Track Listing

1. A Joy
2. Smile Around The Face
3. Fuji Check
4. Sun Drums And Soil
5. Clouding
6. And Then Patterns
7. High Fives
8. Turtle Turtle Up
9. Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions
10. You Were There With Me

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11666 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-23
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Once again, Keiren Hebden--aka Four Tet--has set the bar high for what can be done with dance music. Kicking off with "A Joy" (doing exactly what it says in the title), the benchmark for the whole album is set early, based around a frenetic fuzz bass riff and a drum loop, interspersed with backwards percussion, it’s simultaneously uplifting and also terrifying. The following "Smile Around The Face" is another literal title, this time far more explicit in its positive vibe; more drum loops, but this time with a grin-inducing samples halfway between birdsong and organ.

In fact, the drums are probably the raison d’etre for this album; in the same way that DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing was a masterpiece of what can be done with drum breaks and instrumental snatches, so this album follows the same path, but on a less aggressive scale. The vigorous "Sun Drums and Soil" morphs into a jazz-tinged number; while a few of the tracks ("You Were there With Me" and "Clouding") are more collections of ambient chimes and noises. It’s redundant to pick a highlight on such a strong collection; just enjoy. --Thom Allott

Album Description
Everything Ecstatic, the fourth album from Kieran Hebden in his Four Tet guise is as demented, clever and downright enjoyable as anything to ever bear the Four Tet tag. Just as Rounds provided a new benchmark for electronic music two years ago, so Everything Ecstatic will, in its turn, redefine the parameters of what is possible within this ever-mutating, endlessly fascinating and incredibly fertile field.

CD Description
'Everything Ecstatic' is the fourth album from former Fridge member Kieran Hebden. The album sees Hebden leave behind the mix of folk and electronica that has graced his previous work and opt for a harsher sound, mixing choice samples, analogue squeaks and harder percussive programming. The 12" only single 'Smile Around The Face' is also included.

Customer Reviews

Tremendous
My first experience of Four Tet was off the album 'Pause' - amongst the wealth of other electronic music that I had listened to over the summer, the organic and 'real' beats were so distinctive and relaxing that I had to go and explore what Four Tet had to offer.

Being accustomed to so many staple bands of anyone's electronica diet - Leftfield, the Prodigy and even the jazzier Mr Scruff, I found it hard to fully understand the point of Pause's underwhelming chilled out 'folktronica'. But it soon became apparent that Kieran Hebden was tackling songs from a completely different angle. Pause brought obvious melodies, took them to the abstract and drenched them in atmosphere - enough to conjure up many unchartered emotions.

So how does this relate to 'Everything Ecstatic'? Four Tet has basically taken this idea of the 'abstract melody' and enhanced it to a hitherto unseen level. But this time round it's far heavier and more accessible to a dance/electronic music fan. Straight away from the first song, heavy beats and a subterranean bass line get you wanting to dance. However, the real gem is 'Smile Around the Face', a favourite opener of a Four Tet live set, mainly due to its extremely catchy melody and crazy drums. It seemed as if Kieran Hebden chose what would be a catchy pop song and tore it up and just used snippets of it amongst endless layers of drums and samples and noise (in the best possible sense of the meaning). But it works.

What scores this album five stars is how throughout the rest of the album he manages to maintain the pace. Not only that, but he uses samples and textures that most artists wouldn't even be able to think up.

Naturally, this album takes many listens to fully uncover how good it is. The abstract melodies only are revealed with a greater understanding of the songs, but soon you will find certain samples genuinely catchy and exciting. Sun Drums and Soil, and 'And then the Patterns', plus High Fives all exemplify this characteric.

So, if you are into any kind of electronic music, I highly recommend this album. It'll get you dancing and in equal measures it'll relax you. In fact, it's just a damn good and highly intelligent album.

Innovative and Beautiful
I cannot reccommend this album highly enough. Not only has it spawned possibly the best track of the year to date ("And Then Patterns"), but it is undoubtedly the best collective group of music I have heard in a lnog time.

Real drumbeats mix fluently with intricate electronic textures to create an experience that is both beautiful to listen to and entirely impossible to predict. Anyone who has heard "My Angel Rocks Back And Forth" will feel at home with this record, yet its appeal will extend to wider genres: Radiohead fans take note.

Another fantastic record from your local "Electronic" section that has transformed itself this year into a hotbed of innovation and inspiration.

Ecstatic Again
Kieran Hebden follows up the glorious folk-tronica whimsy of `Rounds' with a more energetic, beat-driven album in `Everything Ecstatic'.

The opener, `A Joy' sets the tone with its low, intense bass groove and pounding drum loop. The track then dissolves into a noisy, random sequence which is then sharply followed by the joyously catchy, simple melodic hook of `'Smile Around the Face' which does exactly what it says on the tin.

`Sun Drums and Soil' features frenetic drum bursts overlaying more shuffling beats, backed with Boards of Canda-style synth washes. It gradually builds with layers of horns and sax and vocal samples to a thrilling crescendo.

`And Then Patterns' and `High Fives', consecutive tracks, are the most `Rounds'-like on the CD, featuring a beautifully simple melody over gentle beats.

The closer, `You Were There With Me' is a seemingly insubstantial collage of bells, chimes and odd sounds, but give it a few listens and a captivating melody emerges.

The multi-layered sounds on this CD would be an utter mess in the hands of a lesser talent than Hebden, but he has shown a remarkable degree of consistency in following `Rounds' with another varied, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable record.