Rounds

Four Tet | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Domino
• ASIN: B000092Q6L
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,045 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #55 in Music > Dance & DJ > IDM

Editorial Reviews

From URB Magazine

(Domino) After first introducing Four Tet on the album Dialogue, it was with the stunning follow-up Pause that Kieran Hebden really turned discerning electronic music heads all the way on. A lovely amalgamation of gentle hip-hop beats, obscure folk influences and music-making software found on the net, the album elicited endless accolades and even generated cheeky new genre tags like "folktronic." The resulting trajectory sent Hebden everywhere from tours with Radiohead and Madlib to remixes for the likes of Aphex Twin and Beth Orton (who’s recruited him to produce her next album). Somewhere in all of that sonic madness he found time to conjure up Rounds, which simultaneously builds and deconstructs the strides made with Pause, resulting in an even more organic blend of quiet but muscular compositions. Opening with the woozily beautiful warm-up "Hands," the album sounds like it was composed by a man in love, especially considering song titles like "She Moves Me" (an Asian-influenced plucked groove augmented by jagged guitar bursts and distant bells) and the sweet, heartfelt harp tones of "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth." Hebden’s sense of humor emerges on "Spirit Fingers" (possibly an homage to teen cheerleading flick Bring It On?), sounding like an army of sped-up mandolins madly carousing with a kinky sampler. This whimsical approach also lightens up "As Serious As Your Life," which dances on a funky guitar melody and a stilted jazz back beat. Closing on the peacefully epic "Slow Jam," Rounds proves that quiet is indeed the new loud.

Permanent Ink

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't call it a comeback..., May 31, 2003

By 

Erik F "Master of Funk and Evil" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rounds (Audio CD)

Rounds isn't really a departure from Pause in any way so much as it is a
progression. It's certainly more immediate and focused, and the level of
emotional involvement is certainly much higher this time around. Where Pause
was sometimes noncommital and breezy, this record finds beauty in the cracks of plaster
and shafts of dusty light, and it's certainly a welcome change from most of the
genre's blind and dour worship of the glitch.

"Hands" opens the record with an ascending two-chord progression played by
lightly picked guitar and organ while the drums warm up to a slow but loose
rhythm which seems to wander around the Zildjian section of a music shop,
delighting in everything they find. The familiar atmosphere is here, but
somehow there's a greater sense of urgency as the track builds on a slow
crescendo but never quite releases. It's a powerful opener, evoking a sense of
wide, open spaces, similar in tone to Mum's "Green Grass of Tunnel."

"She Moves She" is the first single, and the first time I heard it, I didn't
care much for it, but hearing it context makes much more sense. It opens with
a limber drum track overlaid with an absent-minded dobro that wouldn't sound
out of place on a Ben Harper record somewhere. In the chorus (of sorts), a
distorted acoustic guitar sample stabs into the mix in a staccato patter just
coherent enough to imply chord changes. It sounds like Fennesz, except more
focused and driven. The verses are carried by a glockenspiel which manages not
to sound the least bit fey, and toward the end, the whole ensemble is filtered
down to single notes on the offbeat, and the track leans toward a two-step feel
similar to "Untangle."

"My Angel Rocks" rides an echoing loop of static and rimshots that sounds like
something off Arovane's excellent Tides while a fragile lullaby plays on a
harp. Yes, a harp. In anyone else's hands, that would send this straight into
the eight circle of Windham Hill perdition, but before it can get cloying, a
back-masked guitar fades into the middle register and turns the whole thing
into an almost heart-wrenching chorale.

It's worth mentioning at this point that several times on this album, I've
actually caught myself holding my breath. No, really. It's that good.

"Spirit Fingers" comes through like a whirling dervish, propelled by a
double-speed guitar part that wouldn't sound out of place on a Takemura record,

especially when it's overlaid with a frantic gamelan pattern. Just when the
track starts to sound like an anomaly, a slowly picked acoustic guitar pulls
the reins back. Not really a standout track, but by no means bad, either.

"Unspoken" lopes along like a Dj Shadow tune with guitar feedback floating over
the mix. The piano part enters, and after about a minute, you realize that the
melody is from Tori Amos' "Winter." With tamborines. This is where
description falls short, because as awful as that may sound on paper, the whole
thing actually works. It's remniscient of µ-ziq's appropriation of "Your
Ghost", except where that track simply used the original as an adornment, Four
Tet uses it as a single motif among many. After the first verse, the piano
part is replaced by a jazz progression with trumpets and cello, and when it
reappears, it's bolstered by a larger and different arrangement. I was really
surprised by the mastery of structure and development here, since the track as
a whole takes over nine minutes and never once lost my interest.

"As Serious as Your Life" sounds like like something out of some forgotten
'70's police show, and while it's hardly the most substantial thing here, it's
certainly clever and alot of fun in the same way "Everything's Allright" was on
the last record.

"And They All Look Broken Hearted" reminds me of a more relaxed Amon Tobin,
with a nimble drum kit buoyed by a slow bassline. The whole thing boils away
at a slow tempo, never really picking up, but never letting down either. This
is mostly a track about atmosphere, and it works well in that respect.

"Slow Jam" is the closer, and it may be the best thing Hebden's ever done.
Ringing guitars enter over a slow beat, and I'm reminded of every rock song
that ever rode itself out on a slow, glorious three-minute coda. The guitars
and strings ride an aching chord progression that builds and recedes in a
series of subtle climaxes while scattered vocal samples ricochet through the
mix. There's almost a melody in vocals, but it never quite coalesces, which is
fine, because this is more about stroke and gesture than anything literal.
Some part of me wants the voices to come in, but I know that, if they did, the
whole delicate illusion would be ruined. The track feels like like the credits
music for some alternate-universe John Hughes movie, and it doesn't matter that
it doesn't really go anywhere, because you're just happy to be held, suspended,
while the landscape drops away below.

Absolutely essential.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars in response to "stevemncoug1, December 16, 2004

By 

theverythoughtofyoumakesmecryforjoyandhate "d... (atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rounds (Audio CD)

I normally don't bother with reviews (who reads em anyways, besides you) but his bothered me. I have listened to four tet for a while, thinking their remixes of beth orton and radiohead are some of my favs. I have also listened to tortoise for a while too. While they are similar to the unlistened ear he seems to have missed the point about four tet altogether.While Four tet is jazzy-ish, tortoise is jazzy-ful, and four tet have much more groundbreaking electronica credit, which is a hard thing to accomplish this day full of electrosounds. Rounds should probably get a five star it really is incredible, full of emotion and genius. Not to make light of tortoise, they are in my heavy rotation just four tet, but four tet is a different ocean, very swimmable and very unique.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, June 16, 2003

By 

N. Fisher (East Coast United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rounds (Audio CD)

As mentioned before, there is an overall
moelancholic feel to the album, but at the
same time, there are beautiful swells,
plucked guitar lines and crisp - head
nodding beats. The beats are large, the
snares are crispy - and the production is
out of control. At times glitchy - yet
totally in synch. Experimental yet
accessable. This album is delicious.

A very pleasant suprise, and one of the
more captivating CD's I've listened to
of late. I saw the deal amazon.com has, this
and prefuse 73's One Word Extinguisher.
If that deal is still on and you don't
have either of these CD's, do your ears
a favor and order them.

Excellent.