Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid – The Exchange Sessions (Speak & Spell/Inertia)

Hebden is widely regarded for his sweet electronic excursions as Four Tet. Tremendously popular within electronic music circles, his sounds have always teetered on the dangerous side of twee, a little too sugary and sweet natured to allow you to fully engage. His Late Night Tales mix cd however revealed another side, a young man well versed in the history of Jazz with some great tracks from Joe Henderson and Roland Kirk. And he’ drawing upon these traditions with his union with legendary percussionist Steve Reid, a man who’ bashed the skins for everyone from Miles Davis, James Brown and Fela Kuti amongst a myriad of others. Whilst Reid’ improvised percussion is simultaneously dense with much cymbal work and a steady beat, Hebden really does shine, offering vague wisps of sound alongside some blatantly electronic almost science fiction zings shudders and modulations, and when he’ out the front battling alongside Reid that the sparks really do begin to fly. Decades of improvised music have taught us that it’s not what your sound is, it’s how you play it, and perhaps more importantly how you listen to your collaborator. And in the listening stakes Hebden really does well, unlike his solo work he’ not hamstrung by melody, he’ willing to let things get uncomfortable (within limits) and more importantly he is not trying to sync up with Reid’ syncopations. Totally improvised without edits or overdubs, yet still divided into three (longish) tracks, at times you suspect he’ mentally replacing a frantic freejazz horn sound with frantic freejazz electrics, yet this is still a strange and difficult proposition and he executes it well. Reid’ percussion places this union resolutely within a (free) jazz tradition, which actually makes Hebden’ work seem incredibly daring, particularly if artists like Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Triosk or Supersilent are new to your lexicon. Ultimately it’s a great jam record, listening to these two individuals from separate worlds interact, circling each other in an attempt to find common ground is nothing short of fascinating and at times even exhilarating.