Artist: Four Tet
Album: Randoms
Release date: 20/06/2016
“As time passes I look back at this music and find the context it was originally put in often feels a bit random now," explains Four Tet's chosen title and where his motives lay in wanting to “bring together this music in a different way.” Spanning 20 years, the nine-tracker is an album built from cuts that were made specifically for compilation projects or have found themselves released only as part of a compilation album. As a producer whose cult following continues to swell, having an album filled with previously released tracks that span from as early as 1996 makes this a real treasure trove to dig into.
'Moma', the first to be lifted from Randoms, was originally released in 2012 on Kazu Makino's compilation, We Are the Works in Progress, which benefited tsunami relief efforts in the aftermath of Japan's natural disaster in 2011. Heard as an organic-sounding, soothing mood piece, it contains a refreshing minimal take on overlapping melodic percussion. 'Moma' might encourage the listener to seek contemplation in a state of recumbency, but one heavy beat into track two, 'For These Times' has your ceiling-facing horizontal position flipped by 90 degrees into a vertical stance, thanks to its dance floor ready infusion of heavy bass sounds and a tribal beat with a carnal vocal sample on loop.
One of the most recent earning a place in his pick'n'mix of sonic candy is 2013 release'Gillie Amma I Love You'. Like 'Moma', the track further portrays Four Tet as an altruistic producer with it being another track forged for charity. Taken from BOATS, a 29-track compilation album curated by Scottish Love In Action, he - like each of the artists - used samples of the Light of Love Children's Choir to create an enthralling offering. Simplistic by design, he borrowed ethereal children's voices and let them harmoniously rise over mottled vibrating synths.
'The Reservoir' serves as a reminder of his gift at matching seemingly incompatible sounds and samples with koto strings over heavy drums, and 'Nothing To See' does much the same but it is by far more complex in nature, with the jarring sound of a record skipping, thrashing drum kit and a jumble of electric bleeps and bloops.
Randoms is available for free through the Bandcamp platform's “name your price” feature.
Tracklist:
1. Moma
2. For These Times
3. Pockets (minimal version)
4. Gillie Amma I Love You
5. The Reservoir
6. Nothing To See
7. Field
8. Both When I Am Alone And When Both Are
9. Castles Made Of Sand
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence
