It makes perfect sense that Keiran Hebden's songs resemble the staccato-heavy remixes fit for the dance floor but thoughtful enough for the laptop noodling that launched their musical birth considering he cut his teeth and still produces some of the finest remixes for indie and pop musicians alike. His recent dabbles outside of his one-man band Four Tet with veteran jazz drummer/percussionist Steve Reid continued to cement the long-held percussive and improvisational parallels between the realms of electronic music and jazz with 2007's Tongues . Both explore their environs not so much through a set musical narrative but the whim of the artist and their embracing of space. Four Tet's modus operandi was built on this first and foremost.Ringer can be viewed in a variety of ways - most notably as a stop-gap album/EP considering its' running time (just over 30 minutes) and the slim helping of percussive laptop techno that listeners get after the favorable chart-topper, 2005's Everything Ecstatic . Despite all this on the periphery, Hebden lovingly tries on Reid's clothes after his tutelage and collaboration with the excellent American jazz percussionist. The musical relationship is definitely reciprocal. In an interview discussing the duo's collaborations, Reid referred to Hebden as his newly found "musical soul mate". The times that Hebden supplants his modular beat ambience - like after the pulsating loops on the title track - mimic his mentor's improvisational drum juggernauting. They are the truly great genre-meld firestorms on a release that once everything is said and done is somewhat guileless. That is only the case because those times are sadly few and far between.There are still moments of repose (or what electronic devotees call comedowns). Even a somewhat truncated release, that starts with such a sonic assault with "Ringer" the following track flows along like the old Four Tet would. "Ribbon"'s new amalgamation pays even more attention to the low registered beats as much as the those persistent high hats. The song breezes by quickly, largely due to its effervescing synth lines that spin faster. Whirling dervishes of percolate around the natural sounding hi hat in the type of out of off-kilter syncopation you would expect from Steve Reich or Phillip Glass.The droning "Swimmer" sounds even more like the electronic organs that Glass has used in the past but without the same sense of dramatic gravity. The song's steady bass pulse feels overpowers the light glockenspiel and noodling guitar echoing in the distance that orbits closer. The drum kit returns again in a very similar form to the one we heard on "Ringer" as well. The repetition is fitting of a mediocre ambient piece but not something Four Tet is known for producing. Whereas Hebden's work with Reid felt exciting mainly due to their free range of musical motion, "Wing Body Wing"'s spastic drum end-cap Ringer on an strange and insular note. Despite the loose clothing Hebden is trying on with Ringer 's engaging mind-meld of electronic beats/loops and jazz drumming the album gels together nicely in places. The growling and distorted guitar that serves as a dub beat on the ethereal "Wing" or the spring-loaded drum pads on "Ringer" fill out Four Tet's new percussive outfit so he doesn't look a young kid trying on his mentor's old suit. 70% Links Four Tet [official site ] [myspace ] [Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid ] [domino records ]