Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic flac mp3 download

How this isn't considered to be the greatest Four Tet album, I'll never understand.

Sometimes you are lucky enough to listen to music that inspires you, music that takes you beyond the crest of lap-pop ejaculation. Everything Ecstatic might just be that kind of music. Birthed by electronic artist Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet), Everything Ecstatic is a musical wonder-ride of sounds. On this album Hebden's eccentric musical style is echoed by the party-esque themed design. Brightly coloured musical phrases are weaved together in an orgasmic display of pastiche. Instrument-infused machine-ism takes pride of place in the fast paced post-rocking electronica. An assault of drums knocks you to the ground, adding insult with a brocade of filesharing. Calmer moments could have given the music space to fulfil desires, but Hebden is in a world where if you don't get it all out in the one breath you might as well eat your own words.

Four Tet has always embraced some element of noise in their work; on EVERYTHING ECSTATIC, they add a new dimension to that noise: chaos. Certainly, "A Joy" has that chaos to spare. It's almost a rebuke to the folktronica tag that has plagued Four Tet since its inception. "Smile Around the Face" reimposes some structure to the songwriting with a bright, almost picnic-ready melody. "Sun Drums and Soil" carries its wistful tune through layers of hiss and distortion, punctuated by a horn line and urgent percussion. The percussive elements comes to the fore in "High Fives," while "Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions" adds some 808 squelches into the fray to psychedelic effect. My favorite here, "And Then Patterns" sounds as if it could have come off of ROUNDS, with its lovely combination of beats and melancholy. No surprise, then, that it's my favorite, though there's something admirable about they way Four Tet continues to grow, especially with the dreamy, gamelan-toned "You Were There With Me."

This is a much more aggressive release than I expected from Keiran Hebdan, the reigning king of folktronica, which is obvious from the first track “A Joy,” a big beat banger aimed somewhere between the beginning of Chemical Brothers’ “Come With Us” and Squarepusher’s more ambient insanity. Only “Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions” goes a little overboard when it busts out all tribal techno three minutes in. The rest of this album is the sound of a producer hitting his stride in the studio and continuing to grow as an artist with every succeeding release. For the most part, this album is Hebdan’s usual mix of eclectic instruments, worldly beats, and static production only classier than ever before with more attention paid to DJs and the night crowd than indie café patrons. Everything Ecstatic harkens back to the passion of the old school raver days while evolving to relevant. You’ll be hard pressed to find a Four Tet fan who doesn’t think this is his most entertaining release yet.