- Audio CD (18 Nov 2008)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Domino
- ASIN: B001FZ0AB8
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 664,076 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
`NYC' is Kieran Hebden's (aka Four Tet) fourth collaboration with veteran jazz drummer Steve Reid and while I won't pretend that I have heard the other three, the word in the blogosphere is that this is the most equal of their partnerships, with Hebden given much more license to stamp his mark on the record. Certainly fans of Fridge and Four Tet would be foolish to overlook this, a beautiful and intensely atmospheric mini-album. Although I didn't have the cover artwork to hand at the time of writing it is impossible to listen to `NYC' and not picture a seething, rain-lashed megatropolis. It's a murky, cavernous record easily redolent of old Scorcese films: steam rising from man hole covers, pimps lurking in shadows, dealers dealin' (to borrow from Bobby Gillespie). The percussive energy and gently building tensions and atmospherics make it less wilfully difficult than such jazz-electronica collaborations might lead you to expect.
It is interesting to note that while Four Tet's most recent EP `Ringer' sidestepped into more synthetic soundscapes, NYC is very much in line with the textures that made Hebden's name: scuffed, jazzy rhythms; heavily-reverbed splices of acoustic guitar and piano; and a mulchy organic quality that once inspired the horror pigeonhole `folktronica'. But folk this isn't, this is tranced-out bebop - rollicking, sweaty jazz augmented with synths and echo effects. It's the kind of fuggy cinematic brew that should entice fans of David Holmes circa Let's Get Killed, early DJ Shadow and DJ Krush (minus the hip hop esoterica), Amon Tobin, and Four Tet disciples from Pedro to Nostalgia 77.
The murky opener `Lyman Place' is a bit of a red herring, as it's probably the most abrasive track on the album - a pressure cooker of grinding bass loops and rusted-metal percussion. It's a mood revisited on the dank, clunking `25th Street', which sounds like a network of subterranean pipes rattling and hissing into life, building into a lolloping groove. `1st & 1st' sounds like a gritty 70s cop show theme tune pulled apart and doodled over with freestyle drumming and lots of electronic, dubby ephemera. `Arrival', the album centrepiece, is a meditative, awakening but still somehow urban piece, augmented by shimmering synths, vibrating drones and Reid's scattershot percussive improvisations. This stunning high is sustained into the bustling `Between B & C' in which Hebden showers sparkling, sped-up synth fragments over a gorgeous piano groove. `Departure' is Four Tet all over: loops of chime-like textures which simmer and subside while Reid grooves sporadically over the top, and occasional beams of pure Bladerunner synth shoot out from the speakers. It's wonderful, heady, spectral stuff that gets better and better, both throughout its recording time and with each listen - an unexpected delight.
First published at The Line of Best Fit.
It is interesting to note that while Four Tet's most recent EP `Ringer' sidestepped into more synthetic soundscapes, NYC is very much in line with the textures that made Hebden's name: scuffed, jazzy rhythms; heavily-reverbed splices of acoustic guitar and piano; and a mulchy organic quality that once inspired the horror pigeonhole `folktronica'. But folk this isn't, this is tranced-out bebop - rollicking, sweaty jazz augmented with synths and echo effects. It's the kind of fuggy cinematic brew that should entice fans of David Holmes circa Let's Get Killed, early DJ Shadow and DJ Krush (minus the hip hop esoterica), Amon Tobin, and Four Tet disciples from Pedro to Nostalgia 77.
The murky opener `Lyman Place' is a bit of a red herring, as it's probably the most abrasive track on the album - a pressure cooker of grinding bass loops and rusted-metal percussion. It's a mood revisited on the dank, clunking `25th Street', which sounds like a network of subterranean pipes rattling and hissing into life, building into a lolloping groove. `1st & 1st' sounds like a gritty 70s cop show theme tune pulled apart and doodled over with freestyle drumming and lots of electronic, dubby ephemera. `Arrival', the album centrepiece, is a meditative, awakening but still somehow urban piece, augmented by shimmering synths, vibrating drones and Reid's scattershot percussive improvisations. This stunning high is sustained into the bustling `Between B & C' in which Hebden showers sparkling, sped-up synth fragments over a gorgeous piano groove. `Departure' is Four Tet all over: loops of chime-like textures which simmer and subside while Reid grooves sporadically over the top, and occasional beams of pure Bladerunner synth shoot out from the speakers. It's wonderful, heady, spectral stuff that gets better and better, both throughout its recording time and with each listen - an unexpected delight.
First published at The Line of Best Fit.
Format:Audio CD
It takes two to make a dream come true, and this, literally is one such dream. The chemistry between these two musicians is absolutely bustling, very much like NYC. What lays the foundations is the drumming; free as jazz can be, it skittles and rattles gently along. Then there's the electronic toying to harmonize the sporadic percussion, the former creating delightful arpeggios: catchy, tuneful and stiflingly complex in its delivery. For much of the album the differing length for each track feels like little cohesive improvisations. As a whole, this is the most consistent heard yet from Kieran and Steve. More, please!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Electronics & Drums...
8 Mar 2009
Format:Vinyl|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was looking to purchase some fresh vinyl and came upon this lp. The artist struck a note in my memory banks so i made a purchase. The music is different and very interesting upon deeper listening. I do not know anything about what the musicians have done before. If they were in the Jazz or Electronic music circles. The music is fresh and different. (Purchase-put on your harddrive-repeat listen-examine-deeper listenig.)
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi + Sun Ra + Tortoise
18 Nov 2008
Format:Audio CD
Aptly named, this latest offering from Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden (samplers, software) and Steve Reid (acoustic percussion) is the result of two days in New York's Avatar studio where the duo soaked in the ghosts of previously recorded works by artists such as Steve Reich to Chic to Missy Elliot. Most importantly, the album reflects Reid's hometown experience in conjunction with Hebden's first real visit to the Big Apple, letting the food and urban explorations inspire tracks with titles such as "25th Street" and "Lyman Place" This all translates into an eclectically charged mix of psychedelics ("Between B & C"), `60s Funk ("1st & 1st) and Stockhausen electronics vs. Downtown Minimalism ("Departure"). In other words, Hebden and Reid's version of jazz fusion, something they've honed live and on record (Tongues, The Exchange Sessions Vols. I and II) to a point beyond casual collaboration: this is their language, and a fascinatingly experimental and enjoyably listenable one it is.
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