Everything Ecstatic - Four Tet

I liked/appreciated it, but it's in a way different place

I don't like to compare this to "rounds" or "pause" necessarily, but seeing as how this is in the same body of work, I'm kind of obliged. The previous albums had their abstractions and concepts but Everything Ecstatic takes that to an extreme. This album is obviously Kieran Hebdan coming into his Steve-Reid Exchange Sessions musical persona. There is alot less acoustic instrumentation and folk texture and more electric chaos. The record still sounds like four tet made it, but it almost sounds like the magazine articles pushed the "folktronica" tag so much that Hebdan abandoned it, and i don't blame him. It took me awhile as a Four Tet fan before i committed to buying this album, but when i did i still enjoyed it and gave it alot of time. I might go as far as to say I enjoy this more than "Pause", but the two records feel so vastly different that I couldn't justify doing so. Everything Ecstatic wins my praise, but it didn't make me fall in love with the Four Tet style like "Rounds" did.

Funky, loose, and fun.

That's what I would describe Four Tet's Everything Esctatic. It sounds like it was a blast to make. Kieran Hebden is the man behind Four Tet, and his IDM/funkish songs sound really joyous. Take the first track "A Joy," a song with a lot of out-of-time effects running through a skippy beat and pulsating bass. What really makes the track though is the constant beat underlying it. Smile Around The Face is another joyous upbeat song, with some chipmunk soul singers and powerful drumming.

Other tunes are more experimental, such as the jazzy "Sun Drums and Soil," the dark and moody "And Then Patterns", and the quiet minamalism of "You Were There With Me." There is a constant flow to the album, and the feel is like being surrounded by life.

On the whole, this is album that just makes you feel good. You can groove to it, play it in the background while doing other things, or play it at a party. It's quite a good enviroment to be in.

If I could give a 4.5

Beautiful album. 3rd best, but that doesn't mean its not amazing.

Blew me away.

I have been a big fan of Fourtet ever since I first heard "No More Mosquitos". All of his music was refreshingly creative and easy on the ears. He's demonstrated a keen ability to soften the normally harsher sound of IDM style beats time and time again. You still get a lot of that with "Everything Ecstatic"... real drum kits, guitar riffs and hand claps sampled and chopped, the same organic windchimes and buzzing insects. Luckily, Kieran has expanded his arsenal of sounds to include more traditional techno kits that he uses in some rather non-traditional ways. As another reviewer mentioned, he uses a lot more 303 and 909 patterns. These machines sound so cliched these days, but not here. Kieran breaths new life into them, making 303 patterns sound just as organic and natural as those buzzing mosquito wings. On other tracks he maintains some minimal techno flat beats worthy of Detroits dirtiest tech dancehalls.

This album is fantastic, plain and simple. I am glad to see Fourtet is evolving with the times rather than trying to maintain the status-quo that he helped create.

Win some. Lose some.

You win some and you lose some. This purchase was a definite loss. What a dissapointment.