Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid - NYC (Domino)
4/5
By: Various Scribes
BUY DOWNLOAD - £5.00 SALE!And so the harmonious pairing of jazz percussion legend Steve Reid and the electronic mastermind Kieran Hebden (more familiar to some as Four Tet) are back again with release number four of their seminal improvisation series.
Recorded in Hells Kitchen in Manhattan, Avatar Studio was no doubt in uncharted territory recording an open ended sound far removed from many of its previous occupants. The resulting NYC is a homage to Reid's home city, taking influence from New York's hustle and bustle, and admittedly there certainly is a feel of being immersed in the rush of a big metropolis. Unlike previous LPs, which were improvised live sessions, some thought has gone into themes and elements have been road tested in previous live performances. This, with a continually developing history between the two, has led to not so much a structure, but certainly more togetherness.
'Lyman Place' has a vivacious electronic bass fed throughout, only stopping briefly for a couple of breaths. On top of this Steve Reid's impeccable drumming dances while interacting with Hebden's many weird and wonderful electronic samples. You can certainly sense the head nodding and eye contact between the two of them as crescendos are followed by Reid and hit perfectly on the crest.
'1st & 1st' is the most predictable of the tracks headlined by a funk guitar melody accompanied by the remnants of ambient distortion and bleeps. Reid's rhythmic drumming and rolling symbols provide a solid bed for this to take place before a slower stuttering finish. The prominent steel sound of the drum in '25th Street' allows it to continually leap out amongst all manner of exquisitely placed mixed up synthetic sounds. A predictable bass provides a platform for which this array of creativity can balance. A real unity between percussion and "melody" can be spotted as they both work off of one another very well even with the oddest of sounds.
The full sound of "Arrival" is derived from what sounds like a vigorously plucked guitar providing the background for brushed guitar chords and melodic ascents and descents. This is surrounded by scale like radio frequency distortion on top of the ever reliable haphazard drum beat. As the backing sound of the track disappears the impact of the drumming upon the track becomes clear.
'Between B&C' starts with a piano cycle over a steady drum beat. Intermittently the piano base chords provide a richer sound and a high pitch electronic melody cycled back and fourth further widens this spectrum. This is one of the best tracks to display the fantastic drumming skills that Steve Reid possesses. Yet, the use of the ticking clock sounds in 'Departure' with varying tempos yet always keeping to the same "time" just highlights the skill and originality of Hebden's own art. This seems as though it would throw Reid's drumming off, yet does no such thing as he is more than capable to match around the variety of ticking sounds. The tranquil sounding melody attached to the ticking of the clock adds to the ambience of this clever piece before piercing electronics take the listener to the finish, as if an alarm to say "time to leave."
Even though at times there is a feeling of almost random uses of wild sounds within Hebden's work it is quite clear there is a science applied to the methodology, and if you have the pleasure of seeing him live you will see a certain precision in the way he performs. This amalgamation of modern and tradition is exactly what these two artists have set out to achieve as they are taking that jazz tradition and pushing it further in a different direction. Hebden once said in an interview that if you want to show real respect to those artists that broke ground before break some more ground and continue the journey. These two have certainly grown from the last LP's and there improved ability to read each other has helped develop their sound further.
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