Pitchfork

Kieran Hebden gets around. The man also known as Four Tet had quite a year in 2006, releasing the CD/DVD package Everything Ecstatic 2 (a companion to 2005's Everything Ecstatic), a remix compilation, a volume in the DJ-Kicks series, two discs of collaboration with jazz drummer Steve Reid, and a song for children, as well as touring with and without Reid and remixing the likes of Jamie Lidell, ex-Cure keyboardist Roger O'Donnell, and His Name Is Alive.

As the year comes to a close, Hebden hasn't slowed down one bit. Pitchfork caught up with the workaholic recently, and he filled us in on what he's been up to, when he's not slacking off and doing something counter-productive like eating or sleeping.

Not surprisingly, Hebden has been steadily adding to his remix discography. He recently got his hands on the Aluminium version of the White Stripes' "Forever for Her Is Over for Me", available as an exclusive download from Rough Trade's brand new MP3 store, Rough Trade Digital. As previously reported, Aluminium is "avant garde orchestral" versions of White Stripes songs, as envisioned by XL Recordings founder Richard Russell and composer/arranger Joby Talbot.

"I'm a huge fan of the White Stripes," Hebden said. "Particularly the last album I really, really liked. It was a nice thing to remix because the instrumentation was so diverse on it."

Hebden just finished his take on Thom Yorke's "Atoms for Peace", though he has "no idea what the release plan for that one is." His version of Arab Strap's first single, "The First Big Weekend", is the B-side to the retiring Scottish band's final release, a 7" also featuring "There Is No Ending". It's out now on Chemikal Underground.

Finally, as previously reported, the Four Tet remix of Explosions in the Sky's "Catastrophe and the Cure", from their forthcoming album All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, will be included on the bonus disc that comes with the limited edition deluxe version of that album. It's due out February 20 on Temporary Residence.

"They are really good friends of mine," Hebden said of EITS. "It's one of those things that we always talked about but never got around to. It finally happened."

In March 2007, Domino will put out the next installment of Hebden's collaboration with Reid, a ten-track disc entitled Tongues. The duo plans to tour in support of the album; a few initial dates have already been scheduled in the UK and U.S. (see below).

Unlike the two volumes of The Exchange Session, which consisted of recordings made at the same April 2005 session, Tongues is culled from an entirely new set of improvisations. Hebden said, "It's quite different, I think. Anyone who has seen our shows is going to know that the music has been evolving very rapidly since we met. We literally just met and those [the Exchange Session discs] were very early...encounters with each other. And then after that we kind of just started touring and stuff and the music has become a beast."

Tongues was "made in the same style," according to Hebden, "the same kind of drums and electronics sort of thing. But it just comes out sounding very, very differently. The last one was long, sprawling, fifteen-to-twenty minute tracks. The tracks on this one are like three-to-four minutes. It's a bit more punk."

Also scheduled for 2007 is the long-awaited new album from Fridge, Hebden's band with Adem Ilhan and Sam Jeffers. As previously reported, the trio came together for a performance at Temporary Residence's 10th anniversary celebration, and the new record should come out in May 2007 on that label, according to Hebden.

Hebden also revealed that he recently finished producing the latest album from the avant collective Sunburned Hand of the Man. The future of that record is currently unknown, however, as "we don't have a label or anything lined up."

So what about Four Tet? Is there a new solo album in the pipeline for Hebden? He laughs. "I put out four albums this year. It's really, really intense times. I'm just trying to give people some peace and quiet."

Four Tet dates:

12-14 Lyon, France - Grnd Zero
03-08 Austin, TX - The Parish *
03-10 Sunrise, Florida - Markham Park (Langerado Festival)*
03-29 London, England - KOKO *

* with Steve Reid