Following the success of their first two efforts, Exchange Sessions 1 and 2, Hebden and Reid got together again in the studio to build a more profound dialogue of sounds and ideas.   Full text...

Tongues gives us the duo in their full flower, having mastered each others’ languages and moved past any lingering reticence.  Full text...

45 minutes of aural ecstasy; a test of timing, skill and consistency; an insistent manifesto that the pair are only just hitting their stride, and in turn, one of the most exciting albums you’ll hear all year.  Full text...

The duo have created a tech/jazz hybrid where Reid's freestyle riffing has Hebden triggering multiple samples. Music student? Your dissertation's right here.   Full text...

Tongues is a solidified ten track album. There are moments of extended abstraction, but a conventional, logical melody or beat is always just near enough to prevent disintegration into free-form chaos.   Full text...

With its primary emphasis on jarring, chaotic electronic patterns originating largely from analog sources, Tongues (excepting perhaps its preponderance of live drumming in contrast with its electronic aspect) recalls the dissonance and brazen experimentation of the proto-industrial noise bands of the mid- to late-’70s on several fronts.  Full text...

For Tongues, the duo puts temporal and thematic limits on its improvisations. Hebden introduced a pre-arranged melodic idea, and he and Reid improvised for approximately five minutes around each theme.  Full text...