So Percussion

New York's So Percussion, intent upon rescuing contemporary composition from academic exile, put a delirious spin on Steve Reich's "Drumming." Playing rapidfire tattoos on tightly tuned toms, their interpretation has the feel of a zipper being opened and closed at varying speeds, with beats speeding up to mesh into a blur of drum head and room tone before they come undone again. It's all in the wrist: this is profoundly gestural music, played with a fluidity that will make you envy not just their forearms but their central nervous systems. Four more ambient pieces round out the album.