Latest CD releases reviewed

THE HERBALISER
Take London Ninja Tune
***

Purveyors of grimey funk and breeze-blockin' breaks to hip-hop's more discerning funk soul brothers, Herbaliser gents Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba have long ruled the roost when it comes to pushing a dancefloor hip-hop agenda. Their last album, Something Wicked This Way Comes, saw them try out a Quincy Jones-style direction, and it's a similar widescreen soundclash that pulls Take London around the floor. There are still plenty of old-fashioned, tried-and-tested flourishes (the fun-sized cop-show theme trickery on Nah'maen Nah'm Sayin', for instance), but there's also a greater sense of a band looking towards distant horizons. The instrumental heart and heft of Song for Mary and the dense, smokey Failure's No Option (with a fine turn from Roots Manuva) show that taking such new directions shouldn't pose too many problems. www.ninjatune.net

Jim Carroll