The Best Of Four Tet, According To Thomas William

Ahead of Four Tet's much-anticipated live performance at Sydney Opera House, producer Thomas William moves away from the club when selecting his favourite Kieran Hebden cuts.

Thomas William: I've focused mainly on Kieran's long collaboration with the late drummer Steve Reid – although I listened closely to the first few Four Tet records, these duo recordings were the ones I was most interested in. Through my early 20s I spent a lot of time and cash in record stores, and a large proportion of the records I collected were free jazz recordings from the late 60s and early 70s – AACM, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, ESP, that type of thing. So when these records came out in the mid 2000s, it was thrilling to hear someone drawing on this free jazz tradition in a contemporary context, and doing it in a way that didn't feel nostalgic.

I've assembled some links to what I think are a few highlights, as well as some further listening.

1. Kieran Hebden And Steve Reid - 'Morning Prayer'

I had collected duo records like Frank Lowe and Rashied Ali's Exchange, which I suspect The Reid/Hebden records are probably named after. On the Frank Lowe note, this solo destroys me. John Coltrane and Rashied Ali's Interstellar Space, and Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell's Mu records in particular are some other good examples. These are amongst my favourite records.

2. Kieran Hebden And Steve Reid - 'Noemie'

This reminds me a lot of certain Art Ensemble of Chicago live recordings – lots of bells, clipped flute sounds, a certain shambolic yet controlled sense of arrangement, and a very textural approach to percussion in these records has influenced a lot of my own work. I'm revisiting these two as I type.

3. Kieran Hebdan and Steve Reid - 'Our Time'

'Brain' and 'Squad' are probably my favourite tracks from this album but they're not on YouTube unfortunately. They went for a more song-based format on this which seemed to move away from the free jazz references a little.

4. Steve Reid Ensemble - 'Daxaar'

This album has the sounds of the Senegalese musicians Reid recruited for the recording. Hebden seems to be very much in producer mode here, making relatively subtle contributions. It's a little funkier than my tastes normally accommodate, and not much of this has since made it onto the 'Tube, but for the more determined among you I'd recommend the title track for its very tight rhythmic workout.

5. Sunburned Hand of The Man - 'Nice Butterfly Mask'

Sunburned hand of The Man are a band from Boston. They were very prolific and have released a tonne of material. It's not difficult to hear why he was interested in working with the band. Hebden apparently produced this record. I'm not sure what that means exactly in this context but it certainly carries something of his signature. This track is probably my favourite. It produces a slightly unhinged, creeped-out feeling that I appreciate.

6. Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid - 'Lyman Place'

They continued with NYC in 2008. It was probably their most rhythmically accessible record, but has a similar palette overall. Its a very consistent record with a vague narrative premise – this track is great.

7. Steve Reid Ensemble - 'Lugarno'

This was one of my favourite records of that year. It doesn't have much of the furious experimentation of the duo records – it is what it is. Hebden's role is a little more subtle in the Octet formation.

8. Steve Reid - 'Rhythmatism 1969'

Anyone who is still reading might be interested in Reid's 1976 album Rhythmatism.

Four Tet plays his new live show at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 6 January 2016. Tickets and info here. For your chance to win a double pass, email aucomps@vice.com with the subject "Four Tet at Sydney Opera House".