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]
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 36minute, 25second 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.[13]
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.
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 drummerSteve 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]
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.[15] 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[16] and entitled There Is Love in You, it was released on 25 January 2010.[17] 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.[18] He was chosen by Caribou to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England.[19]
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 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.[22] 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".[23]
On 1 March 2019, Hebden released Only Human, his first new track since his last album, New Energy,[24] 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".[25]
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.[26] A live recording of the two shows was released on 29 July 2019 under his "4TLR" moniker.[27]
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.[28]
Starting in September 2020, Hebden began a string of concurrent live streams.[29][30] The livestreams included songs from other artists as well as his own remixes.[30] The music was accompanied by various animations from artists, including Anna Liber Lewis.[31][32][33] 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.[34] 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.[35] Hebden collaborated with Madlib for the album Sound Ancestors, which was released on 29 January 2021.[36]
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.[37] 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.[38] 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.[39][40]
In a series of tweets on 12 April 2023, Hebden announced that he was working on a new album[42] with music planned to be released "before the shows start",[43] in reference to his May 2023 tour with Squidsoup. He also announced that he was working on music with William Tyler.[44] 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,[45] "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.[46] On 14 February 2024, to coincide with Valentine's Day, Hebden released the track "Daydream Repeat."[47] On 9 September 2024, Hebden released the single "In My Dreams", in collaboration with singer Ellie Goulding.[48]
In November 2024, Hebden received two Grammy nominations for his album "Three", for "Best Dance/Electronic Recording" with "Loved," and for "Best Dance/Electronic Album." He also received a nomination for "Best Dance/Electronic Recording" for his production on "leavemealone", a collaboration between Fred Again and Baby Keem.
Musical style
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."[49] 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]
Com Lag (2plus2isfive), stylized as COM LAG (2plus2isfive), is an EP by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 24 March 2004. It compiles B-sides from Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), along with remixes by Cristian Vogel and Four Tet and two live performances.
Pause is the second album by Four Tet. It was released on 28 May 2001 in the United Kingdom and on 9 October 2001 in the United States. Pause was Four Tet's first release on Domino Recording Company; his debut album, Dialogue, had been distributed by Output Recordings.
Rounds is the third solo album by British electronic musician Kieran Hebden, released under his alias Four Tet on 5 May 2003 by Domino Recording Company. Wanting to make a more personal record, Hebden recorded and produced the album in his North London flat over ten months using a desktop computer and a home hi-fi system. Its ten tracks feature elements of hip hop, jazz and folk; apart from a guitar part recorded for "Slow Jam", the music is composed from between 200 and 300 samples, many processed beyond recognition.
Fridge was an English instrumental post-rock band formed in 1995 by school friends Kieran Hebden, Adem Ilhan (bass) and Sam Jeffers (drums). Their rhythm heavy sound was influenced by Krautrock bands such as Can and Neu!, while critics view their early works as following similar paths as the contemporary post-rock groups Tortoise and Do Make Say Think. Over time Hebden's interest in Techno and Drum and bass became predominant, supported by Jeffers' complex drum patterns.
Jonathan Julian Hopkins is an English musician and producer who writes and performs electronic music. He began his career playing keyboards for Imogen Heap, and has produced but also contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes and others.
Remixes is a two-disc compilation of Four Tet remixes. It was released on 25 September 2006. The first disc contains twelve Four Tet remixes selected by Hebden, while the second disc comprises every official remix to date of Four Tet tracks. Many of the tracks included in this compilation had previously been available on vinyl only.
William Emmanuel Bevan, known by his recording alias Burial, is a British electronic musician from South London. Initially remaining anonymous, Burial became the first artist signed to Kode9's electronic label Hyperdub in 2005. He won acclaim the following year for his self-titled debut album, an influential release in the UK's dubstep scene which showcased a dark, emotive take on UK rave music styles such as UK garage and 2-step; it was named the album of the year by The Wire. Burial's second album, Untrue, was released to further critical acclaim in 2007.
This is a comprehensive listing of releases, collaborations, remixes and productions documenting the solo work of the British electronic musician Kieran Hebden. Alongside his role as a member of Fridge, Hebden performs as a solo artist under the moniker Four Tet, and has performed as part of the duo Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid.
There Is Love in You is the fifth studio album by English electronic musician Four Tet, released on 25 January 2010 by Domino Recording Company. The lead single from the album, "Love Cry", was released as a limited edition 12" on 2 November 2009.
James Thomas Smith, known professionally as Jamie xx, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, and remixer. He is known for both his solo work and as a member of the indie pop band the xx.
TKOL RMX 1234567 is a remix album of songs from the album The King of Limbs (2011) by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released on 16 September 2011 in Japan and on 10 October 2011 internationally by XL Recordings.
Beautiful Rewind is the seventh studio album by electronic musician Four Tet. It was released on 14 October 2013, by his own record label, Text Records. The song "Kool FM" appears in Grand Theft Auto V on the radio station Worldwide FM.
Morning/Evening is the eighth album by British electronic musician Kieran Hebden, released under his alias Four Tet in 2015 by Hebden's own Text Records and via the online music store Bandcamp. As a child, Hebden had inherited a collection of Hindu devotional music from his late grandfather but did not listen to it until his maternal grandmother died during the making of his 2013 album, Beautiful Rewind. After sampling the voice of Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, Hebden was inspired to make a record with a similar structure to Indian music, particularly the raga mode and decided to break the album into a "Morning Side" and an "Evening Side". Alongside the sampled vocals, Morning/Evening contains complex drum programming, electronic sounds and manipulated found sounds.
Alexander George Edward Crossan, better known by his stage name Mura Masa, is a Guernsey-born electronic record producer and songwriter. Crossan is best known for his 2016 song "Lovesick", which peaked at number 59 on the UK singles chart. He produced English singer PinkPantheress' 2022 single "Boy's a Liar", which peaked at number two on the chart, while its remix with American rapper Ice Spice peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.
New Energy is the ninth studio album by British electronic musician Kieran Hebden, released under his alias Four Tet on 29 September 2017 by Text Records. The album follows a more uptempo, listener-friendly style than previous Four Tet records while containing elements of those albums and a variety of musical styles as well as virtual instrument replications of culturally-tinged instruments. The album garnered critical acclaim, landing on several year-end lists by publications such as PopMatters, Q, Uncut, The Guardian, and Pitchfork, and reached number 48 on the UK Albums Chart.
Sixteen Oceans is the tenth studio album by British electronic musician Kieran Hebden, released under his alias Four Tet on 13 March 2020. The album contains the previously released single "Teenage Birdsong". To support the album, another single named "Baby", featuring vocals by British singer Ellie Goulding, was released on 23 January 2020. A third single titled "4T Recordings" was released on 3 March 2020.
Sound Ancestors is a studio album by American musician Madlib. It was released on January 29, 2021, via Madlib Invazion. Produced by Madlib, it was arranged, edited and mastered by Four Tet. The album debuted at number 153 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.
871 is an album by British electronic musician Four Tet, under his alias 00110100 01010100, released on Christmas Day 2020 on his own label Text Records.
Three is the twelfth studio album by British electronic musician Four Tet. It was released on 15 March 2024 through Text Records.
"In My Dreams" is a song by British electronic musician and DJ Four Tet and English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding.
↑ 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.
↑ Paz, Eilon, ed. (2015). Dust & grooves: adventures in record collecting; includes interviews with Questlove, Gilles Peterson, Four Tet, The Gaslamp Killer, Egon, and more. New York: Ten Speed Press. Chapter Shared Stereo: Kieran Hebden (Four Tet). ISBN978-1-60774-869-4.
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