Pete Rock and David Axelrod were some of the heroes from their formative years.

Both avid vinyl collectors, Jake and Ollie began using the freshest sampling techniques, coupled with Jake’s musical knowhow from playing guitar and bass, to create the early demos for fledgling label Ninja Tune. These tracks formed the core of their first album, Remedies, released in 1995. It offered an emphatically London-centric take on funky beats packed with samples, scratches and chopped-up rhythms. It remains an influential underground classic from the urban flipside of the Britpop boom.

The second Herbaliser album, Blow Your Headphones (1997), was a more meaty, increasingly vocal affair. The US rock bible Rolling Stone praised the album’s “smooth, nimble rhythms” and called it a “a textured, experimental valentine to US hip-hop.” Most notably, Jake and Ollie discovered the mesmerising talents of underground New York rapper and storyteller Jean Grae, then performing as What What, who has gone on to become one of the most revered rappers working to this day. 

Expanding their live line-up to a nine-piece in the late 1990s, The Herbaliser became acclaimed festival favourites around the globe.

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