Although ecstatic jazz, folk musics and hip-hop have been concerns of Kieran Hebden’s since his debut Four Tet sides in 1998, with his critically lauded third album, ‘Rounds’, the man has made his mark anew. Creating a palette where an ethnic-electronic sound meets with hip-hop production techniques, and lush samples are arranged with neo-classical beauty, Four Tet has made a major breakthrough record. Without a doubt, his third album, the highly-acclaimed ‘Rounds’, has been the best-received electronic album of 2003, with an astonishing set of album reviews and press features around its release, Album of the Year nominations already chalked up in publications such as NME, Uncut, The Times, Jockey Slut, Q, X-Ray, FHM and Sleaze Nation, and a (criminal) near-miss for a Mercury Music Prize nomination despite being tipped by the media to actually win the Prize.
Never one to dwell on near-misses, Kieran got on with the job in hand, touring the UK in a Renault Clio (with his two trusty laptops in the boot and his sister on both merchandise and map-duties); playing dates as special-guest of Radiohead (the band referred to ‘Rounds’ as one of their favourite albums of 2003 on a radio show earlier this year); and acting as bandleader for 60s folk legend Vashti Bunyan’s comeback gig. Kieran Hebden also performed in over 40 degrees of heat to startled culture-vultures at Europe’s biggest arts festival, the Venice Biennale; and his fine year culminated in a sweaty headline show at ‘Worlds Of Possibility’, our 10th anniversary party at The End in London, with a near riot situation brewing outside when over 300 eager fans were locked out by over-zealous health and safety officers through fears of overcrowding…
After the privilege of receiving the remix treatment from hero hip hop producer Jay Dee, Hebden finished his year by recording his first John Peel Session for Radio One, which was broadcast in November and has compiled the next in the series of Another Late Night compilation albums (for 2004 release).
