Metascore
68

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 16
  2. Negative: 1 out of 16
  1. It’s clear that chemistry was in the air.
  2. In just under 40 minutes, Hebden and Reid offer one of the most thrilling documents of real-time improvisation you’re likely to hear this year.
  3. This CD is in itself a bold challenge to producers everywhere to step out from behind the laptop and explore the creative, spontaneous elements of live interaction.
  4. Like all free jazz albums, The Exchange Session, Vol. 1 should be approached with caution. It’s a great night-driving companion and opens up to the patient listener willing to give it more than one chance.
  5. This volume is a success and points the way toward new and compelling -- if still amorphous -- territory between rhythmic and electronic improvisation.
  6. The artists seem to have brought the best out of each other, and the result is much better than just hearing them go through the motions.
  7. Q Magazine
    70
    Genuinely ear-popping... utterly mesmeric. [Apr 2006, p.119]
  8. In general-- and despite passages of extreme beauty-- something seems amiss on Exchange Session.
  9. The album achieves a great deal of its success from the relaxed collaboration, but it does suffer from it, as well. Reid and Hebden interact so casually that they don't find the friction to really propel great improvisational music.
  10. There are moments where the two seem to sync up nicely and really unveil something beautiful and unique, but there are far too many other passages where the pairing doesn't quite seem to fully jel.
User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 3 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. dmitryder
    Mar 6, 2007
    1
    stupid shit