Four Tet - There Is Love in You

Four Tet
There Is Love in You
(2010, Domino)
RIYL = Burial, Pole, Pantha du Prince

It doesn’t take long when listening to There Is Love in You, Kieren Hebden’s fifth Four Tet album and first in half a decade, to recognize that things have changed. Of course, how couldn’t things have changed? The past five years have seen his Four Tet moniker remixing everyone from Radiohead to Bloc Party to Madvillain, Hebden performing live and recording with legendary jazz drummer Steve Reid, and the completion of a stint as resident DJ for London club Plastic People. And that’s the short list. Still, after only two tracks and fifteen minutes have passed on his latest LP, the changes seem almost shocking in their distance from the Four Tet of old. Gone are the ‘organic’ sounds of the past, the folktronica (which, admittedly, have been on their way out for some time), gone are the hip-hop informed break beats, and what we have left is a classic minimalist house/techno rhythm with splices of female vocals whose quality and timbre feel as though they’ve been jacked from an electronic album released in the early to mid nineties. An evolution has been had. But, again, this is only the first two tracks, the first fifteen minutes. As the changes start to settle, Hebden proceeds to exhibit a world of influences he has consumed and regurgitated in purely Four Tet fashion. The depth and variety of sounds and moods that Hebden achieves on the album is nothing short of astounding, and his consistency in terms of quality is the evidence of a master at work. Hebden’s latest Four Tet album is also his best, and is easily one of this writer’s favourite pure electronic albums, period. Listening to this album, it is much easier to understand of the influence and contributions of Hebden in his collaboration with Burial from last years 12”. And, for those who were as keen on that majestic slab of wax as I was, There Is Love in You will not disappoint. With the new Pantha du Prince just around the corner, minimalist electronic music is driving an early trend setting stake in the music world for 2010.

-Thistle

Burial + Four Tet - Moth / Wolf Cub 12"

Burial + Four Tet
Moth/Wolf Cub 12”
(05.2009, Text Records)
RIYL = Burial and Four Tet, Pantha du Prince

Wow. I don’t know how this was organized, but it is quite obvious already that the teaming of Burial and Four Tet was the dream split that every fan of electronic music subconsciously felt would be awarded them after being successfully admitted through the pearly gates of heaven. In terms of electronic music it doesn’t get much better than either Four Tet or Burial and in terms of 2009 it isn’t going to get much better than this split 12”. And I make that statement fully aware of the Pantha du Prince 12” and full length from The Field that is looming on the horizon. I’ve listened to them all and this, this record I am gushing over recklessly is the emergent winner of the trio (The Field and Pantha du Prince are still swell). The LP is just two tracks, “Moth” and “Wolf Cub,” and the glorious mystery behind this wax is that no one knows who contributed what track or if both are the result of a collaboration or what. Initially, I totally thought that “Moth” was Burial’s (with its submerged vocals and muted rhythms) and “Wolf Cub” was Four Tet’s (with it’s watery electronic trickle-loop and its layer percussion), but the more I listen the more I am lost as to who has done what where. As far as I am concerned, the “+” in the artist signification means that each of these tracks were molded with both minds and that the 12” is the work of the two as a single entity. Hopefully, this is just the appetizer, because I cannot get enough of this stuff. The real beauty of it is the simplicity. The effortlessness in which two perfect slabs of micro electronics were crafted as if they were the blue print for everything that proceeded them and just needed time to be thawed out. Intensely perfect and a top contender for the year. I’m not some electro-head, but there is no doubt that if this were expanded into a full length that it would be the strongest contender thus for album of the year in 2009.

- Thistle

Burial on MySpace
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