Steve Reid & Kieran Hebden

Watching Steve Reid’s face contort like a million minute exorcisms, while Kieran Hebden’s eyes bulge to bursting-point over a landscape of knobs and dials holds a fragmented mirror between two generations and a chasm of technical innovations. Through the brakes, snaps and disjuncture reflects a clear kindred spirit: Jazz.

Reid’s an acclaimed drummer from the 60’s Jazz scene in New York, trained by none other than Quincy Jones. Kieran’s the acclaimed electronics wizard who’s absorbed the spirit of Jazz through his digital channels. ‘Rounds’ made his name a couple of years ago, but all releases since then have missed the mark. Together they’ve recorded the earthy ‘Tongues’, a live experimentation in sound that swings from being impenetrable to being indifferent. The crowd are clearly more wary of what they’re about to experience than the last time Hebden played a solo show at the venue (beat heavy dance music last time).

But despite the notoriety of both musicians, Reid having played with the likes of Miles Davis, James Brown and Fela Kuti, and Hebden’s alias Fourtet having paved ways in the realm of electronica/trip-hop, there’s something lacking in the void of this generation gap.

Reid is an outstanding drummer. Watching rhythm pulsate through every cell in his body is a humbling site. Hebden’s alright too, but clicking a laptop ain’t that impressive to watch. But while rhythm reigns supreme, there’s a desperate lack of any melody (please, just one four bar loop, anything, please), and as Hebden’s electronics seem to merely underscore Reid’s drumming, after an hour it starts to feel like an over-indulgent drum solo.

Exploring sound is one thing, but taking that sound and translating to an audience in a context that makes sense is quite another. Lying in a deck chair, perhaps monged out on drugs or just very sleep deprived; a more idiosyncratic situation than rock-venue-by-numbers Rescue Rooms might have allowed more sense to filter through from this exploration into sonic semiotics. But with a crowd facing the stage in a tunnel like venue, expecting to see a show, a crucial factor in the best manner of absorbing this kind of music was sadly lost.

FUTURE GIGS

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