B i o g r a p h y
 (by Official site)

Kieran Hebden started his musical career early, and never looked back. He began playing guitar in Fridge in his midteens, a trio formed with bassist Adem Ilhan and drummer Sam Jeffers. In 1996 Fridge were signed to Trevor Jackson s Output label. Fridge quickly became a spearhead of instrumental postrock outfits, releasing two albums, Ceefax and Semaphore on Output in 1997 and 1998, before moving onto Go!Beat in 1999 with their third album, Eph, alongside numerous singles and EPs (compiled on the Sevens & Twelves double CD). During 2000, Fridge spent the summer performing as Badly Drawn Boy s live band, touring festivals in the UK, Europe and Japan. Fridge notched up UK and European tours with the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and To Rococo Rot and triumphed in 2002 with a headline at London s Scala. By 2001, Kieran had started his own label, Text Records, to release the fourth Fridge album, Happiness. The band subsequently toured the US with the release of Happiness on indie label Temporary Residence. Their music has been used for various TV and film pieces, including a specially commissioned work for Nick Knight on his showstudio.com online art space, and by Channel 4 for the acclaimed documentary series This Is Modern Art . Alongside all of Fridge s activities, Kieran became a solo producer, releasing work under the name Four Tet which soon became his main concern. The first two Four Tet singles, Thirtysixtwentyfive (a reference to the songs length in minutes and seconds) and Misnomer , were both NME Singles of the Week . His debut album, Dialogue (Output, 1999) was released when he was just 21 and explored the outer reaches of both free jazz and soul music. Around the time there was all this music which was supposedly influenced by Sun Ra style avant garde jazz, but lacked any of the atmosphere. I formed Four Tet to make a record that properly echoed the real darker side of jazz, like Alice Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman. It wasn t even made to be released, it was more of a mission. I d never even been to a club or heard of Gilles Peterson, but when Trevor (Jackson, Output) put it out it got adopted by dance music people, and suddenly the drums and hip-hop influences began being properly noticed.

For the follow up, Pause (Domino, 2001) Kieran delved into the previously un-hip realm of British folk and psychedelia, kicking off a craze for folktronic pastoral sounds. When I started work on Pause I wanted to ditch jazz instrumentation and replace it with more obscure instrumentation, says Kieran. I saw a documentary about Bert Jansch and started getting into Pentangle, and looked at the idea of getting harps and accordions on my record. Kieran went in search of folk records with the hypnotic, repetitive rhythms of Krautrock, and when he couldn t find any, he decided to create them himself. It came out at the same time as the new acoustic movement and suddenly I was being called a pioneer of new folk, he recalls. Pause was immediately acclaimed and found a place among the NME, Sunday Times, Mojo and Uncut Album of the Year for 2001. During this time, Kieran began performing live laptop shows, including a special invite on the Ninja Tunes Solid Steel US tour (2001), the support slot for Radiohead in Spain and Portugal in 2002 ( some of the best shows I ve ever had ), Super Furry Animals across the US in 2002, and festivals including Benicassim (Spain), Auto (Sheffield, UK) and Wonky (Dublin). He also lectured music students on modern ideas in laptop music in Istanbul, and did the same in Sao Paolo (this time alongside Madlib, Carl Craig & Cut Chemist). Amidst all this activity, and going on huge record buying sprees in America, the third Four Tet album was being written and roadtested. Kieran s reputation as a remix producer who reinvents a track, turning it into something much greater than the sum of its parts, has proved a highly acclaimed and successful sideline. In 1999 he remixed Aphex Twin, Cinematic Orchestra and David Holmes. Then there was the Pole v Four Tet split EP and mixes of Badly Drawn Boy, Doves, The Notwist, James Yorkston and Blue States. After two remixes (notably Carmella , which Kieran reckons to be one of the best things he s ever done) and a seat in the producer s chair for Beautiful World (a bside on her Anywhere single), Beth Orton invited Kieran to produce her next album, on which they are currently at work. When he can, Kieran manages to put in sought after eclectic DJ sets around the globe which get the party jumping. He s also a handy talent scout, discovering Dan Manitoba Snaith (who will release his second album for The Leaf Label in Spring 2003) and unearthing Toronto-based producer Koushik, who released his debut 7 , Battle Rhymes For Battle Times , on Text Records (Koushik has EPs coming up on both Text and Stones Throw in the US). Currently, Kieran Hebden does just about everything he can. In the future, he hopes to do more of everything.