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ELECTRONICA FOUR T T Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Tue 2 Jun
Everything Ecstatic is the highly anticipated new album from dance music wunderkind Kieran Hebden — AKA Four Tet. It comes two years after the massive critical acclaim Hebden's third album. Rounds. received for its innovative juxtaposition of pastoral soundscapes with trippy hip hop beats.
'I felt very ambitious when I made the new album. I always want to move on with every record and this time I felt more than ever there was no need to stay.‘
he says.
'Joy'. the first track on Everything Ecstatic. is a big departure. It's three minutes and seven seconds of warped drums and pulsating bass that grabs the casual listener by the scruff of the neck and demands immediate attention.
‘lt's different from Rounds; it's much more aggressive and drum~heavy. All the folksy influences have gone and have been replaced by a lot of spiritual music and early Detroit techno. I felt people were seeing the folk influence as the only side to my music. whereas there are so many other things I'm interested in that
to think I'm a modern folk musician is a bit ridiculous.‘
While the acoustic guitars and melodic pianos may have given way to schizophrenic drum loops and swirls of computer-generated drone. the
recording process for Hebden remains essentially the same.
We found a set up I‘m comfortable with and l'm sticking to it. I'm not really interested in equipment. just ideas. and I've got very clear ideas of what I want to do. The most important thing with my music is to move forward and never look back. I'm willing to completely destroy what I've done in the past and
move on with no mercy.’ (Rob Dabrowski)
POP BEN FOLDS Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 7 Jun
Most people will remember Ben Folds for the brief, MTV-
endorsed spell of popularity he and his arithmetically challenged bandmates enjoyed in the mid-90s, gleefully skating the ice-thin hinterland of geek rock indie credibility and classically produced, mainstream musicality. Somehow, while contemporaries such as Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips had their day in the sun, winning their scouts' rock longevity badges in the process, Folds missed the boat and drifted off on his own - frankly more interesting - course, via a series of eccentric collaborations (William Shatner, other songwriting Bens). With comeback album, Rockin’ the Suburbs, arguably his best, most complex and diverse work to date, he earned ripples of recognition where a tsunami was due.
Four years on Folds is back, promoting new album Songs for Silverman, which mines the same subtle, EQ- rich vein as Suburbs. The breezy, goofy charm of the Five’s work is long gone, replaced with worldlywise
epithets and shades of country melancholy, but Folds has as little time as ever for the archetypal music press notions of credibility. ‘Ail that “too cool for school stuff" is just bullshit, really,’ he says. “Who knows what we’ll be listening to in 50 years' time? Nobody took Louis Armstrong very seriously at the time but his work endures today. There‘s no reason why a Foreigner song can’t be as good as a Radiohead song.’
Folds' ability to skilfully dodge the trap of taking himself too seriously has certainly helped to cement his reputation for delivering flamboyant live performances. ‘I always try to avoid “an evening with Ben at the piano being all serious,“ he says in his best faux-radio announcer voice. ‘On this tour I've seen some of the most crazy, frantic pogoing since my punk days when I started out.’
If the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, pianos, immaculate production values and a refreshingly anti-rock stance seem unlikely bedfellows for such crowd antics, then make sure you treat yourself to a first-hand demonstration from one of our greatest unsung songwriters and quite possibly the only man in rock capable of pulling off such a rare feat. (Julian Stone)
COLUMN
Dispatch
Vic Galloway stages his own demo about demos.
a? Having recently judged some of the T Break heats. l’m preparing to head to Aberdeen to the goNorth showcase at which I'll see even more unknown musicians who’ll hopefully inspire and probably confound in equal measure it got me thinking -- unsigned bands get a raw deal. I suppose the music world has to be highly competitive so as to weed out the undeserving chancers out there masquerading as artists. Have a look at the history of the Top 40 for proof of this packed with songwriters of integrity and vision. one and all!
As the demo pile in my flat grows at an alarming rate. I'm both amazed at the untapped talent in every corner of this country and the complete lack of ambition in others. The looming influence of those bastions of mediocrity Oasis is still at large. as is that of stadium rockers Coidplay and more recently street-urchins the Libertines. But for every copycat. there is also genuine innovation at work and play in tandem with having a visible and audible presence on the web. people are really doing more for themselves by starting smaller cottage industries and scenes it is tough to finance and organise an independent release and make some impact on your immediate circle. never mind the world at large. but it increasingly seems like the only way.
To my ears the best music is living underground and far away from the cheque books of bewildered A&R men looking f0r the newest. trendiest and usually blandest thing How about simply a good thing? Creativity f0r creativity’s sake. perhaps?
‘1 hinking outside the box' should be encouraged. not belittled. initially rnistrusted and possibly laughed at, it always sews the seeds from which great new art grows. As a great philosoer from the 19803 once said. “Ridicule is nothing to be scared of!’
VIC Galloway presents BBC Radio Scotland '3 ’Air' at
8.05— 10pm on Mondays and BBC Radio 1 at 7 30-9pm on Thursdays.
26 May *9 Jun 2005 TH. LIST 67