* En anglais uniquement
He usually uses the name
Four Tet for his work apart from his post-rock band
Fridge, but
Kieran Hebden has used his proper name on occasion, mostly when working with jazz drummer
Steve Reid.
Hebden formed
Fridge with
Sam Jeffers and Adam Ilhan while still in high school. When
Fridge went on temporary hiatus for
Jeffers and Ilhan to attend college,
Hebden spent time playing with ideas gained from hip-hop and electronica that he hadn't had time for while concentrating on the band. Eager to experiment,
Hebden bought a computer and began collecting drum and sound samples. Though his tracks sounded contrary,
Hebden produced them all in his flat using only his computer to loop, slice, and paste downloaded samples and rhythms. His first full-length was 1999's Dialogue, which was noticed by experimental dub pioneer
Pole (
Stefan Betke). The two eventually collaborated for a 12", Four Tet vs. Pole, which included an original song by each and a remix of the track done by the other artist. Around the same time,
Fridge was signed to the label Go! Beat, owned by Polydor.
Hebden retained
Four Tet as a side project, however, and released subsequent records
Pause (2001) and
Rounds (2003) through Domino. The No More Mosquitoes EP and the My Angel Rocks Back and Forth single preceded the 2005 release of
Everything Ecstatic. In 2006,
Hebden put together two compilations of some of his favorite tracks,
LateNightTales and DJ-Kicks, as well as Everything Ecstatic Films & Part 2. The two-disc Remixes was also compiled and released that year, as were two volumes of his Exchange Session project with
Steve Reid. Their third and fourth collaboration, Tongues and
NYC, were released in 2007 and 2008, respectively. ~ Diana Potts