STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of my favourite recording artists and producers, is yer man Four Tet. I've only seen him play once, but it was SUPERB and i've kept a good eye on his live shows since then, so am obviously incredibly excited that this one from last year is getting the full LP treatment. Glitchy, downbeat beauty mixed with KH's classic propulsive momentum.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side 1: School Green Romantics (24:43)
Side 2: 4T Two Thousand (11:15)
Side 3: Baby Plastic Salad (24:53)
Side 4: Angel Feedback Mango (18:59)
Side 5: Lush FM Trance Fingers (22:21)
Side 6: Three Birdsong (15:16)

CD Tracklisting:
CD1:
1. School Green Romantics 24:43
2. 4T Two Thousand 11:15
3. Baby Plastic Salad Angel 31:22
CD2:
1. Feedback Mango 12:01
2. Lush FM Trance Fingers 22:21
3. Three Birdsong 15:16

Brand new album from electronic titan Kieran Hebden who continues his futuristic creation of sound across eight elegant and fantastic tracks. Utilizing a now well versed palette which seems to effortlessly merge organic instrumentation and hybridized vocals into digitally processed pastoral soundscapes. All the usual Hebdenian traits are audible on album opener "Loved" - from his well loved live drum breaks to the slightly melancholic piano lines. Quickly ushering in a more liminal experience, "Gliding Through Everything" is a crystalline waterfall that reimagines H2O as a 4D particle cascading through your fingertips. "Storm Crystals" quickly soothes with twangy mallets, downbeat groove and healing tones; the moment you quietly settle into your seat, expectations met and suitably zoned in for the rest of the LP. Hebden concludes side A with the accelerated pace of "Daydream Repeat"; which doesn't drift too far from themes explored throughout the side but ups the bpm and buoyancy.

Side B slows us back down, ready for the second half of the trip; emotive guitar lines picked from the ether as angelic vox are gently smudged and diced before our ears - a sonic trademark the producer has previously used on tracks such as "Love Cry" and "Baby". "31 Bloom" bounces out of the mainframe at another slightly increased tempo, glitched arpeggios and highly sequenced piano fragments beautifully coalesced into a moment of transcendental ascension. Penultimate track, "So Blue" allows us a moment of reflection, stark elements imparting such strong emotions - there's few producers who can squeeze so much human feeling out of their machines. Finally, "Three Drums" concludes in suitable form - a slowly spiraling semi-orchestral fury into a white hot, retina-scorching sun'; almost hallucinatory in its saturation yet carried along at a languid pace; allowing the listener to unwind into a paradisical dream state of Hebden's own creation.

Have to say he's done it again. It's nicely succinct and sequenced to perfection, with the four tracks on each side perfectly 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's almost a direct correlation between the opening bars of “Loved” on the new Four Tet album, 'Three' and the start of one of my favourite albums of all time, his mindblowing 2001 outing, 'Pause'. It's this sort of self-referential treatment that makes all of Kieran Hebden's albums a treat to behold, the more you listen the more you get out of the experience, and that's never been more true than with 'Three'. There are wisps of melody in “Gliding Through Everything” that bring me right back to “My Angel Rocks Back And Forth” just like “31 Bloom” harks back to his more beat-driven dancefloor work and the wandering crepuscular wooze of “Storm Crystals” brings me right back to the lysergic drift of 'Morning / Evening'. There is a lot to be gained from hearing Four Tet in full bloom, and I don't think that's ever been more true than here.

TRACK LISTING

01 Loved 4:03
02 Gliding Through Everything 4:08
03 Storm Crystals 6:40
04 Daydream Repeat 6:09
05 Skater 4:16
06 31 Bloom 5:52
07 So Blue 5:30
08 Three Drums 8:16

Ambient demigod Brian Eno and modern bass & Boiler Room poster boy Fred Again team up for a rather unexpected curve ball. It seems that Brian has taken the lead on "Secret Life", forcing the young upstart to ditch his rampant, ADHD-fueled finger drumming and inferno-causing bass-garage-house hybrids for an exercise in what his next door neighbour (true story), and mentor, specializes at - the most serene ambient music around.

It's a delicate, spacious listen; with Eno's famous use of reductive techniques allowing the most precious of elements all the room they need to sparkle - like a tiny Faberge Egg presented in a vast, grandiose, but pin-drop silent gallery. The use of silence given plenty of reverence. There's smeared vocal and string manipulations that reverberate from almost heavenly realms, and in parts, it's like the antithesis to Burials recent dystopian ambient project "Antidawn" - exploring the more optimistic territories of the Skyrim metaverse in a non-linear structure which suspends time and allows you to drift in and out of its liminal reality.

It'll sit comfortably by your side on a rain soaked day languidly pottering around the home, or set the perfect atmosphere for your next art show installation; or even serenade your new born into a dreamlike slumber. I can't help feeling its one of those albums that'll be really affected by the environment in which it is aired. Like much of Eno's work, it's a subtle listen that I'm convinced will reward the deeper and more attentive listeners.

Produced by Brian Eno and Fred Gibson (aka Fred Again) 4th April 2020 - 23rd December 2022

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Everyone loves a bit of Eno, right? This collaboration sees Fred Again's chopped-up synthpop / alt r&b hybrid given the Eno treatment and sloooowed into a beautiful, restorative slice of stargazing ambient. A great collaborative endeavour, with more than a little classic Eno.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
01 I Saw You
02 Secret
03 Radio
04 Follow
05 Enough
06 Pause
Side 2
01 Safety
02 Cmon
03 Trying
04 Chest
05 Come On Home

Fridge features Kieran Hebden who has had great success with his solo project Four Tet, releasing the albums "Pause", "Rounds" and "Everything Ecstatic" on Domino Records. Fridge also features Adem who has released the albums "Homesongs" and "Love and Other Planets" on Domino Records to much critical acclaim and success. This is the first Fridge album since their groundbreaking masterpiece "Happiness" in 2001. It will be the fifth Fridge album. Fridge were part of the influential post rock movement of the 90s alongside bands like Mogwai and Tortoise. Mojo magazine recently said they were 'one of the great British bands of the 90s'. This new album sees them continue to make boundary pushing music that brings together elements of rock, electronic music and jazz.