Trying to predict a future direction for
Four Tet after
Kieran Hebden's time recording with everyone from
Steve Reid to his old trio
Fridge shouldn't even have been attempted, but the
Ringer EP is still a big surprise. Sounding like it was recorded ten or sometimes 20 years earlier than it actually was, the four-tracker reconciles
Hebden's mesmerizing early
Four Tet material with the sound of IDM circa the early '90s and, also, the movie soundtrack style of the '80s popularized by
Tangerine Dream for Risky Business and
John Carpenter for Halloween and Escape from New York. The title track is the best, where
Hebden spends ten minutes interweaving a dizzying array of changing parts over a plodding four-four beat. ~ John Bush