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Album Review: Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind

by Rio Toro

untitled

Four Tet: Beautiful Rewind

Similar Artists: Caribou, Mount Kimbie, Burial

Genre: Electronica, IDM, Jungle

Label: Temporary Residence

 

It’s hard to remember that there was a time (not too long ago in fact) where Kieran Hebden didn’t make dance music. True, his music has always had a certain bounciness to it, and his playful melodies have always been inspired by EDM, but it wasn’t until recently that he embraced the circling repetition of techno and house to go along with his unique mix of psychedelic sampling. While all of his full length releases have boldly showcased a sense of stylistic progression, 2011’s beautiful, minimalist There Is Love In You felt like a real game changer for the artist, and one that would surely garner him much attention in the club circuit. There’s been no shortage of Four Tet since then — many of his singles were compiled on last year’s excellent Pink — and his collaborations with friends such as Thom Yorke and Burial have also been in near constant supply, so this release stands as yet another mark of his prolific nature.

Beautiful Rewind — which was released by surprise with little commercial support — is a more inward looking Four Tet record than we have become accustomed to. It’s also one less likely to incite dance floor intensity. The record aims to revitalize the sounds that have affected Kieran himself, and inspired him to be an artist, which makes this a personal record of sorts. Don’t worry too much though, as the album is still prone to make you move — just in quick, 3 minute bursts rather than 10 minute stretches. While it is a bit disappointing that the tracks are never lengthy enough for the listener to become fully indulged in a solid groove, the shift lets Four Tet show off his versatility. Additionally, the several short interludes spead through the album give it a distinct, home listening feel relatable to his earliest solo LP’s such as Dialogue and Pause. Still, after the forward thinkingness exemplified through the whole of his career, Beautiful Rewind is the first record in Four Tet’s discography to look to the past for its inspiration. Consequently, it feels like a less essential — albeit still thoroughly enjoyable — inclusion to his work.

It isn’t merely a rehash though, as Four Tet’s sound has advanced in some noticeable ways. One of the defining traits of the album is the influence of UK pirate radio stations from the 80’s and 90’s. Tracks like early single “Kool FM” and “Buchla” see Kieran working with grimier vocal samples and rougher underlying beats than we have heard from him before. Possibly the best track on the album, “Aerial”, sees a lo-fi sample of an MC shouting slurs beneath a wonky synth rhythm. There’s actually some real ugliness to the sounds on this record — which is an adjective I would have never previously thought to have used in accordance with Four Tet. Kieran shows off his genius by making these sounds work with his old ones, once again proving that he can excellently meld disparate genres into one.

The other half of the album, however, is a return to the beautiful synthetic rhythms and female vocal samples that were perfected on There Is Love In You. The back and forth design of the 11 tracks gives the album a bit of a disjointed feel — even when each individual track is tightly knit. While the botched together presentation was likely intentional (to make it feel like we were listening to a radio station), it doesn’t make for a very focused listening experience, as the tracks fall into two categories: the ones that stand out, and the ones that don’t. While there are certainly tracks on Beautiful Rewind that manage to recall the best of Four Tet, there is so clearly nothing that transcends it.

 

Track Listing:

1.) Gong

2.) Parallel Jalebi*

3.) Our Navigation

4.) Ba Teaches Yoga*

5.) Kool FM*

6.) Crush

7.) Buchla

8.) Aerial*

9.) Ever Never

10.) Unicorn*

11.) Your Body Feels

 

Album Highlight – *

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, OPINION, REVIEWS Tagged With: Album Review, beautiful rewind, electronica, Four Tet, kieran Hebden, temporary residence

Album Review: Eluvium – Nightmare Ending

by Rio Toro

Eluvium-Nightmare-Ending

Eluvium: Nightmare Ending

Similar Artists: Tim Hecker, Max Richter, Brian Eno

Genre: Ambient, Experimental, Modern-Classical

Label: Temporary Residence

 

For me, ambient music goes along with food and shelter as one of the true necessities of life. It’s the way I fall asleep at night, it’s how I dream, and it has also taught me how to focus on life’s subtleties. While it is a genre that will possibly always be mocked (wrongly I might add) for being unobtrusive, or worse, easy to make, it is also a genre that has its horde of devoted followers, and because of that it will likely never die. The way I see it, ambient music is the music that most closely resembles life — you must know where to look in order to find it interesting and surprising, yet you must also let it sweep you off your feet until you are immersed in its beauty.

Portland’s Matthew Cooper, who has recorded as Eluvium for a decade now, might be the closest thing our generation has to a Brian Eno. I say that with the most positive of connotations, as his six previous full lengths under the moniker have seen him jumping from shoegaze atmospherics (Lambent Material), impressionistic piano (An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death), emotionally charged post rock (Talk Amongst The Trees), to grand orchestral arrangements (Copia). Nightmare Ending, the artist’s seventh full length, is a double album that acts as a summing up of all the ground he has previously covered — while still throwing in a few necessary surprises as well.

The album starts off with “Don’t Get Any Closer” and “Warm”, which are the only two gapless tracks on the album. Together they form a 15 minute spectacle of harpsichord, dense piano chords and keyboards that are both majestic and airy. Seven minutes in, right when we begin to feel we’ve gotten the gist of where the song is going, an ethereal Himalayan vocal comes into play, shaking our expectations. It’s something you’d be more likely to hear on a dub techno track along the lines of BvDub, and it casts away any fears of this artist having run out of ideas.

The tracks all evolve in interesting and appropriate ways such as the first. While there are certainly moments of traditional ambient fare — where we feel as though we are floating through the clouds (“Covered in Writing”), the album covers a broad emotional arc throughout its 14 tracks. Tracks range from being unsettlingly dark to being as uplifting as an “Explosions In The Sky” anthem (EITS guitarist Mark T. smith is in fact featured here). It’s music that can work as well in murky, cloud covered days as bright, sun drenched ones.

Some of the most surprising moments come with the tracks that flirt with the idea of noise. While there is nothing too ear shattering here, “By The Rails” and “Envenom Mettle” are two of the rare percussion minded tracks in Eluvium’s discography, and they stand out as angrier and more raw representations of his style. ‘Envenom Mettle’ is one of the most epic tracks he’s ever put out (rivaling Lambent Material’s “Zerthis Was A Shivering Human Image” on Lambent Material), and it’s the album’s moment of full release. Meanwhile, solo piano tracks such as “Caroling”, and “Impromptu” recall Erik Satie, and act as interludes for the lengthier tracks. He also proves himself to be a class ‘A’ sound designer among the likes of Tim Hecker, with the fractured piano soundscapes of “Strange Arrivals”, and the radiant guitar plucking on “Chime”.

It can be tempting to loop this music on your stereo and let it play out while you go about your daily activities — and while that can be an enjoyable experience in its own right, this music is best appreciated on headphones. Calling this music “Loop-Based”, along the likes of William Basinski or GAS would be wrong, as this music has a very natural and human aspect to it. Everything here is in a constant state of motion, whether you notice it or not. Although this project was originally supposed to be released soon after 2007’s Copia, only to be put aside for a few years, B-sides these are not — and it certainly holds up to today’s standards. In fact, with Nightmare Ending, Matthew Cooper has made his most grandiose statement yet.

 

Track Listing:

1.) Don’t Get Any Closer*

2.) Warm

3.) By The Rails

4.) Unknown Variation*

5.) Caroling

6.) Sleeper

7.) Envenom Mettle*

8.) Chime

9.) Rain Gently*

10.) Impromptu (For the Procession)

11.) Covered in Writing*

12.) Entendre

13.) Strange Arrivals

14.) Happiness*

 

Album Highlight – *

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, OPINION, REVIEWS Tagged With: Album Review, eluvium, matthew cooper, Nightmare ending, temporary residence

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