| Kieran Hebden |
Hebden
performs at the Grog Shop in Cleveland,
Ohio
|
| Background information |
| Also known as |
Four Tet |
| Origin |
United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) |
Electronic
Folktronica
Techno
Jazz |
| Instrument(s) |
Drums
Acoustic guitars
horns
Piano
Harpsichords |
| Years active |
1998 – present |
| Label(s) |
Output
Recordings
Domino Records |
Associated
acts |
Fridge |
| Website |
www.fourtet.net |
Kieran Hebden (born 1980 in Putney, London, England, United
Kingdom) is a post-rock
and electronic musician. Hebden first
came to prominence as a member of the band Fridge
before establishing himself as a solo artist in his own right under the
moniker Four Tet.
Hebden's music typically eschews the traditional pop song
format in favor of a more abstract approach - his rich, organic sound
and harmonious melodies incorporate elements of hip
hop, electronica,
techno, jazz, and folk music
with live instrumentation. His work as Four Tet shares some stylistic
similarities with other musicians, such as Prefuse
73, who use computer editing techniques that give the music a staccato,
cut-up feel.
Alongside recording his own material, Hebden has also
performed remixes for a number of artists including Aphex
Twin, Radiohead,
Bloc
Party and Black Sabbath. Hebden's recent work
includes a number of improvisational collaborations
with veteran jazz drummer Steve Reid.
|
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Selected
discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Mix
albums
- 2.3 Albums
(as Kieran Hebden)
- 3 References
- 4 External
links
|
History
Kieran Hebden began releasing material as Four Tet in 1998 with the 36
minute and 25 second single Thirtysixtwentyfive
on Trevor
Jackson's Output Recordings label. Later
that year, he released a second single, the jazz-influenced "Misnomer".
1999's Dialogue,
again on Output, was Four Tet's first full-length album release and
fused hip-hop
drum lines with dissonant jazz samples. This was followed by the double
A-side single "Glasshead"/"Calamine", which was to be Four Tet's last
release on Output.
In late 1999, Warp Records released a
tenth-anniversary compilation of remixes of Warp tracks; Hebden
contributed a remix of "Cliffs", the opening track of Aphex
Twin's Selected Ambient
Works Volume II. This relatively high profile
exposure attracted a lot of new interest in Four Tet from fans of electronica
and IDM, genres in which the
Warp brand has a preeminent status.
In 2001,
Four Tet's second album Pause was
released on Domino Records and found Hebden using
more folk and electronic samples, which was
quickly dubbed "folktronica" by the media and press
in an attempt to label the style (often also applied to artists such as
Isan and Gravenhurst).
The acoustic guitar track "Everything Is Alright" is the theme music
for the National Public Radio talk
show On
Point, produced at WBUR in Boston,
Massachusetts.
Rounds was
released in May 2003. It was Hebden's most ambitious album to date,
incorporating diverse samples such as the mandolin on
"Spirit Fingers", and even a rubber duck on the closing track "Slow
Jam". Three singles were released from the album: "She
Moves She", "As Serious as Your Life",
and "My Angel Rocks
Back and Forth". This last single was released as an EP featuring
remixes by electronica duo Icarus and Isambard Khroustaliov along
with additional Four Tet tracks "I've Got Viking in Me" and "All the
Chimes". An accompanying DVD featured all of Four Tet's videos to date.
In addition, the closing track "Slow Jam" was featured in a U.S. Nike
commercial in 2001 and 2002; Hebden edited the track on the back of the
bus with his laptop while on a tour with Fridge.
At the beginning of 2003, Four Tet opened for Radiohead
on their European tour. A remix of the song Scatterbrain from
Radiohead's latest album Hail
to the Thief was included on their 2004 EP COM LAG (2plus2isfive).
A live
album named Live in
Copenhagen 30th March 2004 was released in
April 2004 as a limited edition, available only through the Domino
Records website.
In March and April of 2005, Four Tet performed two shows of
improvisational music, in collaboration with jazz drummer Steve
Reid, in Paris
and London.
He also appears on Steve Reid Ensemble 2005 album Spirit Walk.
This collaboration was extended into a series of international tours,
and the release of two albums, The Exchange Session
Vol. 1 and The Exchange Session
Vol. 2 over the course of 2005 and 2006.
His fourth studio album Everything
Ecstatic was released on Domino on 23 May 2005. The video for
the lead single, "Smile Around the Face", features actor Mark Heap.
The album brought with it another shift in style, leaving behind the
breezy "folktronica" of Pause and Rounds
for a darker, more complex sound.
On 7
November 2005,
Domino has released a DVD version of Everything Ecstatic
featuring video clips for each track of the album plus a CD with new
material.
Hebden has also remixed, under the Four Tet name, tracks by a
wide range of artists including Madvillain, Bloc
Party, Super Furry Animals, Beth
Orton, Badly Drawn Boy, The
Notwist, Boom
Bip, Kings of Convenience and Radiohead.
On 25 September 2006, Domino Records
released a two-disc compilation of Four Tet remixes, titled Remixes.
The first disc contains twelve Four Tet remixes selected by Hebden,
while the second disc will comprise every official remix to date (both
by Hebden himself and by other artists) of Four Tet tracks. Many of the
tracks to be included in this compilation have previously been
available on vinyl only.
Selected discography
-
Main article: Kieran Hebden discography
Albums
- Dialogue (Output
Recordings, May 1999)
- Pause (Domino
Records, 28
May 2001)
- Rounds
(Domino Records, 5
May 2003)
- Everything Ecstatic
(Domino Records, 23
May 2005);
#59 UK chart
- Remixes
(Domino Records, 25 September 2006)
Mix albums
- Late Night Tales: Four Tet
(Azuli Records, 4 October 2004) (DJ mix album compiled by Hebden)
- DJ-Kicks: Four Tet
(Studio !K7, 26 June 2006) (mix album in the DJ-Kicks
series)
Albums (as Kieran Hebden)
- The Exchange Session
Vol. 1 (with Steve Reid; Domino Records, 27
February 2006)
- The Exchange Session
Vol. 2 (with Steve Reid; Domino Records, 22 May 2006)
- Tongues
(with Steve Reid; Domino Records, 19 March 2007)
References
-
Four Tet to Release Remix LP
External links
