Though listeners might guess (correctly) that Ming + FS belong to New York's illbient scene from the cover and album title, the production duo comes off in a similar manner to Japanese producers like Fantastic Plastic Machine and
Pizzicato Five. While
FS takes on the turntables for most tracks (in addition to occasional keyboards), Ming plays guitar and Moog. The pair's productions are tight, very tied to breakbeat jungle but with plenty of old-school hip-hop flavor. Ming + FS scatter guest rappers throughout the album with care, using BLESTeNATION for the jump-up jungle of "Unison" and an appropriately darkside dub slant to the streets-is-watching track "CLS" featuring Mack and Youngblood. Ming + FS have dozens of good ideas on
Hell's Kitchen, and they never repeat themselves on this excellent debut. ~ John Bush