Thursday 11 November 2010

Four Tet:: 'The music industry is scared'

With more albums to his name in a decade than some artists release in a lifetime, Four Tet (real name Kieran Hebden) has mastered the art of musical legacy, using each record as a testimony to his evolution as an artist rather than to his ability of adapting himself to suit trends, buzzwords, and the music industry in general. “When I make records, I’m not thinking ‘maybe they’re all going to call this chillwave and I’ll jump on that new thing’,” he begins. “I’m thinking to myself ‘how am I still going to be able to look back on this record and be comfortable with it in 40 years time’. To me, that’s the sort of thing that really counts.” “I want to make music that’s relevant now in terms of communicating to people and people enjoying it and touching them in that moment,” he continues. “But in terms of fitting into current genres and the music business as a whole, it’s much more important to me that it looks good in the history of music and in the future than it does now.” Resistance to industry agenda and it-band popularity aside, since his debut as Four Tet in the late 1990s, Hebden has grown a devout following of critics, listeners and musicians alike, with his 2009 release, There is Love in You earning overwhelming praise and adding further proof to his longevity as an artist. “I think my whole concept of why I’m putting out records and why I’m doing it has changed a lot – especially in the last four or five years,” he explains. “I think when you start making records – or maybe it was just my experience – you’re working towards some sort of magical goal by putting out your ‘best record ever’. But I’ve come to realize now that I don’t think it’s about that at all. I’m not sitting down to make a record and thinking about how I can make it better than the last one – to me, that’s kind of meaningless.” In the spirit of greats like Miles Davis, Hebden aspires to hone a catalogue that documents and reflects his transition as an artist and doesn’t waver to suit the status quo. “To me, my record is a document of my personal journey and I want to see my whole catalogue in the records lining my shelf that tells my musical story,” he shares. “And if you suddenly have a record in the middle of there that’s heavily manipulated by the record company . . . that would be a blip in the history. That would be where it all went wrong.” Now playing dates in Europe after wrapping his North American tour, Hebden has no immediate plans to record his follow-up, but feels comfortable taking his time since he feels so many bands seem to be suffering from the industry’s blatent cash-cow agenda. “[The music industry cashes] in on acts as fast as they can because they’re scared,” he maintains. “You don’t hear about record companies signing bands and being like, ‘oh, on their sixth album we’ve got to do something special’.” “Everything about the way things are done now is quite bazaar (sic),” he adds. “But maybe it’s brilliant. Maybe it’s the most exciting time ever. But I never want to decide. And people [are trying] to decide whether it’s an exciting time or not – but I’m going to be more interested to look back on it in the future.”(via aux) @'Extra Music New'

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