Label: Leaf Format: 12″
Soundclash time, as Kieran Hebden and Stefan Betke go tape-head to tape-head in their Four Tet and Pole aspects, each recording a track and letting the other plug away until some kind of remix level is reached. The original tracks are put onto the EP as well, so it’s all making for the split single for the Nineties – scratch that, Twentifirst Century…
Pole’s “Heim”, in unremixed form, is one of his trademark watery, crackly Dub bloomers, wafting bass at almost inaudible levels while that lovely old filter makes everything sound like it’s defrosting at time-lapse speeds, with hints of virtual melodica making the occasional hint at tuneful wheezing. Very relaxing. Hebden makes his version pop more and roll less, instead opting for a slightly nervous (compared to the laid-back original anyway) mix which adds a crisp drum pattern and some chiming sequences into a spice blend of rewinds and tinkly piano loops to give a (very) slightly Popul Vuh feeling to the proceedings.
His own “Cload” brings a mid-range HipHop beat shuffling across a big bass lope, funkily drumming while more chimes build up into a shimmery wall of chops and blips before breakbeat fragments intervene and recede. Four Tet has always seemed to be a project which allows Hebden to take an idea and dub it up from there, and the contrast between this approach the (misleadingly) more traditional sound of Betke’s output is intriguing, especially when seen in close up like this. Betke’s turn, and the Pole mix takes “Cload”‘s chugging rhythms and brings them to the foreground in heavier, wider style, while the shifting echoes and chimes are extrapolated into a reverberating, winding scrawl of phased noise bearing some resemblance to chickawacka guitar. This and the time-shifting sample loops make for a remix which quite easily belies its short running time, and concludes a fine EP which has been well worth the wait.
-Freq1C-
