The flag bearer for dancefloor-orientated electronic music has come up with something rather special for, what I think, is his twelfth proper studio album to date. Reaching, through his ever-forward-glancing soundscapes, to even deeper levels of intimacy, intricity, abstraction & intrigue. Four Tet continues to usher in the Now; way before you even knew it existed.

Utilizing a beguiling and enchanting array of patches, synths, DSP units and the latest computer technology to yield a decidedly humanoid (read: cybernetic) approach to modern commentary and body movement through sound; our trusty technician has once again proven why he's the go-to tastemaker across the dance music global village, whatever particular camp you chose to shake your boots in.

Housed in a fractal-psychedelic sleeve which upon first inspection reveals very little, as the first utterances begin to emanate off the record it's clear Hebden is painting a multidimensional canvas of our current world. Musically and visually it resonates with current moods and emotions, especially as technology continues influence and interact with our daily lives.

After a crystalline and atmospheric opening track, "Baby" rushes through our senses at 5G; a track so quintessentially Four Tet yet unfathomably beautiful you'll curse the producer for not gifting it to us sooner. "Teenage Birdsong", a previously released single relishes in its languid, BOC-esque downbeat electronica while "Romantics" closes off the opening side with a warped but elegant moment of transcendence.

"Love Salad" smothers us delicate rhythmic glitches and morphed pianos, "Insect Near Piha Beach" deploys the mangled electro-acoustic palettes that garnered much of Hebden's early works while "ISTM"'s gentile flurries and ASDR-enveloped stimulation propels us off into dreamlike fantasy worlds unknown to our consciousness.

Side C is a somewhat nocturnal and tranquil affair, with obvious stargazing references contrasted with the whispering fairylike lullabies beamed down from the heavens.

After treating us to such a glorious three sides, Four Tet then leaves jaws floor bound by gifting to us an entire side of locked grooves straight from the stems of the album!!! - Honestly, this is some real treasure folks, ready to mined by Ableton heads, mixed and juggled by 3-deck wizards and used as DJ tools across other tracks; it's an unfathomably classy and fortunate touch that closes off one of the producer's most essential albums to date. 10 / fu**ing 10. Essential.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: All of the whimsy and unmistakable glee that comes from Four Tet's music is here on ‘Sixteen Oceans’. We get the blipping off-kilter synth stabs and dusty nu-rave percussion of ‘Rounds’ or ‘Ringer’, brought together with a smattering of vocal samples (Ellie Goulding on “Baby” is a particular highlight) and the organic, swung congas of the more recent output. “Teenage Birdsong” was an excellent choice for a single, as not only is it the most Four-Tetty cut on the album, but leaves it as a nice surprise for those fans of 2015's 'Morning / Evening' when “Insect Near Piha Beach” emerges as an unsung pick of the crop. As if that wasn't enough, side D of the vinyl pressing has a number of beautiful locked loops, these vignettes beautiful mini-songs in their own right. Never one short of surprises, Hebden once again blows it out of the water.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklisting:
A1 School
A2 Baby
A3 Harpsichord
A4 Teenage Birdsong
A5 Romantics
B1 Love Salad
B2 Insect Near Piha Beach
B3 Hi Hello
B4 ISTM
B5 Something In The Sadness
C1 1993 Band Practice
C2 Green
C3 Bubbles At Overlook 25th March 2019
C4 4T Recordings,
C5 This Is For You
C6 Mama Teaches Sanskrit

CD Stocklisting:
01 School
02 Baby
03 Harpsichord
04 Teenage Birdsong
05 Romantics
06 Love Salad
07 Insect Near Piha Beach
08 Hi Hello
09 ISTM
10 Something In The Sadness
11 1993 Band Practice
12 Green
13 Bubbles At Overlook 25th March 2019
14 4T Recordings
15 This Is For You
16 Mama Teaches Sanskrit

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Well, that went quick dint it! Another lesson in using our pre-order service (although you had to be quick on the draw this time)... we're all starting to get the feeling here at HQ that old Keiren H could be planning a major project...

TRACK LISTING

A1. Anna Painting
B1. Lahaina Noon
B2. Breath

Finally one of the most requested, eagerly anticipated and generally exciting LPs of the year has finally landed. That's right, ambient maverick, electronic legend, jungle revivalist and abstract jazzer Four Tet is back with his first full length (longer than two conceptual suites) LP of brand new material in four years. Leaving the archival "0181" to one side, Kieran's last two LP outings were the extended and mind expanding ethno-lectronica of "Morning / Evening" and the dislocated, narcotic and blunted jungle of "Beautiful Rewind". Much to the delight of the KH traditionalists out there (cough...Barry) there's nary a spinback in sight on the blissful "New Energy", the producer opting instead to stroll calmly through the ambient pads, twinkling sequences and sublime textures which kept us company from "Everything Ecstatic" through to "There Is Love In You". Float away on the chilled waters of "Alap", nod along to the harp-led downbeat of "Two Thousand And Seventeen" and smile along to the soft focus stylings and pastoral glitch of "LA Trance". The B-side brings the "Ringer" style hypno-rhythm and "Love In You" beauty of "Lush", before darting off into the skitterish BOC beat space of the jazz flecked "Scientists". Boasting subtle breakbeats, cinematic swells and pulsating electronics, not to mention a bewitching kalimba refrain, "You Are Loved" sees out the first disc in sublime fashion.
Onto the second platter and "SW9 9SL" (a nod to Four Tet's Brixton Academy all nighters) is a streamlined club banger decorated by shuffling percussion, rumbling bass and a massive, hands aloft breakdown. "10 Midi" offers a moment of calm after that dancefloor burner and leads nicely into the harpy downbeat of "Memories". Referencing the mantra like vocals of "Morning/ Evening" and "There Is Love...", "Daughter" is a gossamer blend of reversed vocals, cascading melodies and soothing bass - the perfect companion to the astral, ethno-techno of "Planet". Pulsating space sounds, scattered vocals and trilling kora dip in and out of the spectral arps, riding a sturdy 4/4 thump into the furthest reaches of our galaxy. All that remains is to buy yourself a copy, sit comfortably by the speakers and rest easy in the knowledge Four Tet's done it again.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Combing the brilliant off-kilter jazztronic excursions of early years with the more downbeat, dancefloor-orientated kinetic outings of late (not that late) has worked a treat. Properly beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

01 Alap
02 Two Thousand And Seventeen
03 LA Trance
04 Tremper
05 Lush
06 Scientists
07 Falls 2
08 You Are Loved
09 SW9 9SL
10 10 Midi
11 Memories
12 Daughter
13 Gentle Soul
14 Planet

The one and only Kieran Hebden returns under his Four Tet moniker with his first long player proper since 2013's "Beautiful Rewind", and it's predictably brilliant. Abandoning such trivial conventions as track titles and track lengths, KH dives straight into the deep end of the conceptual waters with a pair of 20 minute compositions, known simply as "Morning Side" and "Evening Side". The former continues Kieran's recent flirtation with the dancefloor, although replaces the junglist leanings of "Beautiful Rewind" with a textured, organic house beat. Achingly beautiful synthlines weave around the beat, transporting us back to 2008's "Ringer", before a heartbreaking sample of hindi vocals and strings overcomes our senses and raises our spirits. As the track evolves, Four Tet gently expands our horizons with a building shimmer of synth melodies, drones and fx until we finally collapse into the lush electronics the side finishes with. The "Evening Side" continues where we left off, although the transcendent mood of the A-side is replaced by a low key calm as blinking electronics play us a lullaby in the moonlight. As we drift into dreams, the cascading keys tumble around us like shooting stars, inviting another hindi vocal along for the ride. As a whole, "Morning / Evening" almost works as a retrospective, collating the genius of distinct periods of the Four Tet ouvre into one coherent whole.

TRACK LISTING

1. Morning Side (20:24)
2. Evening Side (19:53)

With the minimum of fuss, one of the UK's (perhaps the World's) foremost electronic musicians releases his tenth LP. No press agency, no media campaign, just a casual tweet and it's here. This immediacy is carried through into the music on offer. The track lengths are shorter than we've become used to, with Hebden getting straight down to the nitty gritty and distilling his complex melodies and rhythms into their most potent form; no ambient preamble or sprawling kosmiche on this one. Instead, Four Tet continues the journey through club music he began on "There Is Love In You" and "Pink", now taking the fire escape out the main room into a strip lit car park. "Beautiful Rewind" acts as part pirate radio jungle assault and part post club come down bliss. Hebden feeds the jungle chatter, polyrhythms and bass wobble through his own experimental and dense production to create an immersive yet raw experience like listening to Rooms 1 and 2 at the same time from the depths of a K-Hole. Album opener "Gong" and recent single "Kool FM" and the murderous "Aerial" and "Buchla" are bold and aggresive, while "Unicorn", "Your Body Feels" and "Ba Teaches Yoga" could sit comfortably with the fragility and beauty found on "There Is Love In You". Always wishing to push forward, Hebden has delivered some of the old, alongside a generous helping of new, casting his net wider and pulling varied influences together to form a complete and unique LP.

TRACK LISTING

01. Gong
02. Parallel Jalebi
03. Our Navigation
04. Ba Teaches Yoga
05. Kool FM
06. Crush
07. Buchla
08. Aerial
09. Ever Never
10. Unicorn
11. Your Body Feels

Kathryn Bint follows her perfectly formed debut 'Until' (2008) with an album that reveals her remarkable range as a musician and songwriter. Her tender vocals still send husky shivers down the spine, but 'Into The Trees' is so much more than beautiful folk songs.

Produced by Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), 'Into The Trees' weaves a fabric of different sounds, united by Bint’s elegiac voice and strong storytelling. Radiohead's Colin Greenwood lends the album his bass powers, and tracks like ‘Paper Planes’ and ‘I Know’ rock with a swagger that surprises and yet fits perfectly with the whole. The musicianship of Scowcroft and Jamieson is on full display as the record moves deftly from the acoustic warmth of ‘Hold You Down’ to the sunshine pop of ‘Simmer Down Simmer’ to the dreamy synth of final track ‘Synthesizer’. Hebden’s touch is a delicate one; there is a modesty and clarity to these songs that speaks to the confidence and judgment of those involved. ‘If You Ask’ is so simple and clean that no extra seasoning is required.

This is an optimistic record in which “hope stretches out like a leaf”. Recorded in 2010 at Bryn Derwen studios in North Wales, while Bint was pregnant with her first child, these songs are imbued with a tangible determination and hope. As she sings on ‘Simmer Down Simmer’: “We’ll ride until we fall and then get back up”.

Bint was born in Australia, grew up in Chicago, and moved to London nine years ago, where she began writing songs in earnest. After the release of Until, she got together with Henry Scowcroft and Lucy Jamieson, with whom she toured Europe and played festival dates.

Hebden’s influence is most apparent on ‘Bloom’—a spare, electronic piece with the precision of his Four Tet work—and yet this track is the heart of the album, encapsulating its central themes of people among nature. Lovers intertwine like vines, asleep beneath a canopy of trees, holding hands in leaves of grass. These songs are Whitman-esque odes to man’s place in the natural world; they remind us to stop and listen, to live in the moment. As we hear on the album opener ‘She Was Out In The Water’: “Honey, I don’t believe in majesty or things that you compare, I just want to be here now tasting the salty sea air.”

And yet, there is majesty in these songs. In ‘It’s Alright’, One Little Plane suggests “we reach for something like stars”. This is pure modesty; Into The Trees most definitely reaches for stars, and it touches them too.