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Kieran Hebden
Hebden performing in 2004 at the Grog Shop in Cleveland, Ohio
Hebden performing in 2004 at the Grog Shop in Cleveland, Ohio
Background information
Also known as
  • Four Tet
  • KH[1]
  • ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ[1]
  • 00110100 01010100[2]
  • 4T Recordings[3]
  • 4TLR
  • Percussions[3]
  • 00000ooooo[3]
  • Joshua Falken[3]
BornSeptember 1977 (age 46)
Putney, London, England[4]
Genres
Instruments
DiscographyFour Tet discography
Years active1995–present
Labels
Formerly ofFridge
Websitefourtet.net

Kieran Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting and critically acclaimed albums such as Rounds (2003), Everything Ecstatic (2005) and There Is Love in You (2010). In addition to his twelve studio albums as Four Tet, Hebden's work includes a number of improvisational works with jazz drummer Steve Reid and collaborations with Burial and Thom Yorke.

Alongside his own recordings, Hebden has produced albums by American improvisational group Sunburned Hand of the Man and Syrian dabke singer Omar Souleyman, and arranged the 2021 Madlib album Sound Ancestors. He has also remixed tracks by artists including Aphex Twin, Bicep, Explosions in the Sky, Bloc Party, Super Furry Animals, Radiohead, Ellie Goulding, J Dilla, Lana Del Rey, Manic Street Preachers, Sia, Black Sabbath and Madvillain; several of these were collected on the compilation Remixes (2006). He has additionally performed DJ mixes, including sets with American producer Skrillex and British producer Fred Again.

Early life

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Kieran Hebden was born in Putney, London, England,[4] to a South African-born Indian mother and a sociology lecturer father.[9] He attended Elliott School in Putney,[9] where he formed the band Fridge with classmates Adem Ilhan and Sam Jeffers. The band signed a recording contract when Hebden was 15,[9] and released their first album, Ceefax, on Trevor Jackson's Output Recordings label in March 1997. While working with Fridge, Hebden began a degree in maths and computer sciences at the University of Manchester alongside the members of Simian Mobile Disco.[10][11]

Career

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Hebden's first solo release was the 1997 single "Double Density", released on the Output label under the artist name 4T Recordings. He began releasing material as Four Tet in 1998 with the 36 minute, 25 second single "Thirtysixtwentyfive". Later that year, he released another 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 Warp 10 + 3: Remixes, a tenth-anniversary compilation of remixes of Warp tracks. Hebden contributed a remix of the opening track of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which was considered to be his break-out release.[7]

In 2001, Four Tet's second album Pause was released on Domino Recording Company 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).[7] Rounds was released in May 2003. 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 Chimers". An accompanying DVD featured all of Four Tet's videos to date. In addition, the closing track "Everything is Alright" was featured in a U.S. Nike commercial in 2001 and 2002.[12]

At the beginning of 2003, Four Tet opened for Radiohead on their European tour. A remix of the song "Scatterbrain" from Radiohead's sixth studio album Hail to the Thief was released in November 2003 as a B-side to the single "2 + 2 = 5" and later included on their 2004 EP COM LAG (2plus2isfive). Furthermore, Hebden was among the people thanked by Radiohead in the booklet accompanying their 2007 In Rainbows "discbox" release.

Hebden performing at Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain, in 2008

A live album named Live in Copenhagen 30th March 2004 was released in April 2004 as a limited edition, available exclusively from the Domino Records website.

In March and April 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.[citation needed]

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. On 7 November 2005, Domino released a DVD version of Everything Ecstatic featuring video clips for each track of the album plus a CD with new material, titled Everything Ecstatic Part 2, which was later made available as an individual EP.[citation needed]

Hebden has also remixed, under the Four Tet name, tracks by a wide range of artists including Tegan And Sara, Madvillain, Andrew Bird, Bloc Party, Super Furry Animals, Beth Orton, Badly Drawn Boy, CYNE, The Notwist, Boom Bip, Battles, Kings of Convenience, Lars Horntveth, Bonobo, Rothko, The xx, Thom Yorke and Radiohead. On 25 September 2006, Domino Records released Remixes, a two-disc compilation of Four Tet remixes. The first disc contains twelve Four Tet remixes selected by Hebden, with the second disc comprising every official remix to date (both by Hebden himself and by other artists) of Four Tet tracks, many of which had previously been available on vinyl only.[13] A new EP, Ringer, was released on 21 April 2008.[citation needed]

Four Tet performing in 2011 in Los Angeles, California

In 2008, he collaborated with composer David Arnold to write "Crawl, End Crawl", the song used for the end credits of the film Quantum of Solace.[14] He worked on a secret collaboration with former schoolmate Burial the following year.

In November 2009, he released the fifth full-length Four Tet album. Heavily influenced by a period DJing at the Plastic People club in Shoreditch[15] and entitled There Is Love in You, it was released on 25 January 2010.[16] The album was preceded by a limited edition release of the 12" single "Love Cry".

In 2010, Hebden collaborated with Laurie Anderson playing keyboards on the song Only an Expert from her Homeland album. In 2011, he released a split 12" with Burial and Thom Yorke, entitled "Ego"/"Mirror". He began to release music under the alias Percussions, following a track he produced on his Fabriclive mix CD.[17] He was chosen by Caribou to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England.[18]

In 2012, Hebden collaborated again with Burial on the track "Nova".

The sixth full-length Four Tet album, Pink, consisting of eight tracks, six of them already released as singles, was released on 20 August 2012 through Hebden's own record label, Text Records. Hebden followed up Pink with 0181 on 15 January 2013. 0181 is a collection of unreleased material from 1997 to 2001, collected as one track and released online. A vinyl version was also released on the Text Records label.

Hebden released the seventh Four Tet album, Beautiful Rewind, in October 2013,[19] and his eighth album, Morning/Evening in July 2015.[20]

Hebden undertook a month-long residency as Four Tet for online radio station NTS Radio in May 2014. He has been an occasional DJ for NTS, playing in February, June and November 2015, and again alongside fellow DJ and producer Floating Points in June and October 2016, and March 2017. In September 2017, Hebden released the ninth Four Tet album New Energy.[21] That November he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Production, Non-Classical, for his remix of The xx's "Violent Noise".[22]

On 1 March 2019, Hebden released Only Human, his first new track since his last album, New Energy,[23] the track was named 'Best New Music' by Pitchfork, shortly after release.[1] A month after, on 17 April 2019, Hebden released another new single, "Teenage Birdsong".[24]

In May 2019, Hebden played two shows at London's Alexandra Palace, his largest shows to date. The performance was filmed as part of the music video for Teenage Birdsong.[25] A live recording of the two shows was released on 29 July 2019 under his "4TLR" moniker.[26]

On 29 August 2019, Hebden had released a collection of three brand new songs as part of an EP called Anna Painting. The project was made in collaboration with painter Anna Liber Lewis, and features artwork by Liber Lewis in the release.

On 21 January 2020, Hebden announced his tenth album Sixteen Oceans for release in March.[27]

Starting in September 2020, Hebden began a string of concurrent live streams.[28][29] The livestreams included songs from other artists as well as his own remixes.[29] The music was accompanied by various animations from artists, including Anna Liber Lewis.[30][31][32] Some of the material was released on Christmas Day of 2020 across two albums, Parallel and 871, under the Four Tet and 00110100 01010100 monikers respectively.[33] Over a year later, on 28 October 2021, the live stream concluded.

Information about a second collaboration with Burial and Thom Yorke, entitled Her Revolution / His Rope, surfaced around 2 December 2020, and a very limited 12" was released in three known record stores.[34] Hebden collaborated with Madlib for the album Sound Ancestors, which was released on 29 January 2021.[35]

In August 2021, Hebden filed a legal suit against Domino Records for "damages of up to £70,000" in an ongoing dispute regarding streaming royalties. The case pertained to Hebden's recording contract with Domino, which he signed in February 2001. Hebden argued that the contract entitled him to 50% of all of his royalties from streaming services based outside of the United Kingdom. Domino argued that contractual clause cited by Hebden does not apply to streaming royalties. The label, citing a separate clause, argued that Hebden "was only entitled to 75% of 18% of the dealer price (i.e. a 13.5% royalty rate)." A settlement out of court was not reached, and the case would be decided upon by a judge of the Business and Property Courts of the High Court of Justice.[36] In November 2021, three albums by Four Tet were removed from streaming services. Hebden claims he was informed by Domino's legal team that the label would remove his music from all digital platforms "in order to stop the case progressing", which he disagreed to.[37] In June 2022, Hebden announced that he won the suit in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, receiving £56,921.08, plus his legal costs, after Domino agreed to backpay the 50 percent rate.[38][39]

In February 2023, Hebden, along with Skrillex and Fred Again, played a 5-hour set in a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden.[40]

In a series of tweets on 12 April 2023, Hebden announced that he was working on a new album[41] with music planned to be released "before the shows start",[42] in reference to his May 2023 tour with Squidsoup. He also announced that he was working on music with William Tyler.[43] On 25 April, Four Tet's single Three Drums was played on BBC Radio 6 Music before being released. Although it appeared that his new album was completed and pressed on vinyl due to Instagram stories and a tweet,[44] "TEXT055" was instead a collaboration between Fred Again and Brian Eno.

Hebden released Three on 15 March 2024. He first previewed the album with its opening track "Loved" on 10 January 2024.[45] On 14 February 2024, to coincide with Valentine's Day, Hebden released the track "Daydream Repeat."[46]

Musical style

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AllMusic's Paul Simpson called Hebden "perhaps the definitive indie electronic artist", noting that his "experimental yet highly accessible recordings, which blend organic and electronic sounds, have earned widespread acclaim from critics and fans of electronic music as well as indie rock."[5] His work has drawn influence from styles such as spiritual jazz, krautrock, folk music, and hip hop.[5] According to Piotr Orlov of Pitchfork, Hebden's music has touched on genres such as folktronica, electronic jazz and global trance, with his 2003 album Rounds specifically drawing from hip hop's collage approach and "pushing IDM into a whole new space."[47] Hebden rejected critics' early labeling of him as a "folktronica" artist as misleading, calling attention to the influence of hip hop producers such as Rodney Jerkins and Timbaland on his work instead.[7]

Discography

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Main article: Four Tet discography

Albums (as Four Tet)

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Mix albums

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Albums (as Kieran Hebden)

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Sherburne, Phillip (4 March 2019). "'Only Human' by Four Tet Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  2. ^ Selikow, Jami (28 August 2017). "Four Tet's New Album & 00110100 01010100". Indie Shuffle. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "Four Tet". WhoSampled.
  4. ^ a b "Kieran Hebden (born 1978, Putney, London), best known by the stage name Four Tet, is a post-rock and electronic musician". Soundcloud.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d Kieran Hebden at AllMusic
  6. ^ Staff (29 December 2020). "Parallel From Four Tet is Ambient House Sorcery". Closed Captioned. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d Beta, Andy (13 May 2013). "Interviews: Four Tet". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 3 November 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. ^ Caraan, Sophie (February 2021). "Madlib and Four Tet Release Album 'Sound Ancestors'". Hypebeast. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  9. ^ a b c John Lewis (13 July 2008). "Close-up: Kieran Hebden". The Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  10. ^ Muggs, Joe. "Make It Funky, Make It Folky." The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 28 May 2005, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3642767/Make-it-funky-make-it-folky.html.
  11. ^ "First/Last Party On Earth 07 - Four Tet". Soundcloud.
  12. ^ "CDNX : Four Tet". Cdnx.co.uk. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Pitchfork: Four Tet to Release Remix LP". 25 May 2007. Archived from the original on 25 May 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ [1] [dead link]
  15. ^ "Music Feature – Four Tet and the London Underground". Totally Dublin. 26 February 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  16. ^ "There Is Love In You". Four Tet official website. 5 November 2009. Archived from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  17. ^ "Four Tet releases new album as Percussions". Factmag. 13 January 2015. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  18. ^ "Nightmare Before Christmas curated by Battles/Caribou/Les Savy Fav - All Tomorrow's Parties". Atpfestival.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  19. ^ FACT (22 July 2013). "Four Tet announces new album, Beautiful Rewind - FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music". Factmag.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  20. ^ Goble, Corban (7 May 2015). "Four Tet Announces New Album Morning/Evening". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  21. ^ Andy Beta (3 October 2017). "Four Tet: New Energy Album Review". Pitchfork.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  22. ^ "See The Full List Of 60th GRAMMY Nominees | GRAMMY.com". 28 November 2017. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  23. ^ Maicki, Salvatore (1 March 2019). "Four Tet returns with new single 'Only Human'". The Fader. Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  24. ^ Blais-Billie, Braudie (17 April 2019). "Four Tet Releases New Song 'Teenage Birdsong': Listen". Pitchfork.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  25. ^ "Four Tet releases his first music video in 14 years". Mixmag. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  26. ^ "Live at Alexandra Palace, London 8th and 9th May 2019, by Four Tet". Four Tet. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  27. ^ Kim, Michelle; Monroe, Jazz (21 January 2020). "Four Tet Announces New Album Sixteen Oceans". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 21 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  28. ^ 🔴🌏⭕🔵🌕📀🌍⚫💿🌎🐦🐧🐤🌎💿⚫🌍📀🌕🔵⭕🌏🔴. Four Tet. 28 October 2020. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023 – via YouTube.
  29. ^ a b Rufoff, Lazlo (19 November 2020). "Four Tet has been playing records in a live stream for over a month". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  30. ^ Tet, Four [@FourTet] (1 December 2020). "Animation: Anna Liber Lewis Music: Four Tet Stream: https://t.co/SIBEqiC5ot Clothing: https://t.co/OfPC5ZSNFe https://t.co/5iLMidoYoq" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2023 – via Twitter.
  31. ^ "Anna Liber Lewis (@annalogue18) on Instagram". 1 December 2020. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  32. ^ "Four Tet on Instagram: "New collaboration with the artist Anna Liber Lewis @annalogue18 is up now on my youtube stream. There are also limited items of clothing available as part of this project. Link in bio will lead you to everything."". 1 December 2020. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  33. ^ "Four Tet releases two new albums · News ⟋ RA". 24 December 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  34. ^ Krol, Charlotte (2 December 2020). "Thom Yorke, Burial and Four Tet share vinyl-only collaborations 'Her Revolution' and 'His Rope'". Nme.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  35. ^ Rugoff, Lazlo (14 December 2020). "Madlib collaborates with Four Tet on new album, Sound Ancestors". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  36. ^ Krol, Charlotte (9 August 2021). "Four Tet launches legal action against Domino over streaming dispute". NME. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  37. ^ Richards, Will (21 November 2021). "Four Tet says Domino have removed three of his albums from streaming services". NME. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  38. ^ Savage, Mark (20 June 2022). "Four Tet wins royalty battle over streaming music". BBC News. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  39. ^ Minsker, Evan; Monroe, Jazz (20 June 2022). "Four Tet Wins Streaming Royalties Dispute With Domino". Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  40. ^ Earl, William (19 February 2023). "Skrillex, Fred Again and Four Tet's Frenzied Madison Square Garden Rave Opens a New Chapter for EDM: Concert Review". Variety. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  41. ^ Tet, Four [@FourTet] (12 April 2023). "I'm working on the new album" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 April 2023 – via Twitter.
  42. ^ Tet, Four [@FourTet] (12 April 2023). "planning to get new music out before the shows start" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 April 2023 – via Twitter.
  43. ^ Tet, Four [@FourTet] (12 April 2023). "got stuff I'm making with William Tyler too" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 April 2023 – via Twitter.
  44. ^ Tet, Four [@FourTet] (12 April 2023). "TEXT055 soon" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 April 2023 – via Twitter.
  45. ^ "Four Tet Shares New Single "Loved": Listen". Stereogum. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  46. ^ "News | Four Tet Reveals New Album, Three". The Quietus. 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  47. ^ Orlov, Piotr (24 January 2017). "The 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time". Pitchfork. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  48. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 210. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  49. ^ a b c d e "Four Tet". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
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