Kieran Hebden recently released a 38 minute long collection of unreleased songs he recorded as Four Tet, between 1997 and 2001, called
0181, to stream or download from Soundcloud. If you like what you hear, in 2011 Hebden "leaked" his
first Four Tet EP, which you can
stream from Self-titled Magazine's website. If you want to hear and know more of Hebden, venture below the break.
Kieran Hebden has been making music since his teens, first
with a couple classmates under the name Fridge, who released
their first single in 1997, the same year he released
his first solo single, under the 4T Recordings moniker. Fridge were
quite productive in the late 1990s, but in 2001, the trio split after their
fourth album,
Happiness (Grooveshark). They pursued their own paths, with Hebden continuing his path as Four Tet,
which wasn't really shelved during the Fridge years, but he really found his own after the break-up.
Four Tet's second solo album,
Pause (YT, full vinyl album with playlist), came out in 2001, and was called
"a voyage of warm, ambient loveliness" and "Kieran Hebden's best work to date," but that was just the beginning. His third album,
Rounds (YT, full album, tracklist in comments) came out two years later, and showed an artist
fascinated with the impossible rhythms that the free-form jazz greats could bang out as they pleased.
Like clockwork, Hebden released his next album in 2005.
One review was skeptical about the broader appeal of the prior albums, but found the next album to be "heady, wonderful stuff," at least once you got past the first track,
A Joy (YT, music video).
More wonderful still is that [Smile Around The Face] (YT, video) sets the tone for much of the rest of the album, which pitches battering, funky rhythms - equal parts hip-hop, Krautrock and jazz - against blissful, slowly shifting textures: tinkling bells and piano on And Then Patterns (YT) lazy hip-hop scratching and gamelan-inspired clank on High Fives (YT, video) droning saxophones and oddly cut-up female vocals on Sun, Drums and Soil (YT, video).
Hebden's next major project was a series of
four releases with the diverse musician Steve Reid. The label associated with these releases, Domino Recording Co, put together
a documentary of the making of Tongues. It was filmed in 2006, but released online in 2010, after
Reid passed away earlier that year (Guardian obit). Here are two videos featuring live performances:
Brain;
Mom's Marmalade.
In 2008, Hebden (as Four Tet) releases a four-track EP, Ringer, which was summarized as
"drone influenced electronic music that isn't a huge snoozefest." Tracks on YT:
Ringer;
Ribbons;
Swimmer;
Wing Body Wing. His next Four Tet album, There Is Love in You, came out in 2010, and was a tribute or influenced in part to
his residency at the Plastic People club in East London (1 hr long Mixcloud streaming mix).
While some said "the bliss is back" with his new album, highlighting tracks including
Love Cry,
This Unfolds, and
Angel Echoes,
others felt the album was overshadowed by his previous collaboration with Burial (
Moth/
Wolf Cub). That collaboration was followed by another, with vocals by Thom Yorke (
Ego/
Mirror), and last year Hebden and Burial collaborated on another single track,
Nova.
Hebden built up to his latest album, Pink, by releasing most of the individual tracks as 12" singles, but
Four Tet's latest LP is very much an album, and a masterfully arranged one at that, with standout tracks including
Locked,
Pyramid,
Lion, and
128 Harps.
And with that, you're caught upon the major releases of Four Tet. You can dig deeper on
Discogs or
Wikipedia, if you want to venture into his various singles, mixes and remixes.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on January 25 [4 favorites]