As a longtime admirer of Ninja Tune Records, I gotta say, they're slipping with this one. Admittledly, the Herbaliser's acclaimed 1997 release, Blow Your Headphones was pretty decent, but it was kinda crappy for a Ninja Tune record. The label's known for its innovation in clever electronic music that could sport a mild amount of humor and get away with it-- the artists were having a good time doing crazy shit with music, and that's what made it so great.
Herbaliser, on the other hand, are a weed- obsessed rap duo whose only differing quality from mainstream rap acts is that their beats are a bit less sterile. But this isn't really great music. I mean, I've been stranded in Chicago without cable for two months, so I've been getting more than my fair share of new rap and R&B; on the Box, and this ain't shit compared to Missy Elliott's "She a Bitch," Dru Hill's "You are Everything," or even Jay-Z's "Jigga What, Jigga Who."
When Very Mercenary isn't ripping off better rap and hip-hop acts, they're ripping off people like Ninja Tune founders Coldcut ("Wall Crawling Giant Insect Breaks" is as direct a theft of Coldcut's "More Beats and Pieces" than you're ever likely to find), Jan Hammer (the production on "Moon Sequence" sounds suspiciously like Hammer's critically- lauded "Theme from 'Miami Vice'"), or labelmate Neotropic (the musical backing for the album's closing track, "Starlight," could have been pulled straight from Mr. Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock). So, if you're considering picking something up off the Ninja Tune label, please, for your own sake, steer clear of the Herbaliser.
