From dan hill Sent Tue, Jan 12th 1999, 16:43
From dan hill Sent Tue, Jan 12th 1999, 16:43
>Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 12:05:12 GMT >From: "-nick^w-" <xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xxx.xx.xx> >Subject: (idm) Four Tet > >Just got the new Four Tet 12" 'Misnomer' (Output recordings) since I >thought the previous single was so good (probably my favourite of 98, >actually). It's very good. Nice mixture of electronics and live >instruments along similar lines to Fridge material (Four Tet is one >of the blokes out of Fridge) but more abstract. Ltd to 1000 >apparently. hiya i really liked this too .... did this review for motion ...: =46our Tet Misnomer Output 'Misnomer' is a stunning release. Four Tet is Kieran Hebden, the bassist/guitarist from the fine British 3-piece, Fridge, whose muscular post-rock features Hebden's casually overdriven, insistent riffs. This is very different however, a sample-based solo project based on early-70s jazz as much as anything. Precursors might include Four Tet's previous single 'Thirtysixtwentyfive', 'Field' on Leaf's "Invisible Soundtracks III", and =46ridge's 'Low Fat Diet', but if one had to characterise the sound, we're talking Impulse! circa 1970 recombined for today. It's difficult, but not really relevant, to know what's played and what's sampled, though a squally Archie Shepp-like saxophone and violin flourishes =E1 l=E0 King Crimson's Da= vid Cross are in evidence as much as bass and guitar. All four tracks on this limited-edition vinyl-only EP feature percussion loops with touches of Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali, or Pharoah Sanders' "Karma". Yet this feels as loose and organic as a 'live recording'. Electro moments which echo both Mwandishi- and Rockit-era Herbie Hancock crop up, though there's some rather sub-DST scratching on 'Fume', the most intensely dark track here. 'Aying' and 'Charm' feature beautiful sitar playing and string samples from Indian film music, perhaps drawing too from Alice Coltrane and Miles' "Big =46un". These are so carefully and skilfully integrated into the whole that one is reminded that there can be little music which seems truly exotic anymore, just a seemingly infinitely rich source material. You'll note the references to late-60s 'cosmic jazz', 70s jazz-rock and prog: Simon Hopkins, reviewing Squarepusher, has touched on this current re-awakening of interest with these long-lambasted genres, and Hebden provides further evidence of its influence on new generations of (principally British?) music-makers (as well as Hebden and Tom Jenkinson, we might also look to Jimpster's Jamie O'Dell, Talvin Singh, and Ninja's J Swinscoe and Amon Tobin). Four Tet's new music draws freely from this recorded archive of yearning investigation and musical openness; malevolent rhythmic propulsion; gritty lo-fi acoustics and analogue electronic sparks. Searching for references to Kieran online, I found an old message he posted to the Kozmigroov list from his student email address, enquiring after the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Seems he found what he was looking for. And how. This all augers extremely well for the forthcoming long player 'Dialogue'. review by dan hill there's sound files 'n' that on motion at: http://motion.state51.co.uk/reviews/248.html and the four tet album is out feb 15th (uk) ... review on motion soon ... cheers, dan. ---+ dan hill [state51] ---+ new reviews on motion [12.1.99]: < alan lamb | dubadelic | gregorio, gustafsson & nordeson | don caballero | john mcentire | beretta70 > http://motion.state51.co.uk/ +---