Four Tet: Remixer of the Year

That's right, you heard it here first, forks. I'm hereby declaring frentic beatsmith Kieren Hebden, aka Four Tet, the Remixer of the Year. Forget Justice, Soulwax [please pardon me, Oh Wise Brothers], Swizz Beats, MSTRKRFT, Hot Chip, Diplo [again, pardon me, worldly EclectoMash Master*], and all the countless other electro remixers out there who rocked my bedroom this year. Umm.. not to leave out all ye crunksters [kiddies: is crunk still in?]. Oh! And apparently there's another Beirut [no, not the OHWNT-approved band] going around making good remixes. And what about the Silver Album, Grey Album, and Beachles album -inspired/follower/reincarnate, Bullion's Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee?. Yeah that's pretty blogdopetastic, too. I'll let nialler9 take over and talk about it, though.

*update-slash-tangent! Right-click + open-link-in-new-tab on over to my not-so-anonymous-friend's [that part will make more sense in another paragraph or so] bee-ell-oh-gee to see a same-time-horrible, same-time-rad video of Diplo and Girl Talk spinning a sweet sixteen [which totally beats out Mark Ronson's TomKat gig, by the way].

And you know what? I'm not even going to talk much about Four Tet. No, seriously. Just this:

[1] If you like Caribou/Manitoba, you should like Dan Snaith's friend Kieren.

[2] I keep trying to convince Postal Service fans who are even too afraid to dip their toes into that electronic stuff to give Caribou and Four Tet a try. Do it. Please. Dip your toes.

[yadayadayada] Some people try to put tags like experimental [it's not], psychedelic [it may be], post-rock [I never understood that one], glitch [no], IDM [umm....], or the jahforsaken tag electronica. Ignore all that nonsense. I have an anonymous friend who says the Cold War Kids aren't rock. Wha? That's like saying the Beatles aren't pop. Or that fish isn't meat. That pink shirts are gay.

[blahblahblah] Ok, so maybe they aren't all the same thing, but my point is this: go read Shakespeare. A rose, any other name, blah blah blah. Oh, and don't judge books by their stupid pigeonholes.

Wake up! The music's finally coming.

In my most illegal post yet, here are SIX downloads: four Four Tet remixes from 2007 [all four of which validate this as a FaveSongs2007 post], one classic FT track, and his amazing remix of everyone's favorite tearjerker, Sia's Six Feet Under -ending "Breathe Me".

[if you don't know that the above is in fact what I call keeping this short, then you haven't been coming around these parts long enough]

Sia - "Breathe Me" [Four Tet remix]

Battles - "Tonto" [Four Tet remix]

Caribou - "Melody Day" [Four Tet remix]

Matthew Dear - "Deserter" [Four Tet remix]

Nathan Fake - "You Are Here" [Four Tet remix]

Four Tet - "No More Mosquitoes" [Boom Bip remix]

Go buy Four Tet music:
Insound
Other Music
Turntable Lab
Amazon

If you ever happen to see me walking around, bopping with my earbuds in and I'm drumming imaginary drumsticks in the air, chances are I'm listening to something having to do with Four Tet. Or my iPod's dead and I just don't want to talk to you.

.

Favorite Songs of 2007, Part Uno

Well, there are roughly 40 days left in this wonderful year. And in a good portion of those days I'm going to sort through my various "best of" playlists.. that could be an entirely different post altogether.

Anyword.. I'm going to be randomly be adding anywhere from two to.. five? six? seven? songs each time up until either [a] I get sick of doing it, [b] I get sick of the songs, or [c] the end of the year. So without further..

Oh! Brand new idea: the percentage to the right of each album is the probability that this album would appear on my Favorite Album of 2007 list. Watch out now, kids-- lots of links, lots of stats.

Matthew Dear - "Fleece on Brain", from Asa Breed; 68%
I really need to make a regular "opening tracks" section where I share some of my favorite opening tracks. If I did, this would make the list. "Fleece" is one of the most electronic-sounding tunes on Asa Breed, with its oscillating synthlines and neverending looped bassline and probably not one of the most immediate, so perhaps it's a peculiar choice for opening track of an album that is definitely trying to reach out to indie audiences. But it's that never-quite-reaching-climax aspect of it that I think makes it work as an opening track. Besides that, what does it for me is the fact that he sounds one part [OHWNT favorite guilty pleasure] Clutch lead singer Neil Fallon, and one part [TVotR's] Kyp Malone [as I contest he does elsewhere on the record].

UGK feat Outkast - "Int'l Player's Anthem", from Underground Kingz; 4%
This song does not need any introduction. It's bloody brilliant. Earlier in the year I incorrectly deemed it the summer hip hop anthem. Well, who could have predicted the staying power of what turned into two of the most annoying tunes-- I speak of "The Way I Are" and "Umbrella"-ella-ella. ANYWAY.. you have to see the video if you haven't already, because whereas he hasn't yet totally realized greatness on the big screen [although he's definitely trying], Mr Andre Benjamin steals the show in the opening scene. Fo reezy. Further along, though, big UGK thug Bun B flexes his experience and.. bigness. But then the real Big Boi shows everyone why this tune should have really been an Outkast song, featuring UGK.

Bonus: it just so happens Teiam Player got hold of this and totally had his way with it. The "official" version ["The Int'l Man of Metropolis", one of the better TP tunes if I may say so myself] can be heard over at TeiamSpace. But another [kinda never totally finished] one can be downloaded here [an exclusive, feel special]:
UGK feat Outkast + White Rabbits + Sufjan Stevens =
Teiam Player "The International Player's Plot"

Menomena - "Wet and Rusting", from Friend and Foe; 98%
This was, if not the, then one of the first albums I knew would be my year-end favorite. And this song has it all. Pianos! Strumming guitars! Chaotic drum beating! Dual vocals, quasi-harmonizing! It's killer. And with the props to Kanye, the video for it is alright, too.

Bonus: and guess what? That's right, Teiam Player's version!
Menomena + The Pack = Teiam Player "Wet Candy"

Phew. Was this the most fun-filled OHWNT post yet, or what? And it's a frigging Friday night. I need to leave the house now.

Find all of my FaveSongs2007 posts here.

.