It was 9 pm last night when Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, sitting on an old sofa outside the discotheque. Without his afro, you would just recognize him as another pale sorry "literary youth" among others lazily sitting on the couch and playing with their NB. I bought his new CD, then asked for the autograph. Kieran is still very much like the guy I saw him 2 years ago, with big smile, big hands, and weird but dedicated bow, which was probably learned from asians. 2 years ago, this Kieran guy came with a storm. He had an autograph party in FNAC, a DJ show in THE WALL with almost all of the famous electronic bands/DJs warming up for him. It was a BIG party for Taiwanese altenative/electronic music scene with lots of sparkles (of course, this meant both positive and negative). Finally, he had a chill-out party in another lounge club, playing and mixing all kinds of funky wacky records for about 2 hours. Gladly, I didn't miss any of the 3 events. This time? I walked down to the basement in about 9 and it's half empty. Eventually, guys gradually filled up the booth, although I see more than half of them are there to show off, chat with friends, or to get drunk and make themselves looked bad. The warm up band (VARO?) did not have the imagination nor the virtuosity to manipulate between guitars and electronic music, and Four Tet did not off to a promising start like he did 2 years either. The mixing of "A Joy", 1st track in his latest full album "Everything Ecstatic", is sold but somewhat predictable. This could one of the biggest dilemmas (if there is ever one to him!) I thought Four Tet is having is his music-making process right now: how to achieve the balance between his "bedroom IDM" works (clean, crisp, cool, highly controlled), and "improvised beats" (white-hot, free-flow, danceable, high energy). "Everything Ecstatic", in my perspective, is a work in the half-between. The oldies who have followed his path and listened to both his albums and gigs will be delighted for his new ideas and ongoing turnaround to improvise Jazz/breakbeats/dance beat/underground hip hop/noise side; however, for some critics and newbies, the change of Four Tet has made him lost some of the previous cute, quiet, poetic, selfloving "folktronica" style in him. Even I can tell some of the struggles Kieran was having during the making of "Everything Ecstatic", as most works were made under implusiveness during his world tour, and lacked the exquisite status he had in "Dialogue", "Pause" and especially, "Rounds". However, it seems like for Kieran, the ongoing change is inevitable, even after he kind of acclaimed "the leader of folktronica" status after the publication of "Rounds" in 2003. I think, after the initial success he is having, now Kieran is really tracing back to his music roots (Jazz & Hip Hop)and expressing his true personality - wit, simple, creative and fun-loving - through his somewhat wacky music, manufactured by so-called high tech laptops(*) now. Kieran's latest work, a project cooperated with drummer Steve Reid, is an interesting (but sometimes messy, since it is recorded during live and had no edits or overdubs) music journey with 2 guys taking/giving with each other. As the gig went on, the music gets much more interesting, and the crowd were more involved. The basic intention for Four Tet this time is about the same: Mixing and editing different noises, beats and twists to existing tracks, and make it sounds like a new one while make your feet move automatically. But this time, Kieran is back with more new ideas and quirky samples (like clock beats, cars squeezing, etc.), utilized them both as background noise effects or base beats to fulfiil the inner structure. This time, there actually were less crazy "blow your TB-303 out!", top to the sky foghorn than last time, rather, a more experienced and confident Kieran played the beats impressively, transforming the music and atmosphere more smoothly than last time, and there even had sections when he was going at Jungle, Pop dance (robotic dance), or disco beats. Not surprisingly, everytime when Kieran went to the old tracks in "Pause" and "Rounds", the crowd responded ardently. The encore tune is in quality also but not that surprising. Overall, Kieran gave me a more satisfied music journey under about the same concepts. I think he is one of few in the electronic music scene right now that has "it": Able to catch the inner vibe, express with poetic, beautiful melody, and combine with numerous different beats and tones, to form a organic and vigorous entity. The future is limitless for him. After the show is over, once again, he stayed on the couch outside the discotheque for autograph and pictures. I gave my compliments to him again, but also said that I was hoping to hear the "Sleep Eat Food Have Vision" track in "Everything Ecstatic". Kieran was still with his warm, polite demeanor, gave me the weird but dedicated bow, and said: "Sorry." Fantastic experience. (*) "A nerdy technology magazine came to interview me and they said, 'OK, let's photograph the studio now,'" says Hebden as he sits down by his computer. "They were a bit disappointed when I told them that this was it. I'm not interested in technology itself - everything I use is completely out of date, as that way, I feel completely in control of it - but I am interested in making music that could not have been made at any time but now." - Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, spoke in an interview given to the Guardian, published on December 12, 2003. --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 61.230.28.38 ※ 编辑: Petrie 来自: 61.230.28.38 (06/09 14:13)