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Four Tet Face

Four Tet

Signed to label: Domino Records
From: London, South East England

Kieran Hebden has been making music since his mid-teens. He formed the band Fridge with Adem Ilhan and Sam Jeffers while they were attending the same school in Putney, South West London. A chance meeting in a record shop with Luke Hannam (now of JBO signings Gramme) in 1996 led to a tape of Fridge's music being passed to Trevor Jackson (aka The Underdog, and now Playgroup on Source Records), who signed them to his Output Recordings label.

In a frenetic burst of recording and release activity between 1997-1999, Fridge put out three albums (Ceefax and Semaphore on Output, then Eph on Go!Beat) as well as several singles and EPs (compiled on the Sevens & Twelves double CD). They toured with Godspeed You Black Emperor! and To Rococo Rot, confounding audiences with their remarkably diverse musical reach. Rock? Jazz? Ambient? Electronica? Fridge say there are no boundaries - only the limitations of your imagination. Props from dudes like Gilles Peterson (including a DJ session for Radio 1 Worldwide), Ross Allen and John Kennedy and press hubbub helped build up a remarkable following for the band.

In 1997, Kieran began releasing solo material under the name Four Tet. His first two Four Tet singles, 'Thirtysixtwentyfive' and 'Misnomer', were both awarded NME Single of the Week, while Dialogue (on Output in 1999) - released when he was just 21 - confirmed Hebden's emergence as a significant new talent, managing to both baffle and beguile the most cynical of music fans: the album is Output's best selling release to date.

Fridge spent summer 2000 incognito, touring the UK, Europe and Japan as Badly Drawn Boy's live band, while Fridge's sole live appearance under their own steam was at Arthur Baker's Elbow Room in November. A long time fan of the band, Arthur Baker requested Fridge to play sessions on Johnny Marr & Bernard Sumner's last Electronic album, and have also worked on Baker's forthcoming all-star collaboration album featuring jazz legend Pharoah Sanders amongst many others. They have also provided music for photographer Nick Knight and graphic designer Peter Saville's new visual arts website, showstudio.com.

While Kieran's name regularly appeared on tasty DJ bills, where anything from UK garage, US bling-hop to dirty guitar punk was blasted out of venues as diverse as Fabric to East End dives, the only Four Tet release of 2000 was the acclaimed Pole v Four Tet split EP on The Leaf Label. Following previous commissions to remix tracks by Aphex Twin, David Holmes and The Cinematic Orchestra, Kieran's production work has continued with some startling mixes surfacing, including 2 Banks of Four's 'Street Lullaby' (Sirkus), a forthcoming track for the Slag Boom Van Loon compilation (a collaboration between Speedy J and µ-zik on Planet Mu) and His Name Is Alive (4AD), while Fridge quietly completed work on their fourth album in December.

Kieran spent the twilight of summer 2000, post-festival touring mayhem, deliberating over Four Tet ideas and tunes. A trip to Toronto, where he spent time with fellow producer Dan 'Manitoba' Snaith. It gave him the all-consuming rush to complete the Four Tet album on his return home. Ain't nuthin' like a bit of creative rivalry to get the best out of yourself.

In 2001, Kieran will launch his own label, Text Records. The first release will be a 7" in the spring by Toronto-based producer, Koushik, called 'Battle Rhymes For Battle Times'. The label's second release in the autumn will be the fourth Fridge album, Happiness.

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