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SoundsXP Presents

Pictures from some recent gigs we've hosted:

29 March 2013 - Brixton, London

Viv Albertine, VuVuVultures, Left Leg, Mickey Gloss, Big Wave, No Cars, Arthur Gunn, Simon Love (Pictures)

8 March 2013 - Lexington, London

R.Ring, Golden Grrrls, Slushy Guts and Equinox (Pictures)

On Our iPod

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (album)

Antony Harding - Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (album)

Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (album)

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (album)

Still Corners - Strange Pleasures (album)

Savages - Silence Yourself (album)

Mikal Cronin - MC II (album)

Can’s Ege Bamyasi played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends(album)

Victoria and Jacob - Festival 7"

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City (album)

Sauna Youth - False Jesii Part II 7”

Lightning Bolt - Oblivion Hunter

Robyn Hitchcock - There Goes The Ice (2x 12")

Latest Forum Posts

Album Review

Four Tet
Pink Text Records

Article written by Michael H - Oct 5, 2012

Kieren Hebden's latest album as Four Tet 'Pink' is an exercise in tension and balance. His early career marked him out as a skilled alchemic welder of acoustic and electronic sounds. An ambitious compositional skill meant that he transcended the "folktronica" straight jacket and struck out into messy and splattered sonic terrain. 'Rounds' and 'Everything is Ecstatic' despite deep pockets stuffed with invention, occasionally felt close to falling apart under the mass of their own ideas. This everything and the kitchen sink approach was scaled back for 'There is Love in you' before being entirely abandoned for the minimalist techno of 'Ringer'.

Which brings me to 'Pink'; this album sounds like a grand statement regardless of being a download-only collection of recent 12"s. This is the peak of Four Tet's achievements to date. The balance between acoustic elements and machine crunch is perfect, as is the pacing and structure. The peaks and troughs are handled masterfully, each track containing enough propulsion and drama to sustain an entire DJ set. Four Tet also keeps up a gripping temporal tension; the cold infinite 4/4 highway of its machine house rhythms forced to meander around some wonderfully emotive potholes: the space drift of the intro to 'Peace for Earth;' 'Jupiter's locked-in modular process and falling raindrop notes; the kick drum, plucked strings and vocal slivers of '128 Harps;' the rumbling bass oscillations and piano strikes of 'Pinnacles.'

'Pink' continually snaps between micro and macro, wires and nerves, head and heart. This album, like all good art, will leave you depleted while paradoxically enriched.

Links:
http://www.fourtet.net
http://www.myspace.com/fourtetkieranhebden