Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid

The follow-up to their two Exchange Session discs, 2007's Tongues finds Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid continuing to refine their unique musical dialogue. Again, the tools couldn't be simpler (or perhaps more complicated): Reid, a veteran sideman of Miles and Fela, lays down rock-steady grooves that bristle with improvisatory tangents, while Hebden carries over the folky (and freaky) loops and samples from his Four Tet project. This time, the jams are shorter -- some even approaching actual "songs." But there's no mistaking the sense of freedom that drives the music.