In the early months of 2020, before anyone could have imagined a global pandemic, Four Tet was DJing warehouses hidden in the industrial corners of Los Angeles. During his sets that often go on for six or more hours, he'd bring his musical mastery — swapping between high-energy techno, Motown deep cuts, modern hip-hop, and Indian raga — to crowds of 200 or less.
Five years later, his shows look completely different. On Feb. 22, Four Tet (whose birth name is Kieran Hebden) will play another extended DJ set — this time, surrounded by over 17,000 people at the Kia Forum, marking the largest solo headlining set of his career.
While the size of his audience has increased exponentially, Hebden's reverence within music is long established. Coming up in the experimental scene of 1990s London, his career began in the post-rock band Fridge, with his first solo release arriving in 1997. Officially launching the Four Tet project in 1998, Hebden has since produced 11 full-length solo albums, earned five GRAMMY nominations, and headlined major stages like Madison Square Garden and Coachella.
Just looking at his comprehensive career Spotify playlist — fittingly titled "Everything" — shows the depth of his career and his talent. Spanning his entire discography and then some, the 676-song playlist reminds listeners old and new of his many ventures, from collaborations with Jamie xx and Caribou to his remixes for Eric Prydz, CHVRCHES and Joe Goddard. He has also gone by several aliases; produced albums for artists like alternative outfit Sunburned Hand of the Man and UK multi-talent Neneh Cherry, among others; and curated dozens of releases via his label, Text Records.
In looking through the playlist, one thing becomes clear: Hebden has always been devoted to exploring the full range of his musical interests. Check out these 10 eclectic pieces of his past work to get a feel for what's to come at the Forum.
The first time the world officially met Four Tet was in grand fashion: a 36-minute piece smashing together all the genres he's explored in his 30 years of making music. Titled "Thirtysixtwentyfive" for its run time, the song sees Four Tet explore avant-garde jazz, tribal drums, boom-bap beats, atmospheric electronics, and more.
This isn't the first time he's produced music that matches the length of a classical symphony; his eighth album, 2015's Morning/Evening, includes two tracks, both sitting near 20 minutes. But the fact that the Four Tet legacy began with his longest piece demonstrated that he wasn't going to conform to anyone's expectations right from the start.
Before Kieran Hebden went by the name of Four Tet, he was a member of the post-rock band Fridge. The band formed in 1995 when he was at Elliott School in Putney, London (where future Four Tet collaborators The xx and Burial were also students). Hebden initially played guitar, but he took on other instruments as the band's sound ventured into more experimental territory.
On their 2001 album, Happiness, every song is named after its sonic building blocks such as "Drum Machines & Glockenspiel" and "Tone Guitar & Drum Noise." "Drums Bass Sonics & Edits" is a clear throughline to Four Tet's early works with its focus on percussion and sound design. The beat is the consistent foundation of the song while other random sounds fade in and out — similar to how, in the current phase of his career, Hebden inserts irregular sounds over uniform four-on-the-floor beats.
Hebden's affinity for sampling and hip-hop styles can be traced back to the beginning of his career. "No More Mosquitoes" comes from his 2001 album, Pause, and features an unmorphed sample from "Flea Fly Mosquito" by the Canadian children's musical group Sharon, Lois & Bram.
Beneath the jejune lyrics, Hebden built a distorted, scrambling boom-bap beat, and layers of the worldly instrumentals to which his mother (who is South-African born and of Indian descent) introduced him when he was young. These are the core elements of Hebden's early works.
Years before Hebden earned GRAMMY nominations for his remixes, he became one of the few artists to remix Radiohead — and has now done so multiple times.
Hebden and Radiohead both hail from the UK and both were doing heavy experimentation with electronic music in the early '00s, so it's only natural they would know of each other. Four Tet's first Radiohead remix is of "Scatterbrain" from their 2003 album, Hail To the Thief (which he changed to "Skttrbrain").
This time around, Hebden follows the more traditional remix format of creating a new backdrop for the studio vocals. He swaps out Radiohead's rather clean and straightforward guitar, bass and drums with accented, offbeat percussion. Then towards the end of the remix, Four Tet inserts more of his originality by chopping up Thom Yorke's voice and adding in a squealy saxophone solo.
While Four Tet has remained Hebden's primary focus since 1998, he has set aside time for projects under his birth name. One regular collaborator for his works as Kieran Hebden is the late great jazz drummer Steve Reid, with whom he made four albums between 2006-08: The Exchange Session Vol. 1, The Exchange Session Vol. 2, Tongues, and NYC.
Reid's expansive style that he applied to his works with left field jazz legends, like Sun Ra and Fela Kuti, naturally fit with Hebden's uncaged approach to rhythm. On "The Squid," there are moments where it feels like neither of them is listening to the other; the track starts with an uncomplicated beat from Reid while Hebden spits out random electronic noises. But then they find their sync, with Reid's patterns becoming more complex and Hebden adding more and more layers — ultimately crescendoing into a freeform, collaborative mass of sound, demonstrating their unique musical chemistry.
Four Tet's commitment to dance-forward music began with his 2008 album, Ringer. From this point on, the four-on-the-floor beat would be a primary canvas in his work, and "Ribbons" is one of his essential sonic paintings. Upon the metronomic foundation, he builds intriguing contrast with glistening syncopated melodies and erratic supporting rhythms, closing the track with a funky computerized bassline.
"Ribbons" and Ringer represent the soul of all of his prominent dance productions, from "Angel Echoes" and "Baby" to "Lush" and "Pyramids." Dreamy, intricate sounds above club beats that force you to move.
Another essential sonic painting on a four-on-the-floor canvas is "Nova/Moth," Hebden's collaborative two-tracker with the mysterious UK electronic maven Burial. "Nova" is the more well-known of the two, but at over nine minutes, "Moth" demonstrates both producers' abilities to hold interest over long periods of time. The downtempo kick, layered with serene ambient soundscapes, emphasizes compositional prowess on top of studio mastery.
Known for being reclusive, Burial has released very few collaborations. Perhaps their history as schoolmates led Burial to working with Four Tet, but he may have also been intrigued by Hebden's prowess for collaborating with artists of all genres and notorieties — from enigmatic tastemakers to some of the biggest EDM artists of all time.
Along with making music with Fridge and as both Kieran Hebden and Four Tet, the multifaceted artist has made music under several other aliases, including his initials, KH, and Percussions. He also has some projects with names that can't be read: 00110100 01010100, △▃△▓ and ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ.
Hebden is an artist who rejects any kind of personal attention (he rarely does interviews), so no one really knows why he invented these cryptic names. But, in general, his aliases fall under his dance-forward purview. "KHLHI," which he produced as Percussions, is one track from Hebden's ventures that's found its way into the modern dance music canon.
With a simple yet funky four-on-the-floor beat and a classic soul sample (Syreeta's "Keep Him Like He Is"), this track is fit for any dance floor. Plus, those building blocks would suggest it was Hebden's work even if he veiled his association with a not-so-obvious name.
Hebden's impressive list of collaborators also includes hip-hop icon Madlib. These two have a long history that includes sharing lineups and Hebden's remix album for Madvillainy, the essential rap album Madlib made with the late MF DOOM. But Sound Ancestors is the first time Four Tet and Madlib created original music together, and it's further proof of Hebden's wide-ranging musical abilities.
The record is fueled by the duo's individual sampling skills and limitless production styles. Much of it is grounded in hip-hop, but the album's title track is especially notable as it explores tribal music by combining avant-garde jazz passages with African percussion.
Hebden's rise from warehouses to main stages crystallized through his viral partnership with Skrillex and Fred Again.. Just as they started playing together in late 2022, Skrillex was on the cusp of releasing his first albums in nearly a decade, and Fred Again.. was the newly crowned darling of dance music thanks to his album Actual Life 3 (January 1 - September 9 2022) and its standout single, "Delilah (pull me out of this)."
The unofficial trio, which has been called OMG TBA and Pangbourne House Mafia, sold out Madison Square Garden, headlined Coachella Weekend 2 in 2023 after Frank Ocean dropped out, and collaborated on several releases including "Baby again.." With deep basslines, UK-inspired beats, and a sample from Lil Baby's "Baby," the aptly titled "Baby again.." defines the sound of their partnership.
“Baby again..” also defines the dynamic of Four Tet’s fruitful and inimitable career: productions that maintain his artistic integrity, great working relationships, and an ability to combine different styles of music that truly makes him one of a kind.