The Herbaliser is more than a group of remarkably talented musicians: each member is an adept storyteller and dramatist. Jake Wherry, one half of the founding duo of the Herbaliser, puts it best: “We didn’t want people to just drop a needle on one of our records and hear the same loop over and over, we wanted to have changes, like soundtracks or movie themes.” And rather fittingly, the tracks on Band Session 2 could very effectively act as the musical backdrop to a variety of films. From the soulful Shaft-esque detective groove of “Geddim!” to the trippy echoes and broken static of “Moon Sequence,” never has turntablism and (for lack of a better term) jazz-hop been so appealingly blended. Emotionally, Band Session 2 encourages just about every mood from the ominously deep to the superficially comical, so much that “Amores Bongo” is almost too upbeat, too merry to be taken seriously. In what acts as the grand finale, “Stranded on Earth” in an epic ten-minute groove highlighted by gentle flute melodies, all in a relaxing conclusion to an album wrought with emotional, dramatic and musical range and complexity. In a popular market dominated largely by sampling and computer-generated music, The Herbaliser’s Band Session 2 is truly something to behold.

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