Keiran Hebden better known as Four Tet has had all types of labels thrown at his music — from post rock to future jazz, electronica and er, “folktronica” — whatever the fuck that means. But whatever the media want to call it, it’s dope. Raw, grimy beats with elements of cosmic jazz, progressive rock, trip hop and breakbeat thrown into the mix. But let me tell you, the dude knows his way around a sampler, plus it’s fairly to say he would have some of the dustiest fingers around — his sample selection is wild and obscure.
This track Aying was released on delicious 12″ vinyl in 1998, but I didn’t hear it until about ten years later when a friend burnt me a copy of his first album, Dialogue (released in 1999, where this track also appears). Needless to say, I tracked a second hand copy of the 12″ down PRONTO cos, this track is completely wild. Distorted horns and flutes, dark strings and sitar samples and fat breaks including a little Bollywood break. Shit is dope!
There is another track on the record called Fume, which is completely devestating…think breakcore from a parallel universe where it is just really fast jazz or something (with bonus cuts and a few bars of an electro beat for good measure). Badass. The album and 12″ are both long deleted, so you’re going to have to find them yourself, but they are worth tracking down.
The dude has also remixed for a pretty impressive array of cats including Aphex Twin, Madvillain, Nathan Fake and Black Sabbath which I think deserves a little street cred.
