biographical info
Spawned from the urge to do something apart from his post-rock band Fridge, Kieran Hebden's Four Tet project balances organic and programmed sounds. Hebden formed Fridge with Sam Jeffers and Adem Ilhan while still in high school. When Fridge went on temporary hiatus for Jeffers and Ilhan to attend college, Hebden spent time playing with ideas, gained from hip-hop and electronica, he hadn't had time for while concentrating on the band. Eager to experiment, Hebden bought a computer and began collecting drum and sound samples. Though his tracks sounded contrary, Hebden produced them all in his flat using only his computer to loop, slice, and paste downloaded samples and rhythms. His first full-length was 1999's Dialogue, which was noticed by experimental-dub pioneer Pole (Stefan Betke). Around the same time, Fridge was signed to the major label Go! Beat, owned by Polydor. Hebden retained Four Tet as a side project, however, and released subsequent records Pause and Rounds through Domino.