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Kieran Hebdan & Steve Reid – NYC

Album Reviews

It’s the hurtling of traffic, the bustling subways, the back and the forth of feet on the city’s blocks.

You know how this one goes. They’ve only gone and called it flummin’ 'NYC'. It’s the hurtling of traffic, the bustling subways, the back and the forth and the round and round of feet on the city’s blocks. It could be awful. That is, if it wasn’t by Kieran Hebdan and one of the best jazz drummers EVER, Steve Reid.

Really it’s just awfully exciting. The Four-Tet-y gurgling beats overlay intermittent slices of drummed out genius on ‘Lyman Place’, building to a panicked whirr. While hardly easy listening it works, enticing you in just like ‘25th Street’. In amongst the frenetic tapping you can’t leave and you can’t switch it off. If you do, something might explode.

It’s left to ‘1st and 1st' provide a funky interlude to the hysteria. With only the odd technical scratch encroaching it’s essentially an all-night party kind of track. Enough bare hook to tap toes and enough intricate rhythm work to make it a worthy i-pod intrigue. Imagine lofts scattered with cushions and an elderly neighbour telling ‘those boys to turn it the hell down' and you get a glimpse of the magic. Even if one of them did perform with James Brown. And thus really isn’t a boy.

With ‘Arrival’ and ‘Departure’ suggesting that all we’re getting is a fleeting glance at the metropolis it’s pleasant that musical stereotypes aren’t propagated on record. Because hey, this isn’t only Hebdan and Reid. This is the one and only New York City.

And it’s far too diverse for that. Rating: 8/10