rioters bloc
20th October 2005, 02:29
The Herd are one of my favourite bands, this is an album review i wrote for our student publication. even tho they've released two other albums, this one [their first] has always been my fave.
The Herd, self-titled, 2001
The Herd first graced Australian airwaves and CD stores in 2001, kicking off with the humorous, head-bopping and feet-moving track Scallops. The first track of their debut album The Herd, it quickly became JJJs anthem, playing steadily on their NET 50 playlists for over 22 weeks. Scallops sets the mood for what is truly a phenomenonal collaborative effort. The 18 tracks featured incorporate the flair of 19 different Australian artists, each adding their own unique skill and flavour in assorted combinations. Whether electro-inspired or breakbeats, jazz or drum and bass, each track is a seamless symphony of instruments. Such an eclectic fusion of production skills could either have elevated the group to a prominent level of Australian hip hop, or crushed them into the ground thankfully, it did the former, and each track is testimony to this fact.
I admit, I am normally quick to change tracks if an instrumental appears on an album, as I often find them boring and repetitive not so with The Herd. Tracks such as Lurque, Awaken, Toronto, Gutter Rats, and Tricky Sleeves are unique and magnetic, peppered with short soundbites throughout the flow of music. Others, like Hill Cats and Takin Space are akin to spoken word laid over powerful beats, with X-Continental starting off as spoken word and slowly morphing into a hip hop verse.
But what truly astounds me are the lyrics. Whether witty and rambunctious, introspective, or pleasingly political, the Herds linguistic prowess never ceases to amaze. Dasen gets deeper, deeper than the dasen your speaker, with a profound message about the complexities of life, while managing to avoiding the pitfalls of becoming maudlin. Ones and Zeroes and X-Continental examine the effects of globalisation, the first using melodic vocals and the second in spoken word. Manufactured, as the name suggests, probes into the world of manufactured artists using insightful lyrics such as Sometimes you get the feeling that youre plastic, predictable and tragic giving the value of some fabric a boost and It seems that nowadays a revolution can be found inside a che guevera shirt and only $29.95! Delivered in the complimenting styles of Urthboy and Ozi Battla, each track is simultaneously structured and spontaneous, the vocals blending ingeniously with the music in an excellent display of mixing and mastering.
While there have been numerous other albums released since The Herd, I urge everyone who doesnt have a copy to get their hands on one. By far the best example of Australian hip hop I have in my CD collection.
9.5/10a
Urthboy and Ozi Battla ripping shiz up
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/599/mics5oc.jpg
Me and the Herd :) [well 3 of them anyway]
http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/962/meherd2gt.jpg
edit: added a photo
The Herd, self-titled, 2001
The Herd first graced Australian airwaves and CD stores in 2001, kicking off with the humorous, head-bopping and feet-moving track Scallops. The first track of their debut album The Herd, it quickly became JJJs anthem, playing steadily on their NET 50 playlists for over 22 weeks. Scallops sets the mood for what is truly a phenomenonal collaborative effort. The 18 tracks featured incorporate the flair of 19 different Australian artists, each adding their own unique skill and flavour in assorted combinations. Whether electro-inspired or breakbeats, jazz or drum and bass, each track is a seamless symphony of instruments. Such an eclectic fusion of production skills could either have elevated the group to a prominent level of Australian hip hop, or crushed them into the ground thankfully, it did the former, and each track is testimony to this fact.
I admit, I am normally quick to change tracks if an instrumental appears on an album, as I often find them boring and repetitive not so with The Herd. Tracks such as Lurque, Awaken, Toronto, Gutter Rats, and Tricky Sleeves are unique and magnetic, peppered with short soundbites throughout the flow of music. Others, like Hill Cats and Takin Space are akin to spoken word laid over powerful beats, with X-Continental starting off as spoken word and slowly morphing into a hip hop verse.
But what truly astounds me are the lyrics. Whether witty and rambunctious, introspective, or pleasingly political, the Herds linguistic prowess never ceases to amaze. Dasen gets deeper, deeper than the dasen your speaker, with a profound message about the complexities of life, while managing to avoiding the pitfalls of becoming maudlin. Ones and Zeroes and X-Continental examine the effects of globalisation, the first using melodic vocals and the second in spoken word. Manufactured, as the name suggests, probes into the world of manufactured artists using insightful lyrics such as Sometimes you get the feeling that youre plastic, predictable and tragic giving the value of some fabric a boost and It seems that nowadays a revolution can be found inside a che guevera shirt and only $29.95! Delivered in the complimenting styles of Urthboy and Ozi Battla, each track is simultaneously structured and spontaneous, the vocals blending ingeniously with the music in an excellent display of mixing and mastering.
While there have been numerous other albums released since The Herd, I urge everyone who doesnt have a copy to get their hands on one. By far the best example of Australian hip hop I have in my CD collection.
9.5/10a
Urthboy and Ozi Battla ripping shiz up
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/599/mics5oc.jpg
Me and the Herd :) [well 3 of them anyway]
http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/962/meherd2gt.jpg
edit: added a photo